this movie did a beautiful job of illustrating the waste of life. We've lost that war, and need to admit it and get out of there.

Sadly you have used this forum for your own agenda. However, these rights are what Corporal Chance Phelps, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl and even yourself defend.

I would suggest you do one very important exercise prior to posting your next comments. Please research the words Duty, Honor and Sacrifice.

Respectfully,

Dominic
USN 1943-1946
Served at 16-19 years of age
European & Pacific Theaters

Dear Lt. Col. Michael Strobl,

Your recounting of escourting one of our fallen Sons of Liberty is timeless.

My thoughts:

It is just to bestow Honor onto those Deserving

And Respectful to show Gratitude to all Serving.

For America truly is the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

You in the Military ensure this…

We, the People you serve, “THANK YOU” …… God Bless You all.

Once for Army Sergeant Yazzie and the other for Army Captain Casey.

For Sgt Yazzie (Posthumously promoted from Specialist) it was near the Air Cargo area at the Sunport, when the funeral director from Farmington, NM was there along with the family and Members of the Patriot Guard Riders and the Blue Star Mothers of the Central Rio Grande Valley Chapter.

It was a cold night in January but his flight arrived early and following shortly after the arrival of Sgt Yazzie’s flight and while his casket was being draped with the Flag of the United States 2 MC-130P aircraft were arriving at the Sunport which shares runway and flight line facilities with Kirtland Air Force Base.

This was a very moving event as the casket was carried to the funeral coach and we joined in a procession we were escorted by Patriot Guard Riders, Albuquerque Police, NM State Police to the funeral home.

The next morning at the funeral home the Albuquerque Police, Bernalillo County Sheriffs Dept, NM State Police, Rio Rancho Police were assembled and following the casket being placed in the funeral coach the escort began and went to Farmington, NM to prepare for the Funeral the next day at the Farmington Convention Center.

The other time was a year ago when the charter flight arrived at the Sunport with the body of Captain Casey. The 377th Logistics Readiness Squadron had sent members to meet the aircraft and assist in ceremonies.

I joined the Blue Star Mothers and the Patriot Guard Riders as we met the casket.

As the casket was being placed in the Funeral Coach a KC-135 had landed and another was on final approach.

Just as the funeral coach had left the flight line area 4 F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the NM Air National Guard had broken formation and landed. Shortly there after while the funeral party was enroute to the funeral home, 2 USAF CV 22 aircraft over flew the area on a training mission.

Those days were very moving and emotional for me.

The day after Captain Casey returned home, I was part of the flag line of the Patriot Guard Riders at the Funeral.

It was my extreme honor to be part of these homecomings.

The milestone had arrived, as documented by the media at large, reporting that the deaths of our soldiers in the Iraqi war had reached 4,000. It coincides with the fifth year of engagement in this conflict that the nation has been committed to, with the country seemingly divided into equal factions of disagreement. Shortly after the war began I made a commitment to myself to read each obituary of a fallen soldier that I came across in the newspaper – my feeling was that it was the least that I could do, given that I had a son and a daughter of the same age as those serving.

Three months ago the inevitable took place. A young man who attended a private Christian elementary school with my children had been killed in Iraq. We did not know the family well but were only casual acquaintances. Mutual friends quickly mobilized those of us who had supported the school to attend the memorial service held in his honor. We agreed to attend without hesitation, both to honor the family and the young man who was coming home for the last time.

Sgt. David Hart was mortally wounded while attempting to save one of his men who had been shot, killed instantly with a bullet to his head during a fierce firefight between insurgents and the 101st Airborne division. He was only 23, but had risen to his command quickly because of his exceptional skill as a soldier and leader. Testimony during the service reminded me that he was one of two sons born to missionary parents. He grew up to be an exceptional young man, a leader in his youth missionary group, committed to community service, and an inspiration to friends and especially his brother. He joined the military out of high school and then at the young age of 20 married a lovely young girl who worshipped at the same church as he did, and apparently David worshipped her. Attending the service were three officers of the 101st, including a general, whose presence was required because David was to be awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, one of the highest medals awarded a fallen soldier. An honor guard was there to attend to the presentation of the medals and the American flag.

The rituals of the military honor burial are solemn, measured, and strangely comforting. The presentation of the flag, with the tradition of unfolding and then re-folding our flag is done with precise movements, and takes several minutes during a heavy silence. The general takes the flag and on bended knee presents one to both the grieving young spouse and mother. We pray and sing together — those who knew David well seeking comfort for losing him, whereas all I can do is concentrate on what must be the unbearable grief of his wife and immediate family

Certain details were jarring and burned into my memory. A slide show that preceeded the service while we took our seats shows snapshots of David, friends and family covering his shortened life. One shows his father when David must have been 7 or 8 years old. His father is in his mid-twenties, and looks eerily like I must have during that same period. He is now older and grayer, as I now must appear, and gives a eulogy that is so composed and thoughtful that I wondered how anyone could have the presence of mind to speak at such a time. The other is a snippet of videotape, provided by the local news affiliate, of the plane arriving at the airport with his remains. His coffin is not conveyed back to America in a military transport, but a charter service that uses an older, smaller Boeing 707. For some reason this saddens me, even as there is an honor guard at the airport to unload his coffin from the aircraft and proceed toward the terminal. There is a brief shot of his wife and family, gasping with their hands covering their mouths, as they first see his coffin appearing out from underneath the fuselage. It must have been a shockingly unexpected moment for them, as they first see the material evidence of their son’s — brother’s– husband’s death. That he would return to them no more.

Indeed, this singular story of grief and loss has multiplied four thousand-fold over the past five years in every part of this nation. During the Vietnam conflict, the loss of 4,000 brave soldiers in Iraq was multiplied over ten-fold in Vietnam, with the result that the honor and courage demonstrated by those who sacrificed their lives to that cause was not equaled by their country’s leaders, who retreated and allowed the ensuing conquering regimes to engage in a bloodbath of genocide. Should this nation follow this same path of cowardice, the loss of 4,000 young people such as Sgt.David Hart would certainly be too much to bear.