The Weekend Warriors' War... well written, good read...

[Breeze54]

The Weekend Warriors' War

The second smallest state in population is rich in sweet syrup, cozy inns,
and expensive ski slopes. But in the shadows of the Green Mountains,
Vermont's rural poverty is encouraging young people to seek out a better life
through the National Guard - and now disproportionate numbers of them
are coming home in flag-draped caskets.

National Guardsman Chris Chapin gave his life in Iraq, his dusty
boots a testament to his service in the desert city of Ramadi.
(Globe Staff Photo / Michele McDonald)

By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | April 23, 2006

THE POPULAR IMAGE OF VERMONT is of a four-season outdoor paradise, a place that draws
the restless, the retirees, and the rich, who drive over romantic covered bridges into
lush mountain valleys and drizzle fresh maple syrup over their buttermilk pancakes at
a cozy B&B. But the people who have always lived here know a less idyllic Vermont, where
the expensive ski slopes and stereotypical inns mask a privation that makes joining the
National Guard an act of economic self-preservation for many of the state's young people.

It's an attractive way to make money, get an education, hang out with your buddies for
years after high school, and enjoy the outdoors on weekends.
And despite their libertarian idiosyncrasies, Vermonters have long maintained a visceral
tie to the military that can be traced to the Revolutionary War legacy of Ethan Allen and
the Green Mountain Boys.
Later, in the War of 1812, the vulnerable border with Canada was guarded by state militia.
In the Civil War, Vermont lost more men per capita than all but one Northern state and even
was raided by Confederate cavalry. And in 1941, Vermont declared war on Nazi Germany -
three months before the federal government got around to it.

Last month, I drove past the Trapp Family Lodge and the Stowe ski resort, past quaint country
inns and majestic Mount Mansfield, to job-poor Lamoille County, where the bloody war in Iraq
has beaten a winding path. Here, at Peoples Academy in Morrisville, in a school gymnasium
where hundreds sit on worn wooden bleachers and creaking metal chairs, another Vermont
community has gathered to mourn another soldier killed in that faraway conflict.

The sorrowful on this day wear plaid shirts and oversize rubber boots, crisp military
uniforms and honor-guard gloves, ill-fitting ties and creased white shirts just out of
their boxes.
And one, the devastated teenage son of the dead soldier, wears an altar boy's robe on a
makeshift stage where a funeral Mass is said below the two-century-old flag of the Green
Mountain Boys of Vermont.

The widow of Specialist Christopher Merchant, a National Guardsman killed on March 1 by
a rocket-propelled grenade, eulogizes her husband as "a hero, an honorable man, a soldier."
The widow's eyes are hidden by sunglasses; her body shakes. And then Monica Merchant's
composure shatters like the Humvee that had been carrying her spouse outside Ramadi,
her words overwhelmed by a high-pitched wail. Escorted sobbing from the stage, led to her
seat by the gray metal casket, the mother of four clutches a folded American flag to her
breast, clasps one of her small daughters with the other arm, and rocks back and forth
throughout the Mass in a slow, inconsolable rhythm.

Continued...
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/04/23/the_weekend_warriors_war/

[babylonsister]

1. Good morning, Breeze. Any idea where I might get that

bumper sticker? I have one, but it's really faded, and I love that sentiment! It's applicable to everyone!

[Breeze54]

2. sure do!

Go here... http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/stickers-ss5.html

[babylonsister]

3. Thank you! I'm ordering one today! nt

[Breeze54]

4. You are most ...

welcome! :)

[Acebass]

5. I like it myself...thanks!...

You don't suppose this is some kind of psychotic thing that has to do with the fact that, when he was temporarily in the guard, they stayed home while the regulars went and fought do you?...