Kentucky community hit hard by helicopter deaths over two weeks copes....

[54anickel]

with rising death toll.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/7279095.htm

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - A day before the funeral Mass for one parishioner killed in Iraq, the congregation at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church prayed Sunday for 17 other soldiers in the same division killed in the crash of two Black Hawk helicopters.

The deaths Saturday marked the largest single loss of life for the 101st Airborne Division since 1988, when 17 soldiers died in the collision of two Black Hawk helicopters during training.

"What I see here is deep concern and I see fear. I see the unknown and I see people turning to one another," the Rev. Carl McCarthy said after Mass at the church in Hopkinsville, 15 miles north of Fort Campbell.

Spc. Ryan T. Baker, 24, of Brown Mills, N.J., was one of five soldiers identified by the Department of Defense as having perished in the crash.

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[MrSoundAndVision]

1. Right here in KY

It's big news, but the media is for the most for right wing, so it's all about the heroes, none about this filthy war and questioning the war machine. I bet those families feel different.

[pasadenaboy]

2. I hate to say it, but

I bet they still vote Republican. I hope someone finally wakes up in the South and realizes what these republicans are doing to the country. If a democrat had been president, their sons and daughters would still be alive.

[Voltaire99]

3. Democrats voted for this war, too

I share your sentiments, but this is a bipartisan war, unfortunately. Remember who gave Bush the green light to invade: Congressional Dems were in a hurry to say yes.

[Swede]

4. On phoney intelligence doctored up to look like Saddam had

nuclear weapons ready to go,don't ever forget that.

[RamboLiberal]

5. Some of them are rethinking US and 101st's involvement

This from WPost:

The twin jolts of misery have left many in this town, normally a bedrock of support for the war like so many other military communities, feeling jittery and increasingly impatient with a conflict that shows no signs of ending.

"My eye is twitching all the time -- stress," said Brianne Strandberg, 19, a hotel desk clerk whose husband, Pfc. Harley Strandberg, has been in Iraq since February. "After all the helicopter things, I want to tell him to bury himself in the sand and not move."

She also wants to tell him something else: "Okay, it's time to come home now."

Strandberg is new to military life; her husband shipped out for Iraq in February, one month after they were married, leaving her alone in an unfamiliar town. But the other women around her, many toughened by years of seeing off their husbands for long deployments, are saying essentially the same thing: They support the troops. They believe in the cause. But enough is enough.

<snip>

"I'm frustrated. . . . It's very scary," said Pam Millard, 29. "We understand why they're over there and what they're doing. But we want our guys home."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49578-2003Nov16.html

[Solly Mack]

6. The 3 MP's from the 716th were also out of Campbell and w/ the 101st

it's been a bad several weeks for Campbell. My husband's company is also the "screaming eagles"....attached to them via the aa mp's. Yes, there are air assault MP's.