You don't know JACK!

Had a decent Father's day today.  My son Dan, one of my foster sons, and Mia went up to my fathers for dinner.  Mia made chicken and shrimp kabobs for the grill, along with macaroni salad and deviled eggs (potentially a stinky situation with all the eggs involved).  At my request, dad made a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing - yummy!  Cathy came over for dinner.  All-in-all a very laid back and pleasant day.

But tonight, as I was finishing reading "Deadline" by Chris Crutcher ( a whole separate trauma) I was IMd by my friend Jack.  He is an Air Force Medic serving with the First Battalion, 110 Infantry Brigade at FOB Bullard.  I often catch him on Facebook in the evening, which is the morning for him.  Once, he hurriedly typed "things are starting off fast today" and "just found an IED have to wait for EOD".  He signed off shortly after that.  He has also described some of the gorier casualties he has had to deal with.  He's even mentioned a few fatalities.  Until June 11th, they had always been Afghan Nationals and, not that it should matter, I felt relief to know that these were not American Soldiers dieing in his unit.

June 11th that changed.  Army Staff Sgt. Bryan Hoover and Army Sgt. First Class Fike were killed by an IED.  Not that you can intuit much emotional context out of a text message, it is obvious that this loss has played heavy on my friend - as it should.  And it should effect us at home more as well.  There have been 35 American fatalities in June (as of the 20th) and I have not heard nearly as much about this disaster as I have heard of the oil spill in the gulf, the silly debate of defending the American Border in Arizona (silly in that there is already Federal precedence to check a suspects immigration status if it is suspect, so who cares if a State wants to in-act their own similar legislation.  Read all three answers.), or Armani Underwear airbrushing out Megan Fox's Abs (worth two seperate links btw).

If you want to see who has died in service to our country, check out --

• http://icasualties.org/OEF/Index.aspx
• http://militarytimes.com/valor/index.php
• http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf
• http://freedomremembered.com/index.php/category/states/pennsylvania/ (this link is just for Pennsylvanians - there are write-ups for both Hoover and Fike)

And there it is!  Not that I will dwell on these thoughts, but I will be more anxious as I wait to see Jack log on to his Facebook account.  Please, keep him, as well as all of the other great Americans who serve on our behalf, in your thoughts and prayers.  And, do not forget those who have fallen.

The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. - General Douglas MacArthur