Military blogger leaves "beyond the grave" entry

[Tiberius]

I opened the morning newspaper to find out that someone from my home town (in MA) left a last blog entry in case he died over in Iraq. Well, he died four days ago and his blog entry showed up after his death, posted by one of his friends.

I guess his blog was widely read, as he was a Major. I was friends with his younger brother, but we lost touch when we went to different high schools. My thoughts are with his family today.

His blog, and his last entry, is at http://www.andrewolmsted.com. I'm posting an excerpt, but note that if you read the whole thing he asks that neither side use his death as part of their for/against the war argument, so hopefully I'm not doing that:

"But for those who knew me and feel , I think it's a good thing to realize that this pain has been felt by thousands and thousands (probably millions, actually) of other people all over the world. That is part of the cost of war, any war, no matter how justified. If everyone who feels this pain keeps that in mind the next time we have to decide whether or not war is a good idea, perhaps it will help us to make a more informed decision. Because it is pretty clear that the average American would not have supported the Iraq War had they known the costs going in. I am far too cynical to believe that any future debate over war will be any less vitriolic or emotional, but perhaps a few more people will realize just what those costs can be the next time.

This may be a contradiction of my above call to keep politics out of my death, but I hope not. Sometimes going to war is the right idea. I think we've drawn that line too far in the direction of war rather than peace, but I'm a soldier and I know that sometimes you have to fight if you're to hold onto what you hold dear. But in making that decision, I believe we understate the costs of war; when we make the decision to fight, we make the decision to kill, and that means lives and families destroyed. Mine now falls into that category; the next time the question of war or peace comes up, if you knew me at least you can understand a bit more just what it is you're deciding to do, and whether or not those costs are worth it."

[Tiberius]

1. One kick...

... as I added an excerpt.

[cynatnite]

2. Very sad and true words...

:(

[midnight]

3. I did read about this on a post a few days ago. I read his last post

again today. He along with countless soldiers are dying for no other reason than to bring profits to people that don't care about life. Sorry but speaking against this unnecessary war might stop it. I don't feel speaking about the loss of this soldiers life will politicize his death. That is a luxury that I bestow on the Bush administration.

[flashl]

4. K&R n/t

[StefanX]

5. Good luck preventing wars...

...when some of our major networks are owned by defense contractors.

Bit of problem, that.

I think that is the root cause of the situation whiich he mentions here:

"I think we've drawn that line too far in the direction of war rather than peace"

Yeah, "we" have -- ie, General Electric (which owns 80% of NBC) has "drawn that line too far".

How can a nation NOT become war-hungry if its media is owned by war profiteers?

[Rageneau]

6. HOO-AH!

I'm sorry, but all I can think of, when I hear one of these tragedies, are the big lusty warrior grins of our champing-at-the-bit troops, back at the start of this disaster, who just could-not-wait to get over to Iraq and start killing people -- for reasons they did not know and did not seem to care about.

Live by the sword. Die by it.

[Tiberius]

7. I don't know about that...

There's always going to be a rabid few that would relish the chance to invade Sweden if it were offered. But I would guess there was a pretty sizable amount of silent hand-wringing in the military.

I could be wrong.

[reggie the dog]

8. images

the images shown of soldiers were always the happy soldiers. The quiet, reserved, and less enthusiastic soldiers were simply not shown. Many soldiers only sign up to get free college.