Last night, I learned that my younger brother has had a confirmed kill in Iraq. He's in the Marines and was deployed last September, and every time my mother or other brother calls I worry that it's to give me terrible news. Only when I hear them speaking normally do I breathe a sigh of relief.
I can't help but wonder about the man who died, or more specifically, about the family he left behind. Did he have a sister who dreaded her sibling going off to war, a sister like me? If so, what is she feeling now? Does his family even know what happened to him? I realized that it's not so much the man's death that troubles me, as it is the grief his family feels. Because if things had gone differently, it could have been, may one day be, my family and I struggling with overwhelming grief.
When I watch the news every evening, I am sickened to hear about the death tolls in Iraq, and I desperately hope that my brother wasn't one of the ones who died in that day's car bombings, roadside explosions or gun fights. To me, and most of America, the insurgents are nameless, faceless shadows, confirmed kill man included, and it's easy to forget that these men and women, misguided though they may be, are real people with real lives. To someone, confirmed kill man was a brother, father, son or husband, and the realization that MY brother has killed someone else's brother, causing my worst nightmare to became a reality for someone else, makes me uneasy.
That being said, better him than my brother, better his family than ours. That may be selfish, that may be wrong, but that is how I feel.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A Confirmed Kill
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7 comments:
End this preposterous war now, no more deaths. How can we be so apathetic to the whole thing?
I don't think that is wrong of you at all - I would feel exactly the same way. I'm disgusted that with as many people killed that Bush still insists on sending more - it makes absolutely no sense at all :(
I do like your new look though - hope you win more BOTB's :)
I feel the same way. My daughter is a medic over there and I worry about her every day. They had a car bomber brought in that died. She was thrilled he didn't make it! He did take a couple soldiers with him.
I have a cousin over there, I can't imagine a brother. I lost my brother when he was 17, I was 19 - but it was an accident and we didn't have to spend weeks/months just "waiting" for news
So many thoughts overwhelm me while reading your post. Too much to write about in just a comments box with these feelings from the other side of the rifle. I do hope your brother returns safe but he will need more support 10 years after the fact to help cope with what he's done. It will haunt him...trust me.
Please read.
http://anotheranotherday.blogspot.com/2006/01/just-sad.html
You’ll see what I mean after you read that post. Be sure to read the story I've linked to in that blog to understand the blog a little better. After seeing that blog post, my own sister wrote a note to me in the comments section to let me know how she felt when I was getting shot at in distant countries.
I hope your brother comes home in one piece.
I would feel the same way you do...its completley normal
Semper Fi! That is one less of the insurgents that will be trying to kill our troops. Aim for the head, in one shot their dead! I will keep him in my thoughts!
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