Parents find out cause of Madison soldier's death from the Washington Post

[Oreo]

After repeated attempts to get answers from the Army, they finally found out from reading the Washington Post. This article is more evidence of the absolute incompetence of the Bush regime.

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/local/index.php?ntid=51596&nt_adsect=edit
A Madison soldier's family grieves while seething at military brass
'One wound after another'

By Steven Elbow
August 24, 2005

Every time the wound begins to heal at Ray and Diane Maida's house, something comes along to rub salt into it.

First came news that their son, Mark Maida, a 22-year-old Army sergeant, was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb on May 26. Then, a week after his death, the Army gave only hours' notice that the body would be arriving at Gen. Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, forcing the grieving family into a frantic scramble to retrieve it for a funeral two days later.

Letters and packages to Mark from home arrived for a time almost daily, marked "Return to sender." Then a slow trickle of possessions arrived from Iraq and his unit's base at Fort Irwin, Calif. To top it off, despite repeated efforts, Army officials failed to provide details of Mark's death. More than two months later, the Maidas finally got the details of his death, not from the Army, but from the Washington Post.

"It's just been one wound after another," Diane said. "And just about the time you think you're on the upswing, then you get shut down again with another incident."

For the Maidas, pain from the loss of their son has been compounded by countless snafus. Ray said an Army official even admitted, unofficially, that the Army lacked a proper protocol for dealing with the families of dead soldiers.

--MORE--


Ray Maida and his wife, Diane, hold photo of son Mark who was killed in Iraq. (Photo by Mike DeVries/The Capital Times)

[LTR]

1. Yes, but the Bushies call this...

...'supporting the troops'.

Get out those yellow ribbon magnets and pom-poms!

[fishnfla]

2. Situation normal:

all fucked up.


I like the fathers quote about the million dollar missile....

[opihimoimoi]

3. Blame Bush....the Buck stops at the TOP.

[G_j]

4. "Army lacked a proper protocol for dealing with the families"

no surprise,

families= low/no priority,

[wicket]

5. Heartbreaking

That poor family :(

[BQueen]

6. Did they just throw out *everything* from prior admins?

how could they not have a protocol? It's not like we never went through this before -- one would expect at minimum the same level of protocol in existence as there was for Vietnam (no one would expect this admin to move forward, but how do you move backward in this area?) :banghead:
Astonishing...recommended cuz this article hits all the horrifying points of this morass.

>>>Mark's brother, Chris, 24, was a Marine, serving only 10 miles from Mark's unit, although they never saw each other in Iraq. After several of his friends died from being blown up in their Humvees, Chris made it home safely on April 1.

"It's a glamorized pickup truck," he said. "We're riding around in Humvees that obviously aren't strong enough to withstand an IED (improvised explosive device) blast. Myself and all the Marines were pissed we were put in this position."

When he found out that Mark was patrolling in a Humvee, not a Bradley, Chris' first instinct was to try to save his brother.

"Chris, the week before Mark died, he was begging him, begging him not to get into Humvees," Ray said.

Chris later recounted the conversation.

"'Tell them you refuse, you know, it's not worth your life,'" Chris remembered telling Mark over the phone.

Chris said the reason troops in Iraq are patrolling in Humvees instead of fighting vehicles is the cost, which makes many soldiers feel like they are expendable.

"If they feel the troops are worth it, why not spend the money?" he said. "It's human life. You can't put a price on it, so I don't see why they're putting them in this position."<<<

:grr:

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Unfuckingbelievable!

Goddamn Media whores should be covering this! Support the Troops my ass!

"It's a glamorized pickup truck," he said. "We're riding around in Humvees that obviously aren't strong enough to withstand an IED(improvised explosive device) blast. Myself and all the Marines were pissed we were put in this position."

So how many soldiers died needlessly because their Humvees weren't up armored? Billions for this war and the troops aren't protected! But Halliburton's profits are up 24%! :grr:

Hey you lurking bush loving FReeptards, how's this square with ya?

[BlueJac]

7. That figures

[CornField]

8. Did you read the WaPo first-hand account?

Toward the end:

One day a (Walter Reed) nurse came in to ask Rodgers if he wanted to meet President Bush, who was visiting the hospital. Rodgers declined.

"I don't want anything to do with him," he explains. "My belief is that his ego is getting people killed and mutilated for no reason -- just his ego and his reputation. If we really wanted to, we could pull out of Iraq. Maybe not completely but enough that we wouldn't be losing people -- at least not at this rate. So I think he himself is responsible for quite a few American deaths."

...

Rodgers says he also declined to meet Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice. This wounded soldier has lost faith in his leaders, and he no longer believes their repeated assurances of victory.

