Army Sgt. McGuire's response to Bin Laden Death
by Steven D
Mon May 9th, 2011 at 11:42:25 AM EST
Mike McGuire is the head of a unit that disables Improvised explosive devices. If you have seen The Hurt Locker you have some idea of the job he does. Some idea.
snip//
"Peter:
"My thoughts...
"Bin Laden dead brings closure to a situation that started it all. More than anything it makes me miss the Soldiers I have lost over the past three deployments: SGT Bevington, SPC Connelly, SGT McHale and others. That is not to exclude my guys that lost their legs, lost eyes, and to top it off all the mental issues they have now. These young soldiers will never be the same person again. They are changed. There is an attitude about them that most will not get, a sadness they carry every day, just like me.
"We take pride in what we do. Every soldier who puts on a uniform is my brother. I would not trade much of what has happened over the last six years except bring back my men. The war has changed me. I am short-tempered, I curse more now, I can eat dinner in under three minutes. More than anything, I am ashamed of the fact that I missed my kids growing up, my son getting commissioned in the Army, my daughter getting married, my other daughter graduating, and many other issues.
"But I am alive. I am going to make the best of it and make up for all this lost time. This is my last deployment. I am focusing on my men and women to give them all the tools to survive over here. But also I am counting the days until retirement.
"Just rambling. Sorry. Take care,
"Mike.''
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/05/08/mmqb/index.html#ixzz1LqpFftyJ More than anything I have read about the death of Osama bln Laden over the past week, Sgt. Mike McGuire's comments struck me the hardest. We, as a country, have asked a great deal of the men and women who serve in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly the ground troops. When I say we, I mean we the American people collectively. For we have elected the Presidents and the Congressional Members who authorized and funded these wars. Our representatives, and they our ours collectively, continue to place these men and women, many of them quite young, others, such as Sgt. McGuire middle-aged, in harm's way.
snip//
They did what we, collectively, as a nation, asked them to do. They did so out of a sense of patriotism, and as a direct result o the attacks by Al Qaeda on our country on 9/11. All too often they have been treated shabbily by our government, the government we the people elected. I won't go into the details of the Walter Reed Hospital scandal or the failure of the Military to adequately address the large number of brain injuries and the host of mental disorders, primarily Depression and Post Traumatic stress Disorder (PTSD) from which so many of these troops suffer, nor the many other horrible things that have ruined many of their lives and certainly forever changed them. Those are well documented and don't bear re-hashing here.
more...
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/5/9/85714/35070
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