A Father's Letter to His Son

I finished talking to you last Saturday, long distance from Germany, where you were helping load up your unit for movement to the Middle East. I didn’t get to tell you everything I wanted to say, partly because I am not very good at expressing myself on the spur of the moment, and partly because I wanted the conversation to be as upbeat as I could manage.

You are, it appears, heading off to war. Unfortunately, volunteering to join the Army, and putting yourself in jeopardy for the sake of your country does not generate the open admiration that it has in times past. I want you to know that I am very proud of you, though. You continue a family tradition of service to country that passed from my father’s service in Japan at the end of World War II, through my enlistment and that of my three brothers in our generation. I was the one who suggested that you enlist, but you were the one with the dedication and love of country to make the decision. I saw you go off to basic training right after graduation from high school…a gawky, typically unfocused teenage boy. You returned from basic and advanced training not gawky but solid and strong, not scatterbrained but with a calmness and maturity that was very surprising after three short months. You came back a man. A man that was all I ever hoped and dreamed you would be. I admire what you have become.

Your choice of combat engineers was a bit frightening…early into harm’s way is not what fathers dream of for their sons. And now, you are preparing to go fight, to follow the orders of those above you, and I am scared. Scared for your safety, and for the safety of all your fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

You may have heard of some of the dissenting voices back in the United States. As with all wars, there are those who believe we should not fight, or that the cause is not just, or that the whole thing just isn’t necessary. You will note that many of the voices raised in dissent are the same voices that we have heard many times… the appeasers, the weak minded, those with agendas we can only guess at, and, unfortunately also those who just plain hate this country. Oh, they are here…count on it. You could hear them throughout the years constantly finding fault with everything America does, belittling what we stand for and what we are. Unfortunately, those in the entertainment industry tend to be over-represented in these voices of dissent. What was it that John Adams said in “1776”? “Those cool men” (and women, of course)….who speak out loudly and with feeling, but stand back and let others do the dangerous and frightening work that must be done to protect the country and the people. You never see them volunteering to place themselves in danger. They are never the police officers, the firefighters, or the military men whose daily lives are service to country. Sarandon, Sheen, Penn, and the others….always the same names. They cry the same platitudes, “Peace, always peace”, “There is no proof”, “Why should we get involved?” Strangely, or perhaps not so, these were many of the same cries made in the late 1930’s, and by the time they were stilled, whole nations and peoples had been destroyed. No one expects Saddam Hussein to conquer countries as Adolf Hitler did (not that he hasn’t tried, though), but he is a man of intense evil, and a man who has proven to have no hesitation at using chemical and biological weapons against those he dislikes. And, my son, we are on that list. All it takes is to remember the pictures you have seen of the victims of these heinous weapons. The caustic burns, children’s chests heaving to take a breath, or, worst of all, the mounds of lifeless bodies. You and your fellow military men and women are gearing up to prevent these same pictures from appearing on our T.V. screens yet again, but with the locations being L.A., or Akron, or Washington, D.C.; and the people in the pictures being Americans, not some unknown tribe’s people from a far off land.

So, go forth with the knowledge that our cause is just, and the battle is necessary. And pay no heed to the dissenters, they are not the majority or even a significant minority of the people in this country. That majority of good people stand behind you and the rest of the servicemen. Those people know that to have a safe world, to have a safe America, we must protect ourselves against our enemies.

Go and do what you must do. Know that with all of my heart I love you, I respect you, and I am so very proud of you. The other fathers of America and I place our country, our safety and our future in your hands. I pray that God watches over all of you.

April 21, 2004

Associated Press -- TORRANCE, Calif. - Brian Wood, an Army sergeant killed in Iraq, had a passion for history and a wry sense of humor.

The soldier, who turned 21 just weeks before his April 16 death near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, once gave his sister a piece of paper with the word "Respect" on it as a Christmas gift.

"What?" he asked when she protested, "I gave you my respect."

