DOD Announces Casualties 09-11-Dec-09

[IndianaGreen]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 962-09
December 09, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOD Identifies Army Casualty

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

Sgt. Elijah J. Rao, 26, of Lake Oswego, Ore., died Dec. 5 in Nuristan, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13179

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 963-09
December 10, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Cpl. Xhacob Latorre, 21, of Waterbury, Conn., died Dec. 8 of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13180

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 966-09
December 10, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

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

Staff Sgt. Dennis J. Hansen, 31, of Panama City, Fla., died Dec. 7 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit Dec. 3 with an improvised explosive device in Logar province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13183

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 970-09
December 11, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOD Identifies Marine Casualty

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

Sgt. Ralph Anthony Webb Frietas, 23, of Detroit, Mich., died Dec 8. as a result of unknown causes in Baghdad. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, Marine Wing Support Group 17, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

The incident is under investigation.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13185

[dgibby]

1. RIP.

:cry: :patriot:

[Goldstein1984]

2. Good Soldiers

How many more before we say, ENOUGH?

[Amonester]

3. We said ENOUGH a long time ago.

But our ENOUGH has always been ignored by the Elite$ for the Empire.

(The haves and the havemores.)

And it will continue to be ignored until the Empire will have fallen.

To bankrupcy, when the third-worldization of the US will be complete.

There's no other explanation.

[Goldstein1984]

4. Well, I'm kind of getting pissed off...

My son is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan early in 2010.

[Amonester]

5. Didn't know that.

I wish him well, and to return ASAP.

[Goldstein1984]

6. Thanks. I wasn't mentioning it for sympathy...

it just seemed relevant as I was writing.

He's a good soldier and the strongest person I know. I know he'll be back. He'll have a wife and daughter waiting for him.

You know, this is off the subject of this thread, but I voted for Obama, and I'm wondering where the Obama I voted for went.

It was bad enough reading about the numbers killed, or reading their names. But Bush was president. You had to expect the world to be fucked up. I didn't expect Obama to pull everyone out overnight, but I also didn't expect him to start sending more people to fight a meaningless and un-winnable war.

I didn't expect Obama to be perfect of change the world. But he lost me--he 100% lost me--with his December 1st speech at West Point.

That's what I think when I read newspapers, or threads like this.

[Amonester]

8. Politicians will be politicians, I guess.

It wasn't the first time a candidate ran "appealing" to progressives (you know, "using" words they can relate to), only to let them down once he got in.

OTOH, or maybe it's true that "they" (the BFEE long hands in the fed. gov.) "know where his kids are" and it wouldn't surprise me one bit (but we'll never know for sure).

I don't know what else than a total collapse of the haves & havemores' empire is awating.

[Goldstein1984]

9. Collapse is good

If I can rush that collapse along, let me know how.

We've slashed holiday spending by 80%.
We are not purchasing durable goods.
We've reduced eating out to nothing.
We've disinvested in stock-based funds for retirement.
We've moved our money from banks to credit unions.
We are buying next to nothing.
I've even altered my work travel to reduce my flights by over 50%
All of our charitable contributions have been focused on NGOs that work shape the world the way we want it.
I write almost daily emails to Obama and my congressional delegation, plus Bernie Sanders.
I'm trying to get more engaged and better informed via sites like DU.
I am very vocal about my views.

We're looking for every way to check out of the system.

I want us to lose in Afghanistan. We NEED to lose in Afghanistan. We need the hubris knocked out of us. We need failure to assist with the disillusionment of the American people with their government.

[Amonester]

10. The fall of the haves & havemores' empire will be a good thing

for life on planet earth, at least.

I can't think of what else it will be good for at this moment.

[Goldstein1984]

11. Me either. By the time the economic elite are suffering...

everyone else will have been suffering more and for far longer.

I am not advocating this, but my gut tells me that "better" is waiting somewhere beyond "much worse." Too much apathy. Too much distraction with entertainment. Too much fear.

I just can't see a cancer curing itself.

We share a pessimism.

Thanks for the thread.

[IndianaGreen]

12. K&R to this, and to your other posts on this thread. You are touching a nerve.

I usually post the DOD casualty announcements without ever making a comment. They speak for themselves! I am making an exception here because you have touched a nerve at what is the core issue involving these permanent wars.

I have been posting about our dead and wounded, and our veterans being denied benefits in the Indiana forum. Our National Guard as had units deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for years, and they are not all young men and women, many middled age folks uprooted from work, family and friends. They are doing their duty, for they do not plan the wars that they must fight, nor reap the stock dividends that wars generate for the business of war. It is up to us to end the wars, and oppose even the President we helped elect.

The family of Army Sgt. Dale Griffin allowed the return of his remains at Dover to be photographed by the media. It was his casket that appeared in the photo of President Obama at Dover AFB.

So many lives lost and so many dreams shattered by the lack of political will to do the right thing in Afghanistan and bring our troops home. This is the ultimate outcome of our remaining in Afghanistan: more dead and more wounded with more innocent civilians finding themselves in the crosshairs of both sides of this conflict.

How many more funerals must our nation endure before the people rise up and say "Enough to war?"

Terre Haute parade salutes slain soldier

By Will Higgins
Posted: November 11, 2009

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The hearse rolling behind the snapping flags of the police department color guard gave grave significance to this Indiana city's Veterans Day parade.

The hearse carried the remains of Army Sgt. Dale Griffin of Terre Haute. A roadside bomb in Afghanistan killed him Oct. 27.

President Obama saluted the return of Griffin's remains to the United States two days later at Dover Air Force Base.

Many observers said this parade was better attended -- hundreds lined the eight-block route -- than most previous Veterans Day marches in this western Indiana city.

The crowd was silent as the hearse passed, with many people holding their hands over their hearts. A high school band played "God Bless America."

After the parade, Griffin's body will be taken to Terre Haute South Vigo High School. There, his funeral will begin at 2 p.m.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091111/NEWS/911110397/Terre+Haute+parade+salutes+hometown+son+killed+in+Afghanistan

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=151x7201

[Goldstein1984]

14. Thank you. I hope...

I am touching nerves in the same positive way that your original post did. There are so many important issues right now, all of them having profound impact on our future and the future of the planet, that sometimes they overshadow each other.

I can't overstate my disappointment, or anger, over the decision to escalate, or even continue with, this unnecessary war. However, I am pleased that President Obama is at least not hiding it from the American people the way Bush/Cheney did. I think posts like yours make the cost of these wars all the more apparent.

Just maybe, there will be a watershed moments, such was during the Vietnam Ware when Walter Cronkite publicly stated that we were losing, or when when Philip Caputo wrote "A Rumor of War."

Thank you for your post.

[amandabeech]

7. RIP.

I thank each of them for their service.

May their friends and relatives find peace.

:cry: :patriot:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

13. Thank you for doing this IndianaGreen

I have noticed you started doing this, we all need to see these names every week so we can remember the true cost of war, beyond political infighting and even dollars.