Picture of Nathaniel DeTample, 19 yrs old, KIA 8/9/05 Iraq

[uppityperson]

RIP baby

[txindy]

1. OMG, he really IS a baby

Poor guy. His family must be devastated.

[texanwitch]

4. What a baby face, he looks in the picture to be about 15 years old.

[uppityperson]

6. Can you believe this?

I have 2 in the other room that are almost this age. Babies. Poor family.

[Maddy McCall]

11. My 11 year old is sleeping on the couch.

I just gave him a big bear hug. He woke up just long enough to hug me back. I know he wonders why I was crying.

[txindy]

16. I'm not one for reading too much into pictures

But, having said that, I was also struck by how uncomfortable he looks in that pic. The Marines always look so stern and rigid in their boot camp grad pictures. This boy (Army?) looks hunched over and... well, resigned is the word I think I'm looking for. It's not your typical military picture.

Knowing what happened to him not all that long after this picture was taken is just too much to take. RIP, Nathaniel. I'm so sorry.

[NJCher]

26. he looks like he was "placed there"

Uncomfortable is a very good word.

Also, his look is not confident. It is tenuous.

How I loathe those recruiting ads that are playing on television now where the kid looks to his mother for approval for his plans for advancement in life through the U.S. Army. If you look at the faces (and that's what these ads are all about), you see reticence in the mother and will in the son. The Army knows the big battle for cannon fodder is the parent and these ads play the "advancement" angle right to that.

One of my students told me about a friend of hers who is in the Army and is due to retire soon. She is praying she doesn't get sent to Iraq before her retirement. But when she joined, she came from a place like Patterson, NJ and it was either get shot at there or get shot at someplace else. Some choice in life, hm?


Cher

[lostnfound]

31. More of a man than Bush will ever be.

RIP, young man. Sent to your death by much lesser mortals.

[Justitia]

2. Good Lord, he IS a baby! There is not a single good reason for this.

Good night, young one....

:cry:

[Maddy McCall]

3. Thank you for posting this.

Everytime I want to back out on going to Crawford (it's a ten hour drive at least, money's tight, will my car make it) someone posts something that urges me on.

That boy's innocent face. Oh god. I wish I could find a large image of his face and affix it on a shirt to wear in his name.

:cry:

[uppityperson]

10. I am about 30+ hours away, trying to figure out how to go there

am figuring I will give money instead, but am still working on it. I could get a ticket, but would need 1-2 wks advance notice to be at all affordable, but is my son's life worth $500? You know?

[Maddy McCall]

13. Yes. That is EXACTLY why I am going. I want Cindy to meet my son.

I want her to see the impact that she's had on both of us. I want her to know that her cause has rippled across the US.

And I want this to be the stand that stops this war.

I hope you can go. However you decide to contribute, it is time and money well spent.

:hug:

[Bluebear]

5. Could be anyone's baby brother.

Heartbreaking and not just a number, Mr. Bush.

[uppityperson]

12. I want to ask Mr.bush why. Wonder if he's seen this picture

maybe I'll include it in my next email to him.

[roguevalley]

7. he will always be a child man to his family.

[nofurylike]

8. o help us. heartsick! thank you for posting his photo. eom

[Maddy McCall]

9. C'mon. Let's recommend this.

Let's show the world what Bush's cannon fodder looks like.

[Daphne08]

14. OMG, he looks like a 15-year-old kid!

So young. :cry:

[Swamp Rat]

15. kick and recommended!

Another child murdered by Bushler. :cry:

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

17. a mere pup....

kick/recommend

[Bluebear]

18. All his life ahead of him.

WHY?????????

[Raksha]

19. I thought, "Oh shit, a baby..."

when I first looked at the picture. The reaction here seems to be unanimous. God, now I'm crying...a long time ago, I had a friend who died at the age of nineteen. It was an accident (he drowned), but that picture brings back all the grief, all the wrongness of someone dying that young.

And to think this kid died for a LIE????

[FreedomAngel82]

20. He looks so young

:( Of course looks can be deceiving. When I was fifteen people thought I was thirteen. Ha.

[uppityperson]

21. They're making 19 yr olds younger every day. Still, he was young

[LibDemAlways]

22. From the PA Guard Recruiting Site

and an article that provides more info. Son of a police detective and a "good, good boy."

http://www.paguard.com/content/recruits/profiles/212

http://p128.news.scd.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050811/ap_on_re_us/pennsylvania_guard_deaths_1

[uppityperson]

39. Again thanks for the articles. We need to put faces on what is happening

[artemisia1]

23. kick /nt

.:nopity:

[China_cat]

24. This is what we need to keep in people's faces

ALL THE TIME.

The faces of those dead. A picture of the person and a picture of his coffin next to it. Until it's REAL, people just aren't going to 'get' it.

[uppityperson]

37. Exactly. Thanks for kicking to keep it up.

I was really sad last night when I found this picture. I am still very sad today, looking at it.

