My boss' nephew was killed in Iraq on Tuesday

[krispos42]

Forrest John Waterbury, age 25, married not quite a year and with an adopted kid.

My boss' relatives did not find out until Wednesday. That was the day my boss left his cel phone at home.

When he got home, after a long night shift where the machinery was acting up (again), he found both his voice mail and answering machine full of bad news.

My boss is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. After work yesterday (where he told me about his nephew) we went back to his place and drank a toast of irish whiskey to Forrest John.

We talked over a beer for about an hour and a half while my boss told me about his nephew, his new wife, his wife's child that he had adopted. About how he had joined up after high school, and how proud he was to be in the Army, driving a tank. About how, at the first family reunion after he joined up, he said "I guess now I'm legally required to salute you!"

We talked further, about how my boss had had notification duty twice in his career, once during the Gulf War and once after a Minnesota Guardsman was killed in a rollover accident during the Olympics in Atlanta, and how hard that duty was.

Forrest Waterbury, John to his friends, was apparently killed by small-arms fire from his position as tank commander of an M1A1 Abrams, a job which typically entails popping your head out of the turrent's hatch on a regular basis.

The Houston Chronicle has a story about it here.

And here is his picture:




I think my boss could use some good vibes, DUers.


Requiescat in pace, Specialist Forrest John Waterbury, Unites States Army. :patriot: :cry:

Taps
music by Brig. Gen. Butterfield, 1862
lyrics by unknown

Fading light, dims the sight;
And a star, gems the sky, gleaming bright;
From afar, drawing nigh;
Falls the night...

Day is done, gone the sun;
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest;
God is nigh...

Then goodnight, peaceful night;
Till the light, of the dawn, shineth bright;
God is near, do not fear;
Friend, goodnight...

[Beelzebud]

1. Ugh, so tragic... My condolences to the family.. No words can help..

This is why we fight the Bush regime...

[rurallib]

2. So sorry for the young man's family. What a waste.

[LaurenG]

3. ...

I am deeply saddened by this and my condolences to your boss and his family.

[Swede]

So sad,only 25.

Rest in peace,John.

[lisa58]

4. I'm so sorry...

...this all has to end soon.

[atreides1]

5. My condolences to your boss and his family

There are no words that can be said at this time that will bring peace to the family of this young man.

So I can only offer my deepest condolences.

[Dinger]

6. My Sincere, Heartfelt Condolences To John's Family

In his memory, I will continue to have my class write to soldiers in Iraq, and I will continue to send packages to soldiers there. Yes, I am really doing this, not making it up just to say something nice. I care about our soldiers, I just wish they could come home.

[SeattleGirl]

7. My condolences to your boss and this young man's family.

[LisaM]

8. Your boss sounds like a nice guy

I feel terribly for him. Not that it really matters in this context, but was a supporter of the Iraq war? All these senseless deaths, I just hope it makes people think about the blind patriotism (I'm not saying that your boss felt this way - just my curiousity). It was nice of you to hang out with him and try to comfort him.

[krispos42]

17. He's a nice guy, A little crusty, but he can laugh at himself pretty well

Kind of reminds me of Jack Cafferty on CNN. Old-school conservative, not this neocon crap. I like him enough to help him move, so that should tell you something. And he was nice enough to buy me a wicked nice, completely unsolicited, and illegal in some states present in return. :-)

[The Doctor.]

18. I won't deny that I am also curious,

but that is not an appropriate consideration under the circumstances.

I agree with your assesment of blind patriotism, but our sentiment is shared condolence.

[LisaM]

28. I know - I was trying to be sensitve to his pain

but hopeful that maybe his heart was moved as well. There are still a lot of other young men and women there.

[The Doctor.]

49. So many hearts are moved these days.

Humanity has a universal intolerance for despotism.

Those that send our brave men and women to their deaths for no other purpose than profit heap our wretched disdain upon themselves.

From me to LisaMarie; 'May the lies of the past encourage peace in our future'.

That's just the way it should be, regardless. It is incumbent upon us to educate those who are still misguided about this administration... and give solace to the grief-stricken above all.

[krispos42]

32. He seems lukewarm to the war in Iraq

He's a Vietnam vet, so he has that perspective of what a high-casualty war is really about. I think he as a different take on the relatively low numbers of killed and wounded we have in Iraq. But we didn't talk about Iraq much, or rather the reasons for being there. News of the day stuff was more common. But he didn't seem particularly enthused about it.

Tax policies and unions are much more fun to talk about! :-)

[The Doctor.]

47. More palatable as well.

I understand. Thank you for being there.

May God Bless him and grant he and his family serenity.

[EFerrari]

9. Comfort to you all.

I'm so sorry.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. RIP Soldeir

:patriot:

[Ilsa]

11. Richmond Tx is just up the road from me.

We've lost alot of Texans in this illegal mess. My condolences to your boss and his nephew's family. I feel for his wife, raising a child alone.

God Bless them all, and may he rest in peace.

[AuntPatsy]

12. My condolences go out to his family and friends, I could not

imagine the heart ache all these families must be going through, my heart goes out to them all.

[npincus]

13. How awful. So many broken hearts.

So many lost lives.

May B*sh burn in Hell forever.

[Old and In the Way]

14. Condolences to the family.

A goddam shame to read these type of posts here. The wasting of too many American soldiers because this administration lied about the causus belli and are using our troops to support Exxon-Mobil's bottom line...has got to stop.

[ninkasi]

15. My deepest sympathies

to your boss and the rest of the young man's family. This is such a tragic way for a young life to be ended. This is why we need to get out of Iraq now.

