Faces of War

A student stopped by my office this summer to ask for some help using the online scheduler. When I was typing in her information and I asked her to spell her user name, she started spelling like this: "Charlie, Alpha..." I realize now that my head jerked around in surprise, and I reappraised this attractive, twenty-something woman. She looked a little abashed at her "spelling" and explained that she just got back to the states. Tentatively, I asked where she had been stationed. She said, "Iraq." I shook her hand and told her, "thank you," and I managed not to tear up (as I usually do) until she left my office. We returned to our business, and I got her scheduled.

I won't forget her, or my writing student, whose reserve unit was called up in 2001--I haven't seen her since. Or the student whose father's unit was called to Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. Or the newlywed, whose husband's unit was called up last year, and who was having trouble with assignments because of her anxiety issues. Or one of our campus leaders, whose unit was called up last fall when he was a Freshman Studies intern.

That's just a few of the faces I can put on the troops who have so decidedly out-performed the president and his administration in this ill-begotten and mismangaged war.

This is an interesting article on how veterans of Bush's war respond to the efforts to end the war and bring our troops home safely: "Rallies not taken as personal slight: Vets see protests as attack on policy."