Not that long ago Josh Freeman was a high school kid driving his first car. He came by the house for help in changing the oil. His "first" car was a used Dodge "sports" car. It was bright red and fit his outgoing personality. We went to the farm shop and attempted to loosen the oil pan drain plug. Age and neglect made the plug unyielding until we finally rounded all the corners on the nut. Luckily, a farmer friend, Darryl Huff showed us the genius of the family farmer. He found a larger nut in the shop and welded it to the old drain plug. We drained the oil, purchased a new plug and finished the task at hand.
Josh is now a sergeant in the U. S. Army National Guard. His unit is serving in Iraq. The 1132nd is a well trained unit of MPs. They are excellent at keeping young soldiers under "control" on post. They enjoy training other soldiers to police communities and keep the general peace. But from the news, this unit is now being used as a front line combat unit in a very unstable part of Iraq.
In the least few months, this unit has lost 5 men and had 17 injured. These brave Americans have been in this situation for over 9 months.
Josh and two others were on patrol last week. An IED exploded under their humvee.
Josh's best friend was killed and another of his men broke his neck. Josh broke ribs, dislocated a hip and sustained many cuts and bruises. In the middle of the all this Josh stayed with his men. Josh and these men are my heroes...
I voted for GWB twice. Those that know me know I am a conservative-libertarian- missional christian-American. I love this nation and have supported the military and mission. I have not been sure for a few years if entering Iraq is in the long term interest of the U.S.A. We may have been able to topple Saddam with international pressure and a well placed Special Forces operation.
Our National Guardsmen, our citizen soldiers, our first line of defense in the homeland need to be home. From my humble place and small voice, I must say this...It appears to me that the Iraq war is now a White House and Pentagon SNAFU.
May God have mercy on our leaders and bless our military men and women all over the world.
Josh's mom speaks from her heart...
Like our government's inability to control oil prices at the pump, I think they're unable to find a way to withdraw from Iraq with dignity. No matter how it turns out, the world will hate us; so we ought to do what is best for our soldiers and for America.
ReplyDeleteLarry
Thanks Jimmy.....I remember that day!
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