Kleenex anyone?

A recent newspaper story told us of a 19 year old 6' 4" basketball standout who will be returning from Iraq earlier than expected. Less than a year out of high school, a rocket propelled grenade exploded upon impact with the vehicle in which he was riding near Ramadi last week. He lost both of his legs above the knees.

"I never thought this could happen to my son. It never even crossed my mind," said his mother upon hearing the tragic news. "When they called me and told me it had happened, I still couldn't believe it."

This is a story like all the other stories being repeated in cities and towns across the country.

It's a sad story. But there'll always be sad stories. Thousands more just like this one will be written in the month's ahead while our Bush-Pelosi coalition government drags its feet to end such tragedies.

Living in a military town, I think we get more than our fair share of such tales. That's because we suffer not only the loss of our homies, but all soldiers from around the country who are serving in Iraq from our local Fort.

Like the 24 year old PFC from Michigan out of Ft. Bliss killed recently by a roadside bomb in Iraq. In the words of his grieving mom, "He was just a kid."

Mom had managed to fend off recruiters when her son was 18. He had wanted to join then. But a wife and a 3 year old daughter later, her "kid" decided he wanted to serve just as his grandfather did in WWII, his dad in Vietnam.

"He enjoyed computer games," we are told, but in the end the games of the computer gave way to the games of real life as we learned from the last time Mom talked to her son. Having been in the field for eight continuous days, he was being sent back out after only eight hours rest.

At first the details were sketchy. All Mom knew was her boy had been killed when he passed a roadside bomb as it exploded. A day or two later, we learned more. Fortunately, Mom's son didn't die alone. His three companions riding with him were also dead from the same explosion! (Another three stories for us to read!)

What a shame, because Mom's boy was just a couple weeks away from coming home. He had planned to be here April 14 to share with his wife, when labor would be induced, the birth of their second child, a son.

And as I read that, I couldn't help but wonder if this unborn child, who will never know him, will one day follow in his father's footsteps and the military footsteps of his grandfather and great grandfather before him.

But those are things better left pondered by a grieving mother, a young widow with a three year old daughter and as yet unborn son who'll never know his dad whom, in Mom's words, "was just a kid." A kid who was simply following a family tradition in a nation rich in tradition--of making wars, widows, grieving mothers and unborn children who will never know their fathers.