Soldiers We Should Never Forget

A tragedy. An outrage.

But what really pisses me off is that these three didn’t have to die – at least not in the way they did – and that two of them died without the dignity that is the warrior’s due.

It is a time for grief, to recognize the inhumanity of our enemy and the absolute imperative of crushing them.

It’s also a time for lessons learned, and for some hard questions about why this senseless ending came about.

OK, before anybody accuses me of being another moonbat, “I support the troops by wanting to bring them home” type, that’s not the case: I have served, and serve yet again in our military. From 1979-1989 as an infantry and civil affairs officer, followed by re-enlistment this year as a sergeant, 1/82nd Cavalry Squadron, ORARNG. I came back specifically for the opportunity to take a stand against our enemies like those brave men did, and Lord willing one day soon I will.

So if what follows sounds callous … keep in mind that my anger is professionally-related. No soldier should have to die the way those two men did.

Questions:

1. For the officer or NCO who was in charge of that checkpoint: What were you thinking? If you’re taking fire while leading a small element, then you hunker down, stick together and call for support. Help was less than 15 minutes away; a squad-sized group such as yours could’ve easily held out that long, even against a superior enemy force. Three men can’t do the same thing … as we have sickeningly been shown.

What you don’t do is what you did: leave your assigned checkpoint, pile into your vehicles and chase willy-nilly down unfamiliar streets in a hostile town after will o’ the wisp snipers, while leaving three of your men behind to die.

Not only that, but by getting you to chase after them the enemy could’ve suckered you into one of the oldest tricks in warfare: the headlong rush into an ambush. You lost three men needlessly, pointlessly, hideously; the only silver lining is that, luckily, you didn’t get yourself and the rest of your men killed, too.

2. For the unfortunate privates: What were you thinking? You had to know what the enemy would do if he took you alive.

You had to know.

You NEVER let yourself be taken alive by these people. For all it guarantees is that you will pass through the gateway to the next life in a lot more pain and with a lot less human dignity than you would otherwise.

That we may die violently on any given day is the soldier’s wager; but why, given the choice between dying on your feet fighting – or the choice of waiting, hog-tied, while some animal positions the video camera – did you choose the latter? I pray to God that in the coming days your final moments won’t be aired on al Jazeera; but knowing our enemy, that’s a hope against hope.

I feel badly for the families of these men. I also feel great anger at the fact that this didn’t need to happen. What may, in some small way, give their horrific end some meaning is for the leadership to take note of what went wrong that day and to not repeat the same mistake; and for every man and woman in the field to remember that there is a difference between dying on their feet and dying on their knees, and if it comes to that one is definitely preferable to the other.

Spurius Ligustinus on June 22, 2006 at 3:58 PM