Mothers Grieve for Sons Lost During War

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040315/ap_on_re_us/iraq_mothers_back_home&cid=519&ncid=1473

MALDEN, Ill. - Nancy Hollinsaid points to her favorite photograph of her son. Lincoln Hollinsaid is wearing his Army uniform somewhere in Iraq (news - web sites). Even his teeth are covered in sand.


Rosemarie Dietz Slavenas pulls out a photograph of her son. When people think of him, this is the one she wants them to remember. Brian Slavenas is in uniform, too. That of a Little Leaguer.


The two mothers share an obvious pride in their sons. They also share the pain of losing them in Iraq — Army Staff Sgt. Hollinsaid in a battle at Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) Airport in Baghdad, Army 1st Lt. Slavenas when his helicopter was shot down near Fallujah.


But in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 550 soldiers, the choice of photographs suggest the two mothers are also different sides of the same coin: Hollinsaid keeping alive the memory of a soldier's life, and Slavenas the memory of a life before soldiering.

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[LowerManhattanite]

1. Of Course The RW Chicken Hawks...

...are all over this story insofar as belittling the numbers that turned out. What the addle-pated goons (like InstaBlunder) fail to realize is that the issue is not with the quantity of the protesters, but rather their “quality”. These were the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, sons and daughters of our war dead in Iraq---not the stereotypical, blond-dreaded, olive-pantsed, foil-hatted anarchist they like to show at anti-globalization rallies. Nope. These were the "Johnny Lunchpails" and "Suzie Housecoats" of the flyover states---and they were pissed to the height of piss-tivity about what had happened to their loved ones.

I saw the report on these folks on CNN last night and their earnestness and obvious pain made me uneasy...like being on a boat when the seas suddenly turn rocky. Something different seemed to be in the air. And the CNN reporter (Carol Lin?) seemed troubled by the report as well---as if she was sensing the sea change too. These people went to Dover where their loved ones were shuttled in like anonymous ice-packed fish from the sea and then shuttled off to the four corners with no visible fanfare or honor thanks to the Coward in Chief. The families protested there yesterday and brought their anger to Cheetah's cage door today. You can peg some of us who disagreed as Bush-bashing dissenters...we can take it...but try to spin the mother of a soldier lost in a "my d*ck is bigger than your d*ck war" as some sort of Kathy Boudin caricature and you're in for biiiiii-iig trouble.

Change is in the air folks...

[No Passaran]

2. Sad

SSG Hollinsaid and I worked in the same building. I remember him taking over a position of a PLT SGT job after SFC Smith (his PLT SGT at the time) died. The next day he was dead.

SFC Smith is being considered for Medal of Honor.\

My heart is with their families.