Thoughts on Losses, More Casualties of War

Note: Originally from November, 2003, this tribute to the families of heroes is being presented as part of Mudville's Memorial Day weekend, 2005.

Here, take a look at this, compliments of Dean. Ponder the vastness of the universe we live in, the grandeur of the cosmos. Consider the infinite numbers on a line and the infinite points between any two of them...

What a world! One in which World Magazine reports that two enemy factions are taking very different approaches to the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan:

For U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, Ramadan began with cultural-sensitivity training. Central Command ordered all fighting forces to take a crash course on respecting Islamic customs during the month-long holiday. But Middle East militants, not Yankees, crashed the holiday, ending before it had barely begun the early quiet of the first day's fast with a series of coordinated and deadly attacks on the capital city.

Suicide bombers struck two Iraqi police stations nearly simultaneously early Oct. 27. Five minutes later, a man drove an ambulance laden with explosives into the headquarters of the Red Cross. Two more explosions, also at police stations downtown, followed only minutes after that. The attacks left 38 dead and at least 220 injured. The next day another police station bombing, in Fallujah, killed four Iraqis. Terrorists assassinated one of Baghdad's three deputy mayors in a drive-by shooting. Roadside bombs continued their toll on U.S. forces, with two killed on Oct. 29.

Speaking at a Rose Garden press conference, President Bush said he suspected the attacks were the work of foreign terrorists "trying to create conditions of fear and retreat."

"Iraq is dangerous, and it's dangerous because terrorists want us to leave," Mr. Bush said. "And we're not leaving."

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To remedy insensitivity?both real and imagined?Central Command ordered U.S. soldiers to receive Ramadan training. Workshops, led in individual units by military chaplains, took place in the weeks leading up to the holiday, which this year runs roughly from Oct. 27 to Nov. 25. A coalition spokesman in Baghdad told WORLD each unit could carry out the training on its own timetable but the order came with standardized guidelines and a pamphlet "with basic information on the religious observance."

Now let's focus in on a smaller part of the world. Here's a look at one of the victims of those Ramadan celebrations; perhaps one who'd just finished her sensitivity training. Army Pfc. Rachel K. Bosveld, 19, of Waupun, Wis.; assigned to the 527th Military Police Company, V Corps, Giesen, Germany; killed Oct. 26 during a mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib Police Station in Abu Ghraib, Iraq.

Note the subtle difference in tone from the following two stories. The first from the local Wisconsin paper:

WAUPUN, Wis. ? The news of Rachel Bosveld?s death has brought the reality of the conflict in Iraq home to Waupun.

Bosveld, a member of the 527th Military Police, was killed Sunday during a mortar attack at a Baghdad police station.

As the word of the 19-year-old?s death filtered through the community, friends who knew the fun-loving brunette sought out one another to grieve and relive memories spent with their fallen friend.

Although Bosveld attended Waupun High School for only two years after transferring from Oshkosh West High School, it is clear that she made a lasting impression in the lives of those who knew her.

?She was energetic and always laughing,? said Krissy Beske, UW-Fond du Lac student and former classmate. ?When she first came to school, we just kind of pulled her into our circle and took her under our wing.?

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?Because she had been away for so long, the news didn?t really hit me at first, but when we began looking at old pictures and wishing she was here, it came over us big time,? said Beske. ?(Rachel) was such a strong person and I looked up to her. She knew what she wanted and where she wanted to go in life. I will always remember that about her.?

And this, from the Associated Press:

WAUPUN, Wis. ? All Rachel Bosveld wanted was to come home.

She never complained, but after eight months in the sands of Iraq, barely surviving a roadside ambush and patrolling anti-American riots, the 19-year-old military policewoman from Waupun had had enough.

?More and more people want us to go home,? she wrote in a letter to her father. ?Believe me, we want to go home.?

Rachel Bosveld died Sunday in a mortar attack at a Baghdad police station, becoming the first Wisconsin woman killed in the Iraqi conflict and the fifth soldier from the state to die in that country this year.

Marvin Bosveld said he supported the invasion at first, but now he isn?t sure.

?That war killed her,? Marvin Bosveld said. ?I?m not so sure what I?ll support now.?

An excerpt from her letter, along with what appears to be the grieving father's answer to a question, although the question itself isn't in print. I could believe it was something like "Do you still support the war?" But who knows, perhaps they actually used the term 'invasion' when they asked.

I could be wrong, but I detect thinly disguised political opinions of the reporter insinuated into an obituary here. Draw your own conclusions. In my mind the first report caught the essence of this tragedy without beating me on the head with it. That such people are dying far from home is wrong enough. To abandon the cause they sacrifice their lives for would be unpardonable. To use their sacrifice to further their killer's cause is reprehensible.

Another Father/Daughter story brought to my attention today, via Sgt Hook:

Jessica Blankenbecler, 14, e-mailed this final letter to her father, Command Sgt. Maj. James Blankenbecler, at 1:29 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 3., two days after he was killed in a convoy in Samara, Iraq. The Herald is publishing it, in its entirety, with the family?s permission.

Hi Daddy,

Sorry I haven?t written to you in a while. A lot of things have been going on. I miss you so much. How have you been? Is heaven everything it says it is? I know it?s probably that and more. I can?t wait ?till I can come join you again.

