http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/11/01/2008-11-01_those_who_fight_but_cant_vote.htmlStaff Sgt. James Brower is a Marine who never complains about the direst dangers or the most trying discomforts, but he sure was complaining early Friday morning, loud and strenuously over the phone from Iraq.
"I'm supposed to be fighting for democracy and I can't even vote!" he told his mother, Elaine Brower.
He had been grumbling for two weeks about not receiving his absentee ballot and it had still not arrived. He told his mother that the other Marines in his unit also were still waiting and she could well imagine their frustration, with the historic election just four days away.
"The hype surrounding this election is so intense and those guys feel it," Elaine Brower said later on Friday. "They watch CNN. They have Internet access."
Even so, the mother was surprised that her warrior son was so passionate about a ballot.
"He's not into politics," she said. "But this time, he is hellbent on voting."