"It's gonna go on as long as we're there," he says. "There's always gonna be insurgents trying to blow us up. There's just too many of 'em that are willing to do it. You're never gonna catch all of 'em. And it seems like they have unlimited amounts of ammunition. So I don't think it's ever gonna end."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/09/AR2005080901441_pf.html

There's more in that article.

His unit needed a base and the suitable site they found was home to a family. They kicked the family out.

They would be send out on midnight raids for illegal weapons and whatnot. He says that they'd often raid the wrong property -- it was dark and they were working from aerials.

The reporter who listened to this fellow talk seems to be a bit confused about how monotoned and easily the recount of these things is done. From personal experience, I can tell you this reporter hasn't interviewed many war veterans. First you ask a question and their eyes turn inward for a flash and then question if you really want to hear the answer. When they do begin to speak, the tone is similar to someone ordering in a restaurant, although less animated than the order would be.

I am so completely saddened and disheartened that another group of young men will be interviewed and speak in monotone of things of which they aren't sure if they should be proud or ashamed.

[Kingshakabobo]

9. If this story doesn't break your heart, you don't have one. n/t

[Oreo]

10. Here's the Washington Post article

This is the article that the parents read to find out how their son died... it's tragic. It's what everybody should know is happening to our troops. I bolded the part about the son of the original article but the rest is equally disturbing/heartwrenching. Could you imagine reading this about your own son???

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/09/AR2005080901441_pf.html

"So we're driving down the road and it's midnight, so it's pitch-black, and when you're driving at night, you don't use any lights," says Terry Rodgers, "but we can see fine because we've got night vision goggles."

-snip-

"We're driving down this road and there's this tiny bridge over a little canal," he says. "They had rigged up this bomb and they had a tripwire running across the bridge and we hit it and it blew up."

-snip-

"The Humvee finally comes to a stop and the right side is just torn apart and I hear my squad leader screaming, 'I think I lost my arm!' And my best friend Maida was in the front passenger seat where the bomb went off and he was screaming, 'Where's help? Where's help?' And then he went quiet.

"And me, I'm trying to crawl out of the Humvee and I get most of my body out and just this leg is stuck and I thought it must be caught on something in the twisted metal. I look back and I see it's just laying there on the seat, so I'm like, 'Why is it stuck?' So I try to lift my leg up and it won't lift. I just had to pick up my leg and crawl the rest of the way out."

[renate]

21. thanks for the link to that article

well worth reading--it's horrifying and so sad, but it's not as though covering our eyes and ears is going to make the evil go away.
:cry:

[annabanana]

11. devastating... involuntary servitude, indeed

"Mark's legacy: When speaking of the stop-loss policy, which he considers a back-door draft, and his family's attempts to get Mark home, Ray's voice rises.

"Mark would want to pursue people's knowledge about stop-loss, that there are kids being kept in," he said, "that there's this, what I call involuntary servitude, that we fought the Civil War to stop."

[Karenina]

13. WHAT will it take?

[cbear70]

14. in tears

I read this story and the link for the other one. I am disgusted at our government for the way they are treating the troops. I wish more articles would get out and flood the media.

My heart breaks for the Maida's and all the other families who have lost loved ones in this lie.

[Oreo]

15. My wife's friend's sister was engaged to Mark.

It was very sad when we initially found out about his death.

This should be a national story... our soldiers and their families are being treated with disrespect and there's no end in site.

I hope Russ Feingold screams about this one.

[smoogatz]

16. Bush understands their anguish.

He's met with several of the families. It's hard work.

[PinkyisBlue]

20. Newsweek Propaganda

Did you (or anyone) read the puff piece in August 22's Newsweek magazine about Bush's emotional meetings with families of soldiers killed in Iraq? The article portrays Bush as genuinely compassionate during his meetings with grieving families and crying real tears with them. I read it, and immediately the word "propaganda" came to my mind. It seems like it was written and published to counteract the enormous effect Cindy Sheehan is having on Bush's image.

If Bush is so broken up by the death of these soldiers, why did he start this war to begin with, and why doesn't he work to end this invasion?

[ewagner]

17. That's a devastating article

It belies everything Bush* is saying about "supporting the troops"

This should be published everywhere......

[dchill]

18. Time for the ultimate "stop loss" -

Bring them ALL home and impeach Bush.

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

19. How can WashPost be so insensitive? (Bushies always blame the messenger)

[Ron Mexico]

22. Leave it to that liberal rag to spoil everything, a-HYUK

Way to go, Bushies. That sucking sound I wish you were hearing is every single one of you pieces of shit being flushed down the crapper.

[Dover]

23. Vets have awakened......

[Oreo]

24. I just found out the family is going to be on Nightline next week