I miss you so much ? just being here for me to hold your hand and you calling me ?princess.? But one day we can do this again. But it will be even better because Jesus will be with us.

I keep going in your office to see all your things and your awards that you have gotten over the years. You accomplished so much. I am proud you were my daddy; I would not have chosen anyone else. I like to go into your closet, too and just touch and smell all your clothes ... it gives me so many memories that I miss so much.

Sitting at this table I see your writing on a little piece of paper telling me and mom what e-mail and address in Iraq to write to you ... CSM JAMES D. BLANKENBECLER, 1-44 ADA. I love to just look at your handwriting so much.

I have your military ring on right now. It?s kind of big for my little finger, but it makes me feel you?re holding my hand when I have it on ... It?s been on since we found out the news.

I have your driver?s license with me, too, so I can just look at you whenever I want. You have a little smile this time. When we went to get them done in El Paso I asked you to just smile this time ... and you did it just for me. I also was looking at your car keys and that little brown leather pouch you always had on your key chain. It made me cry a lot when I picked it up.

Everything reminds me of you so much. When we pass by Chili?s I remember you sitting across from me eating your favorite salad. You always told the waiter to take off the little white crunchy things ... because you hated them. And when we drive by billboards that say ?An Army of One,? it makes me remember you in your military uniform. How you always made a crunching sound when you walked, and how you shined your big boots every night before you went to bed. I miss seeing that all the time. Little things that I took for granted when you were here seem priceless now.

One thing that I regret is when you wanted to open my car door for me, but I always got it myself. I wish I would have let you do it. And when you wanted to hold my hand, I sometimes would pull away because I didn?t want people to see me holding my daddy?s hand ... I feel so ashamed that I cared what people thought of me walking down the parking lot holding your hand. But now I would give anything just to feel the warmth of your hand holding mine.

I can?t believe this has happened to my daddy ... the best daddy in the whole world. It feels so unreal, like you?re still in Iraq. You were only there for 17 days. Why did they have to kill you? Why couldn?t they know how loved you are here? Why couldn?t they know? You have so many friends that love you with all their hearts and you affected each and every person you have met in your lifetime. Why couldn?t they know? When I get shots at the hospital I won?t have my daddy?s thumb to hold tight. Why couldn?t they know I loved for you to call me ?princess?? Why couldn?t they know if they killed you I would not have a daddy to walk me down the aisle when I get married? Why couldn?t they know all this? Why?

I know that you are gone now, but it only means that I have another angel watching over me for the rest of my life. That?s the only way I can think of this being good. There is no other way I can think of it.

All the kids at my school know about your death. They even had a moment of silence for you at our football game. A lot of my teachers came over to try to comfort me and mom. They all ask if they can get us anything, but the only thing anyone can do is give me my daddy back ... and I don?t think anyone can do that.

You always told me and mom you never wanted to die in a stupid way like a car accident or something like that. And you really didn?t die in a stupid way ... you died in the most honorable way a man like you could ? protecting me, mom, Joseph, Amanda and the rest of the United States.

In the Bible it says everyone is put on this earth for a purpose, and once they accomplished this you can return to Jesus. I did not know at first what you did so soon to come home to God. But I thought about it ? you have done everything. You have been the best husband, father, son and soldier in the world. And everyone knows this.

One of my teachers called me from El Paso and told me that when her dad died he always told her, ?when you walk outside the first star you see is me.? She told me that it is the same for me and you. I needed to talk to you last night, and I walked outside and looked up ... and I saw the brightest star in the sky. I knew that was you right away, because you are now the brightest star in heaven.

I love you so much, daddy. Only you and I know this. Words can?t even begin to show how much. But I tried to tell you in this letter, just a portion of my love for you. I will miss you, daddy, with all of my heart. I will always be your little girl and I will never forget that...

I love you daddy, I will miss you!!

P.S. I have never been so proud of my last name.

Sunrise - June 27, 1963

Sunset - October 1, 2003

Jessica and her father

There's much more to this story, of course, and you should read the whole thing. This man had just transferred to Ft Hood, and barely settled his family there before shipping out, then spent 17 days in Iraq.

The pain felt by Marvin Bosveld, Jessica Blankenbecler and a lot of other good people is nearly beyond my comprehension. I'm reminded of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's reply to the question how many dead?: "More then we can bear". His words were reasonable on 911; by a few days later they seemed forgivably excessive, given the efforts to evacuate the towers and strength of the American character. He wasn't looking this far forward, but was he right after all?

Perhaps so, for truly the dying hasn't stopped. And for a long time today, with the picture of Rachel Bosveld and the words of Jessica Blankenbecler fresh in my mind, I pondered the rightness of our presence in Iraq. Was it time to pack it in?

And after much thought and prayer I drew strength again from this conclusion: That such people are dying far from home is wrong enough. To abandon the cause they sacrificed their lives for would be unpardonable.

We live in an incredibly big universe. I'll never fully understand a fraction of it, but this I know: the strength of Jessica Blankenbecler, the simple courage of her convictions inspires me. I'll pray for the same for any who've suffered losses anywhere.

Samuel Adams:
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

(Original post 2003-11-02 20:25:13)