Who Mourns Our Fallen Soldiers?
Posted by StormWarning on 11 Jul 2008 at 02:19 pm | Tagged as: Commentary, Iraq
Maybe unnoticed by some, within the last 24 hours the remains of Army Sergeant Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty, the two Army men kidnapped last May, were found and ID’d. Their fathers mourn.
Fouty’s stepfather, Gordon Dibler of Oxford, Michigan: he’s “still in shock” but the news comes as a “very sad relief” and that his thoughts are with the “other men and women who are still doing their job over there.” Sergeant Jimenez’s father says the news “shattered all hope”
But do we mourn as a Nation for these men, kidnapped by al Qaeda, or is a Defense Dept. press release sufficient? I wonder what ops conditions allow men to be kidnapped from the battlefield. I wonder what it means that they were never sought or found or rescued.
al Qaeda, Fouty, Jimenez
I had not heard this, thanks for the info. I posted on these several times when they went missing. I will do a tribute post on them.
We’ve had company the last couple of days, probably be here another week. I can’t seem to catch up with anything. I’m information deprived, ha.
p.s. They were sought, I remember the military combing the area on foot, via the air, and special units assigned with no other duty except searching for these men.
Whatever was done, it wasn’t enough. There were “discussions” about tactics. The question also arises, what happens the next time?
According to the Beeb:
The US military offered rewards of up to $200,000 (£101,000) for information leading to the return of the three soldiers, who vanished after the 12 May attack on two Humvees near Mahmudiya.
For days after the ambush, thousands of US and Iraqi troops searched the area, known as the “triangle of death” because attacks by insurgents were so common.
Four other US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter also died in the attack.
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These men were captured by AQ. Despite the tragic news, maybe it’s a good sign we’ve located their remains, or someone felt safe enough to inform us, etc.
RIP
Contrarily, I knew about the “efforts” but its the lack of abilities to have found them that is my point. And as for finding their bodies now, it might well be a “message” from AQ.
I realize this post may never be read, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am a US Army Reservist presently attached to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division headquartered at FOB Iskan, just across the Euphrates River from Jurf as Sahkr, Iraq. Jurf as Sahkr, or “Jurf” to those of us who patrol the area on a daily basis, was one of the last AQI strongholds in Anbar Province. This area was only recently “awakened” by the Coalition Forces. I’ve been here for months now, doing the dirty work of convincing the locals that we are right and AQI is bad and so on, but my primary concern was to locate the remains of our MIA Soldiers. For the past year, we never gave up on those Soldiers. We conducted leaflet drops from Blackhawk helicopters, blared messages of support to them (although we were quite certain they had been murdered) and messages to the enemy that we would not rest until they were found. I can assure you that the every measure to locate those brave men was taken (within the boundaries of the Law of Warfare, of course). Although I can not tell you how we collected the information that led to the recovery of these men’s remains, I can tell you that it was most certainly not a “message” from AQI. AQI heard our “message” in Jurf as Sahkr, and it was usually delivered with precision guided missiles and 25mm machine-gun spitting hell’s fire from a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. These days, violence in Jurf has fallen to the lowest level since 2003. We are discovering enormous weapons caches that the fleeing AQI cowards could not take with them and uncovering DBIEDs (Deep-Buried IED) that have laid dormant for years. We are rebuilding schools, medical clinics, and local governance centers. Since the recovery of SGT Jimenez and PFC Fouty, the Government of Iraq and Coalition Forces have opened up their wallets to the good people of Jurf and the level cooperation with and gratuity for the Soldiers of the Iraqi and American military is overwhelming. Keep in mind that most of the residents of rural areas, where AQI dominated every aspect of life, fled their homes to avoid those murderous bastards and returned to find leveled homes and slaughtered livestock (both common tactics, techniques, and procedures of AQI members prior to their departure). These people came out to the hasty burial site of our Soldiers because what we found was not just the remains of our Fallen, but those of some 60 locals who stood up to AQI and were executed en masse.
I have spent the good part of the early hours of my day reading through your blog, StormWarning, and find that we agree on most things. As my favorite talk show host and columnist Dennis Prager says, I prefer clarity over agreement. I clearly see your point in the last post but I believe you’ve digressed so far from your original post that I find it a little indigenous to think that our “efforts” lacked in looking for these men. As a fighting man who spent my first tour here as an infantryman, I can tell you that there is nothing more painful than losing a comrade, save the rare instance that your comrade is Missing in Action. And if you honestly believe that AQI has the cunning and savy to convey any more “messages” (other than “We’re getting our ass kicked in Iraq”) than you have not been paying attention.
I appreciate the forum and look forward to reading more of your informative and entertaining posts!
Sincerely,
Matt