[Vision2020] Amazing Grace

[Tom Hansen]

>From "The Sandbox" (command-wide milblog, featuring comments, anecdotes, and
observations from service members currently deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan) at http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/ -

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AMAZING GRACE
Name: Teflon Don
Posting date: 2/12/07
Stationed in: Ramadi, Iraq
Milblog url: acutepolitics.blogspot.com 

The haunting wail of bagpipes is drifting over our corner of Camp Ramadi.
Bravo company's amateur pipist is slowly pacing while he practices a song
none of us want to hear. The tune he plays is "Amazing Grace." Tomorrow
morning he will play it at the memorial service for CPL Shannon, the first
member of our task force to die here in Iraq. He fell to an unlucky hit from
one of the improvised bombs that litter the roads. He was from another
company -- one of the few from that group that I've spoken with. I didn't
know him well, but I'm proud to say I knew him. I wrote a poem in his memory
that I didn't plan to post, but one of his friends asked me to.


See now, the soldier --
So far away from home
He's staring into night
And wishing it would end

See now, the bomber --
Fighting war for Allah
He's laying in the grime
Waiting by the trigger

See now, the splinter --
Chased by fiery lace
It's flying with the blast
And tearing flesh in flight

See now, the father --
A bomb-hole in his heart
He's weeping for his son
So far away from war

Rest in peace, Steve.

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.