[babylonsister]

16. And for what?

That was a beautiful tribute. RIP, Forrest John. :cry:

[TwilightGardener]

19. Yet more loss of our best and brightest. May God bless him and his family.

[MLFerrell]

20. My age...

And he died for a lie.

Yol Bolsun, my brother, yol bolsun.

[barbtries]

21. i'm so sorry

so, so sorry. oh.

[Initech]

22. RIP

That's horrible, this is why I hate this piece of shit war. :grr:

[AnneD]

23. Hubby

substitute teaches at Terry (has for years)and recognized him. Condolences to everyone, it's a sad day in Richmond. He mentioned that someone else from that area died. Think it was a female soldier of family living there. That was a real shocker to him. She worked in her father's business and had helped him several times and then he goes in one day and she's gone. Too many good kids are being sacrificed for a bad war.

[Straight Shooter]

24. You wrote a beautiful tribute.

May Forrest rest in peace. His work on Earth is done.

:patriot:

[krispos42]

33. Thank you very much. n/t

[UrbScotty]

25. May he, and all of our fallen, rest in peace

Amen.

:hug:

[CrazyOrangeCat]

26. Too much madness.

:cry:

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. *hugs and prayers to the family*

[Botany]

29. Blessings and prayers for his spirit, family, and friends

Forrest John Waterbury :patriot:

:cry:

How many more, how many?

Golden Slumbers
(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

[CrazyOrangeCat]

36. very apropos . . .

sweet music. how can it possibly have been almost 40 years ago?

Abbey Road was the first album I ever bought with money from my first job as a kid.

innocent hopeful days . . .

[LiberalinNC]

30. I'll raise a glass of Jamison in his honor tomorrow!!

RIP Army Spc. Forrest Waterbury

[wryter2000]

31. I'm so sorry

Please pass my condolences to his family. :cry:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

34. My deepest condolences to his family.

To lose a child is to grieve forever.

[doublethink]

35. There are no words to appropriately express the reactions .....

I have to posts of this magnitude on D.U. So I usually just say a silent prayer for the loved one lost and fight harder to bring this mess to an end. We all grieve for your loss and I say that from all of us here on D.U. These are our children, each and every one of them, and us; DNA has nothing to do with it. Maybe to give a face to this here on D.U. we should have a separate forum for the fallen. In their service to our Country, and ALL those who have passed on needlessly, Americans and Iraqi's ... I don't know. "Is the 'surge' working?" What a callous question in the overall scheme of things; LIFE. Peace my friend, hugs, tears and love..... to you and yours.

[DemBones DemBones]

37. Please convey my condolences to

John's family via your boss. I will pray for the family and for John's soul. I come from a military family, remember the wake my parents held in our home after a friend, a pilot, was killed. This was during the cold war, the engines failed, the plane went down, and "Frenchie" was killed. That was just the first military death I experienced as a child. Any veteran or military brat can tell you about the hardships of military life.

Every man and woman in the military knows they could die in the line of duty, even when there is no war, and they deserve our respect at all times. They are in Iraq because they were ordered to serve there. I hope John's family knows, and that John knew, that our opposition to the war does not mean that we don't appreciate their willingness to serve or that we blame them for the war.

Requiescat In Pacem, John.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

38. RIP

:cry: :patriot:

Mt heart goes out to you and your boss :hug:

[krispos42]

39. Thank you all

I'll be emailing him the link to this post. Probably tomorrow. I didn't tell him I was going to do this. Hopefully it will help. Somehow.

[rockymountaindem]

40. Please give him all our condolences n/t

[Dr Fate]

41. Real folks with real stories. Thanks for "being the media." n/t

n/t

[still_one]

42. It is sad. One question, and it is important, in 2004 I wonder who they voted for?

The kid enlisted way before this administration was in charge, and in 2000 people didn't know about the recklessness of this administration, but if the parents or even your boss voted for bush in 2004, what did they expect?

[Hepburn]

43. Condolences to your boss and his family. n/t

[file83]

44. Can't they put a bullet proof transparent cylinder around the area they expose their heads?

Those tanks cost millions and millions of dollars, and they can't protect the driver from fucking small arms gun fire?

Hats off to that young man, John, who died serving his country.

And a loud FUCK YOU to George W. Bush. There's another 1000 years of bad karma you're gonna have to pay for you asshole.

[krispos42]

52. I don't think so

They still have to be able to man the machine gun, which is the primary tool in keeping RPG crews away and supporting the infantry. I understand that there are a number of small viewing slits all round the tank with thick bullet-resistant glass in them, but the visibility is limited compared to the open all-round view.

All things equal, I think I'd rather be the gunner.

Thank you for your sympathies. :-)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

45. Each loss of life deprives each one of us of a portion of our humanity

My condolences and may he RIP :hug:

[uppityperson]

46. oh hell. My condolences to family, friends.

RIP

[Ghost in the Machine]

48. R.I.P. Soldier .....

condolences to the family and friends.

[spindrifter]

50. May he rest in peace.

[AnnieBW]

51. May The Gods Welcome This Warrior

into Valhalla! In the meantime, hugs for your boss and his family.

Damn * and Cheney for this stupid war...

[krispos42]

53. Update: here's the DOD confirmation

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=10624

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Forrest J. Waterbury, 25, of Richmond, Texas, died Mar. 14 near Ramadi, Iraq, when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

For further information on this soldier, contact the Fort Stewart public affairs office at [phone].

[Bucky]

54. Damn

Why aren't people smarter than this? Why are we sending honorable, decent young people to die for the hubris of old men?