Coming of age in a time of war (Seattle TImes) ....sad....very sad...

[diamond14]

a very sad story about young men KILLED for bush* non-existent WMD's...in a third world country that was no danger to us....sad...they were duped by bush*




http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002191414_threemarines27m.html



Sunday, February 27, 2005


Coming of age in a time of war

By Beth Kaiman
Seattle Times staff reporter


Three high-school seniors, Cody (from left), Garrett and Nathan, pledged to take the journey together. They would join the Marines, leaving their carefree days behind.


Any other year, the boys might have been fine. But Nathan, Garrett and Cody were the Class of 2003. Their deadline for growing up came while the country was at war. They weren't driven by 9/11 rage and didn't really talk about Iraq. They just saw the Marines as the quickest route to manhood.

Now, Nathan is dead. Shot twice as he hurled a grenade into an apartment house in Fallujah. Garrett has been wounded, once in the back, once in the eye. And Cody, who came up with the idea that they all join up, works weekdays as a parts driver at Ford of Kirkland. He never made it out of boot camp.



Lance Cpl. Garrett Ware holds captured weapons in this photo taken in Iraq in July. He was wounded in Fallujah on Nov. 9.



Rex and DeEtte Wood with a drawing of their son, Nathan, a Marine lance corporal, at their Kirkland home. Nathan was killed Nov. 9 during the invasion of Fallujah.



DeEtte Wood holds the watch her son, Nathan, was wearing when he was killed. Set on Iraqi time, the watch still sounds a wake-up alarm every night.


After the funeral, Garrett remained home to recover from his injury and worked at the Woodinville recruiting station where he'd signed up. He thought a lot about Nathan.

And day by day, he learned the fate of his Marines: Two in his four-man team were killed in Fallujah. The third was shot in the hand and came home. In all, five of the 40 or so in his platoon were killed and about 16 were wounded, Garrett says.

"I grew a brotherhood like no other with these guys," Garrett said. "You don't expect death at all, you know?" On Dec. 20, what would have been Nathan's 20th birthday, Garrett, Cody, Drew and Tyler Sadowski visited his grave.

[NEOBuckeye]

1. ...

They always think they are so invincible. And they fall for this bullshit, every single time.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Not saying in this particularly sad case.... but in general, I wonder if

a slumping economy isn't a tool used to remove the need for a draft... I know I shouldn't think like that... but I do wonder. Either way it stinks to high heaven what has befallen these young men... and all for naught, if anything, as was stated on CSPAN today by Peter Bergen and others, the Iraq adventure has inflamed millions and put our "approval" rating in ME countries as close to ZED as one can get. I would say that in many areas it truly is ZED and furthermore, it was stated that in the future, you will see Iraqis as members of Al Aqaida, something you most likely never would have seen had it not been for the little swaggering napoleonic AL from Texas.

[SoCalDem]

3. Of course it is.. It also is "masking" a high unemployment figure

ALL of these young men and women in the guard and the ones recently signed up into active military HAD OTHER JOBS.. jobs that have now been filled by formerly unemployed people. They drop off the unemployment roles, ans the gullible young people go off to war.:(

Jobs are still scarce, so the "new" kids coming out of school are facing even direr job prospects, so they join up.:(

For employers it's a win-win. They can easily hire the qualified, yet unemployed when their employees get called up.. Why would they hire a fresh out of high schooler, when they can get a guy with experience whose job was outsourced? He will work for peanuts and is already trained.. The kids are the cannon fodder.:(

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Sooooo, that takes me to the MM scene where he was offering to sign

up representatives kids to go to war.... uh uh... ain't gonna happen... pity... an actual real live crying shame.