700,000 casualties in Verdun. And a dead gunner in Afghanistan.

[Dyler Turden]

Nearly a quarter million killed on the battlefield and the rest were wounded or missing.

This happened before WMD and was up close and personal.

I met a young soldier at BWI last week who told me tales of IED, Afghanistan and his daughter. He felt it right for some reason or another for him to let lose what he saw and experienced. I was both blessed and damned by his confessions. The most startling was his narrative of his gunner's death.

We sat on a bench at the Baltimore airport. I had earlier sat at a bar with other returning soldiers and had bought them drinks until a Colonel stepped in and started buying everyone at the bar drinks courtesy of what he called "Uncle Santa." I had just stepped outside to grab a smoke.

He told me he had enlisted to be able to go to college. High price there for this young man.

To make a long story short, he described his gunner stepping on an IED and his legs disappearing in a mist. The gunner lived long enough to see his "guts" as the narrator termed them pool around his expiring torso. My Narrator saw this as well and will be haunted forever in my opinion as having heard the description first hand.

The things he was looking forward to the most was a "real" shower and to see his daughter. I'm pretty sure he got those things and I hope he enjoyed them. After many words on politics and the state of the world, I left him with the words "tell your commander that some old white guy at the airport said to keep you safe and get you back home as soon as possible."

Wherever you are now my friend, stay safe. Get through this and get back home to go back to school and raise your daughter. I love you, respect you and fear for your safety. We need you at home.

Yes, there have been more terrible battles in history but each soldier, each life, is precious and has so much to bring to the rest of us.

[SidDithers]

1. K&R...nt

Sid

[BeFree]

2. War

What is it good for?

And what of this war? What will be its epitaph? On another long low V?

What will we say about all this in ten years, if we live that long?

And what the people whose houses we are bombing say?

[Dyler Turden]

4. Good questions.

There is no excuse for war other than greed.

[deaniac21]

10. War, huh, yeah

What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all


War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me


Ohhh, war, I despise
Because it means destruction
Of innocent lives


War means tears
To thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
And lose their lives


I said, war, huh
Good God, y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again


War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me


War, it ain't nothing
But a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Ooooh, war
It's an enemy to all mankind
The point of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die
Aaaaah, war-huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it, say it, say it
War, huh
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me


War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me


War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, it's got one friend
That's the undertaker
Ooooh, war, has shattered
Many a young mans dreams
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious
To spend fighting wars these days
War can't give life
It can only take it away


Ooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again


War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me


War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way


Ooooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
You tell me
Say it, say it, say it, say it


War, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for
Stand up and shout it
Nothing

[Dyler Turden]

12. Man, that takes me back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8C4AIFgUg

[sad sally]

15. Since the Administration announced yesterday that we'd be there

until at least 2014, since the Afghan's wouldn't have their police/army ready until then, don't be surprised if 10 years from now the little kids who are 9, 10, 11 years old today will be shipping off to fight the endless Bush/Obama/??/?? war.
Makes me sick!

[Dyler Turden]

3. Thanks Sid.

This was a bit of a cathartic post. It has been eating at me since we met and I hope to write down our experience in a bit more cognizant manner later after I finish digesting all that was told to me. Suffice it to say that this 25 year old man had a lot more effect on me than I did on him.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Americans generally love war

Otherwise we probably wouldn't have had so many.

Don

[Dyler Turden]

9. I guess some love what they're good at.

[pansypoo53219]

6. more efficient killing.

progress.....

[Dyler Turden]

11. And it's a progress I could do without.

[dflprincess]

14. Fortunately there have medical advances to keep the fatalities down

The high casualty rates in WWI (and before) had as much to do with no antibiotics as anything else.

Not that even one death is justified.

[sad sally]

16. Don't forget all the toxic shit wars leave behind: birth defects, cancers, blown off limbs...

bodies, minds, souls, soil, air and water that will never be the same.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. Go rent All Quiet on the Western Front

The madness of war!

Young men dying to protect and further enrich wealthy elites. A story as old as time.

[Dyler Turden]

8. What a classic.

Both book and movie.

[Dyler Turden]

13. Going to kick this once because I do want to share it.