Georgia National Guard Unit Loses 8 Troops

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050802/ap_on_re_us/iraq_48th_casualties_1

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Joni Bennett had just left the home of a family mourning one of four Georgia National Guardsmen killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq when her cell phone rang with more grim news of shocking symmetry.

Four more deployed members of the 48th Infantry Brigade had died in a similar explosion Saturday, six days after the Georgia Guard suffered its first combat casualties since World War II.

"The greatest stress I've had over these last eight days is I can't be in eight places at once," said Bennett of Brunswick, Ga., family support coordinator for the 4,300-troop brigade. "It's agonizing to express to families I wanted to be there sooner, but I couldn't."

Just two months after the 48th Brigade arrived in Iraq, the pair of fatal bombings in the past week have already made the brigade's yearlong tour one of the deadliest deployments for U.S. citizen-soldiers in Iraq.



Spc. Jacques 'Gus' Brunson is shown as he prepares to depart for Iraq in this May 2005 photo taken at Fort Stewart, Ga., and released on July 26, 2005, by his family. Brunson was among four members of the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade who were killed by a roadside bomb while patrolling south of Baghdad on Sunday evening, July 24, 2005. (AP Photo/Brunson Family)

should not be there, should not be there, should not be there.

:(

[lostnfound]

1. Wonder how many of these guardsmen joined after 9-11.

So sad. Signed up to be defenders after that tragedy, and sent to Iraq.
Rest in peace, and if you find the Truth in the afterlife, send some of it to your 'homeland'. We need it.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Meanwhile, George Bush is enjoying his 5 week vacation......

on the pig ranch in Crawford, Texas. He could not be reached for comment.

[blueknight]

3. god bless them all,

we just went through this in our little town

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. But Bush did find time

to go to a Boy Scout Jamboree to drum up fresh troops.

[fasttense]

5. This while Florida and Texas are sending the fewest number

of National Guard to Iraq.

[rodeodance]

6. hopefully this horrible tragady will open some eyes in Georgia.

[Oerdin]

8. Lack of M114s

The problem is most troops have M1025 Humvees which are unarmored instead of the far more expensive M1114 uparmored Humvees. I was lucky when I was in Iraq because I had an M1114 uparmored Humvee, however, most units just don't get enough armored vehicles so soldiers will continue to die from roadside bombs. They at least have body armor, which helps, but the body armor isn't designed to stop artillery shell shrapnel at close range and most IEDs are made up of artillery shells with some sort of remote detonator.

[theHandpuppet]

7. Wow -- interesting.

This should be questioned by the media, which of course it won't!!

Do you have stats on which states are providing, proportionately, the most nat'l guardsmen/women?

[DemoTex]

9. Died some, pro patria, 2005.

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen 1916

The old lie, Dulce et decorum est, Pro patria mori translates "It is good and sweet to die for one's country."

[noamnety]

10. I posted this in another thread, but it's so haunting

Posted in response to an article about the first four soldiers:

By SFC V.A.ANDERSON

July 29, 2005 06:17 AM | Link to this

My name is SFC Victor Anderson i was in charge of the patrol that day. We the six survivors of that day appreciate all the kind words. Those four guys were great soldiers and great men. If you have ever faced combat you know that it is the man to the left and right that you fight for.God bless George W. Bush the United States of America and the people of the great State Of Georgia

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/custom/blogs/guard/entries/2005/07/27/they_were_the_b.html

(July 30, SFC Victor Anderson was killed by an IED.)