Another day dawns on the flight line in Afghanistan.
OK…these emails come into Battleland’s inbox at all hours of the day and night. This latest has just arrived, shortly after 9 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, Thursday, June 21, 2012.
We have read each one, for more than 10 years. It has become like the rain, these incessant DoD Identifies Army Casualties statements. They’ve become the thrumming white noise of a democracy at war, but where only 1% has worn the uniform in combat and a tiny sliver of that 1% has given the last full measure of devotion.
They’re always terse, almost businesslike, and to the point:
The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died June 20, in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire and an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 133rd Military Police Company, 51st Military Police Battalion, Florence, S.C.
Killed were:
— 1st Lt. Ryan D. Rawl, 30, Lexington, S.C.,
— Sgt. 1st Class Matthew B. Thomas, 30, Travelers Rest, S.C., and
— Spc. John D. Meador II, 36, Columbia, S.C.
Three not-so-young men, their deaths announced via email.
We grieve for their families, and their communities.
If someone wants to tell us something about these guys, please let us know.
John Kerry, with whom Battleland has had many and vast differences, nonetheless had it right more than 40 years ago:
How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
Afghanistan was the good war. For about six months. But ever since, the last decade has been a military misadventure wrapped inside a bloody patriotic bandage lined with the salve of American hubris. The young men and women in our military deserve better, and so do the three South Carolina National Guard thirtysomethings who died Wednesday.