[ninkasi]

25. Oh, you sweet child...

denied a chance at life so that a dry drunk sociopath could deliver even more gold to his greedy, already wealthy beyond all wildest dreams cronies. I have an 18 year old grandson, and a 20 year old granddaughter, safe here, loved and cherished by our whole family.

What craven coward, what warped and amoral man...not man, no, but brat child pretending to be a man...could heartlessly send you to this early grave? How much money can they count on, paid for with your blood and your family's tears?

Cindy, you have a chance now to speak, not just for your precious son, but for all of the precious sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sister, of the ones being needlessly slaughtered in this illegal, immoral war.

God give you strength, Cindy, to carry the word straight to that coward's black heart. Your words might fall on deaf ears in Crawford, but the rest of the world listens, and sees, your anguish.

Tell the coward, Cindy, that we see through him; we know he is a liar, and a coward, and a thief. Let him know that most of America is united against him. Let the right wing spout their false , pious words, they claim to speak for God, and the only God they know is a calf of gold, and the words they use are not worthy to be heard by the God I grew up with.

God give you strength, Cindy. We stand with you.

[StaggerLee]

27. R.I.P. troop

Cindy holds fast at Camp Casey while the CiC kicks up his heals.

We will never forget.

We will never give up.

[Cooley Hurd]

28. Does anyone remember the '80's song "19?"

19 By Paul Hardcastle

In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war,
but it wasn't.
It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting.
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26...
In Vietnam he was 19.
In inininininin Vietnam he was 19.

(TV announcer's voice)
The shooting and fighting of the past two weeks continued today
25 miles west of Saigon
I really wasn't sure what was going on (Vet's Voice)

Nininini Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19

In Vietnam the combat soldier typically served a twelve month tour of duty but
was exposed to hostile fire almost everyday
Ninininininininininin 19 nininininninin 19

Hundreds of Thousands of men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam were arrested since discharge Their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans of the same age.
There are no accurate figures of how many of these men have been incarcerated.
But, a Veterans Administration study concludes that the greater of Vets
exposure to combat could more likely affect his chances of being arrested or convicted.

This is one legacy of the Vietnam War

(Singing Girls)
All those who remember the war
They won't forget what they've seen..
Destruction of men in their prime
whose average was 19
Dedededededede-Destruction
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War
Dededede-Destruction, wa-wa-War, wa-War, War
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War

After World War II the Men came home together on troop ships, but the Vietnam
Vet often arrived home within 48 hours of jungle combat
Perhaps the most dramatic difference between World War II and Vietnam was
coming home.. .none of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a heroes welcome, none of them, none of them
Nenene Nenene None of them, none of them, none of them (etc...)
None of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a hero's welcome

According to a Veteran's Administration study
Half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered from what Psychiatrists call
Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder
Many vets complain of alienation, rage, or guilt
Some succumb to suicidal thoughts
Eight to Ten years after coming home almost eight-hundred-thousand men are
still fighting the Vietnam War

(Singing Girls)
Dedededededede-Destruction

Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19
Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19

(Soldiers Voice)
When we came back it was different.. Everybody wants to know "How'd it
happened to those guys over there
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
We did what we had to do
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
People wanted us to be ashamed of what it made us
Dad had no idea what he went to fight and he is now
All we want to do is come home
All we want to do is come home
What did we do it for
All we want to do is come home
Was it worth it?

[Vinca]

29. So, so sad. A life cut short by lies.

And they're so, so young.

[TexasLady]

30. Kick

Thanks a lot Bushit. I HATE YOU!

[nookiemonster]

33. Another face

ignored by the goddamned media.

RIP. We'll make it right.

:cry:

[sabra]

32. kick!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

34. Nothing but silent tears.

:cry:

[xchrom]

35. he was just a child!

where are the weapons of mass destruction?!?!

he did not die to liberate iraq.

he did not die to stabilize the middle east.

he did not die to bring democracy to anyone.

now. where the fuck are the weapons of mass destruction?
you knew, bush -- you knew they weren't there -- so what did this boy die for?

[SunDrop23]

36. Damn.

[Solly Mack]

38. He looks 12

:(

When we will learn?

[uppityperson]

40. !

[Maddy McCall]

41. Kick for Nathaniel.

[tabasco]

42. The right wing gave their opinion today.

"We don't care !"

[uppityperson]

43. One reason I am going to Crawford. The other is my own son.

Mine is alive and will not die in a bushwar. I want to help stop this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Can you take me in spirit

thoguh I do what I can over here.

[uppityperson]

45. Definitely nadin

[w8liftinglady]

46. link to the site with more info about those who have died in this war

http://www.pigstye.net/iraq/
It kills me to read these stories,because i can't help but see my own kid's face in there.I know that's morbid,but I worry a lot that something bad is going to happen to him.God bless these brave souls.