Jeff's Afghan Diary: A Different Kind of War

      Last week I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio).  I heard a news report of a memorial service in Missouri for a National Guard soldier who was killed in Afghanistan.  He was 47 years old, just two years younger than me.  He left behind a wife and three children, just like my family.  He was assigned duty with an Afghan Army battalion, and he was training them, just like I am going to be doing.

      He was killed in a firefight - a small arms battle.  The Afghan Army unit he was with came under attack, and he became one of the casualties.

      The NPR report talked about the memorial at his home town.  It made me shudder.  I, too, could come home in a flag-draped box.

      The statistics favor my coming home safely.  Fortunately, most American soldiers return home more or less in the same physical condition as when they left.  Some do not - they return missing limbs, or with less functionality.  Some come home under the flag.

      The flag of the United States once used to be used only for those killed in the service of our country.  It represented that the soldier in the casket had given his or her life, and the nation showed its respect in return by covering his or her remains.

      A little while ago, a 52-year-old woman was killed in Iraq.  She became the oldest female soldier to die from hostile action.

      This has been a very different kind of war.

-- Jeff Courter

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