Thursday, October 28, 2004

Taking Time to Honor the Fallen

In some comments to a thread below one of our readers, a certain "sen. bob," mentioned as the most egregious Bush blunder a name, that of Pfc. Anthony D. D'Agostino, who died in the line of duty on November 2, 2003 in Iraq.

It is all too easy for us bloggers on the web to write about Bush blunders and dishonesty. It is all too easy for us to gather our disgust and outrage and spew it forth here. We must, I think, stand above the Bush Administration in every way possible, and that means stopping once in a while to honor the men and women who have served admirably in a truly rotten war. No, as another commentator said, Bush has not attended a funeral of any of the servicemen and women he has sent into harm's way. He bars us from seeing the coffins as they come back to Dover. Let it be known that we at Allspinzone do not forget.

You can view the short obituaries of our fallen troops at www.militarycity.com
Army Pfc. Anthony D. D’Agostino

20, of Waterbury, Conn.; assigned to the 16th Signal Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Nov. 2 in an attack on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter near Fallujah, Iraq.

In letters and e-mails from Iraq, Pfc. Anthony D'Agostino asked his family for Kool-Aid to flavor his water, pictures of his cousins, crossword puzzles and books to help him learn Spanish. "He was always looking for ways to better himself," said his aunt, Beth Santos. "He wanted to make good use of his time over there." D'Agostino was among 16 soldiers who died in the Nov. 2 downing of an Army helicopter carrying troops from Iraq on leave. Stationed at Fort Hood, he would have turned 21 on Nov. 6. Born at Fort Gordon, Ga., while his father was in the military, D'Agostino graduated from high school in Waterbury, Conn., with a specialty in electricity. D'Agostino joined the military after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, looking for an education, career and a place to belong, Santos said. He hoped to go to the U.S. Military Academy. When he wrote letters or e-mails to home from Iraq, he talked about the hot weather and how uncomfortable the situation was, Santos said. He was proud to be serving in Iraq, family members said. But his family was nervous. "You never stop worrying," said his aunt, Beth Santos.

Thanks for the reminder of our duty, sen. bob. Of course, I had to stumble on another and disgusting story while searching for that photo of Pfc. D'Agostino's funeral in a google search. It's another story about how Marshall L. Edgerton died.

You see, a General was decorating his office, and he needed a new carpet. The furniture truck came into the compound and. . . here's the words of a witness:

We understand water trucks and gasoline trucks. We need that stuff, even though there are still plenty of ways they could detonate one of those too. Let me tell you what was being delivered though, and what Marshall Edgerton died for. A general is decorating his office here. It's a nice office, a luxury office you might say. And it needed a carpet to go with all the new furniture. Now while the grunts and we [deleted] can get along with field tables and folding chairs, of course the general has to trick out his office like he's a Roman caesar or something. So these furniture trucks come onto our compound when we already know that a lot of people out there want to kill us. This truck was loaded with carpet.

Marshall came to Iraq to die for a general's carpet. Marshall's family will grieve so a general could have carpet. What we really need here are big trucks that can haul away all the bullshit. And a few to get our asses back to an airport.

God bless Marshall L. Edgerton, too.