Thursday, October 26, 2006

Not my kid

I had a little bit of a shock last night while watching the CBS Evening News. During a story about Iraq war casualties, they interviewed the family of a local soldier killed this month. I found the story in the Lansing Current:
Belden-Sexton-Sumpter Funeral Chapels said services for Army Cpl. David M. Unger, 21, will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at the Fort Leavenworth Main Post Chapel. Burial with full military honors will follow at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.
And the transcript of the CBS story is on their web site. Here's the part that froze me in my tracks while making dinner for the kids:
"My son died in a country that I have no idea, really, why we're even there," Diana Unger says.

Her son, Cpl. David Unger of Leavenworth, Kan., was married to his high school sweetheart and was the father of two kids — including a baby just 20 months old. He had a mom, a stepdad, two brothers and a l3-year-old sister who adored him.

"It's different for every person to handle," says Jeremy Unger, David's brother, with tears on his face. "He was my older brother. I looked up to him a lot. It's just hard."

And it was also hard, they said, listening to President Bush this morning.

When the president said he understood how tough the Iraq battle was, some of Unger's family had a physical reaction.

"Unless he puts his daughters over there and he has that real fear everyday of not wanting to turn on the television, that fear that gets into your heart and your head, he can't fathom what that means," Diana says.
I wonder if Bush has asked any of the young people in his family, the ones eligible for military service, if they'd be willing to sign up and go to Iraq so they can help out the cause a little bit. I kind of doubt it. Anyway, none of them have decided on their own that joining the fight on behalf of their country would be a good idea.

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