Wood's family lowered an American flag to half staff outside their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance after learning of his death Friday.

The Department of Defense said Wood was killed by an apparent land mine along a road.

Wood "believed in what he was doing," his father, Greg, said. "He was so sure of that. He was so sure he was doing good."

Wood enlisted in 2001 and was stationed in Germany. In Iraq, he was a combat engineer responsible for searching for land mines and other explosives.

Friends and family recalled that Wood read history books cover to cover and that he was a quiet, sensitive person who comforted the ailing family cat for hours before it died.

"He was someone who would always be there," said Kevin McDonald, a friend since childhood. "He was just a genuinely great person. I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

In a letter to his uncle last week, Wood wrote that "the large majority of the Iraqi people, they want us here, and they want us to help them rebuild. That always makes me feel good about being here."

On April 15, Sgt. Brian Wood e-mailed his Uncle Mike from Iraq, where he was serving as a sapper with a combat engineer battalion. He wrote:

So it may be a long road ahead, but for the large majority of the Iraqi people, they want us here, and they want us to help them rebuild. That always makes me feel good about being here, actually making a difference in these people’s lives and giving them opportunities they’ve never had.

The next day, Brian Wood was killed in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, when a mine apparently exploded near his Humvee on the side of Highway 1. He was 21.

Wood, who grew up in Torrance, was with the 9th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany. Formed in 1917, the battalion fought at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II and in the first Persian Gulf War, leading the 1st Infantry Division through a breach in the desert berms, which led to the liberation of Kuwait.

More recently, Wood and his unit had served in both Bosnia and Kosovo. He was a member of Alpha Company, whose gung-ho motto is: “Sappers, Breach Hell!”

After he died, Battalion Commander LTC Blair Schantz wrote:

Sgt. Wood was the consummate professional; he strove for and achieved excellence in all that he did, both in and out of the Army. Brian was a Division Soldier of the Year finalist, smart, energetic and possessed of unlimited potential. Truly, he was the future of our Army. I looked forward to watching Brian continue to succeed; to achieve rank and to lead and mentor others. And I was confident about the future, knowing the Army we love was going to be in his good and capable hands. He was truly a part of the heart and soul of Alpha Company, and his spirit lives on in the standards he set, the soldiers he mentored, and the lives he touched.

The character traits praised by his commanding officer had been forged in his early years, according to his father, Greg Wood. “He was a guy always concerned about other people, not about himself,” he recalls. “We tried to instill in him a joy and love for his country.”

Brian’s great-grandfather, grandfather, father and three uncles all served in the U.S. military, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when, as a high school sophomore, he decided himself to enter the Army. He signed up as a senior for a delayed-entry program and chose to become a combat engineer. “I tried to talk him out of it,” his father says. “He was doing a pretty dangerous job.”

After basic and advanced individual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Brian was shipped to Germany. He was more than halfway through his four-year hitch when he was killed, scheduled to end his service in August next year.

As a boy Brian was “the quiet guy in the back of the class,” his dad says, “not rambunctious. A voracious learner and reader.” Bookshelves in his room held works of history, geography, politics, physics, philosophy, computer programming, the “Master and Commander” series, a biography of Leonardo da Vinci, a book on the Rosetta Stone.

Brian played nearly all sports, and while not excelling in any of them “he was the kid who didn’t mind what position he played, he was always hustling,” says his father, who was his baseball coach. “He was the guy, when he hit the ball, he ran like a demon, like every one was a home run.” He also was in Cub Scouts and played the trumpet in the Torrance West High School band.

Despite his mild demeanor, in 6th grade Brian showed he was no pushover. He had read several books by Rush Limbaugh given him by his dad, and when his social studies teacher criticized the commentator, “Brian got in a real argument with him,” his dad says.

Any spare time in high school, he devoted to an online game made by Sony called Everquest. Its Web site describes its adventures as taking place “in the twisted lands of a realm where war is persistent and death constant.” Brian played with several others, and even from Iraq “whenever he had a chance,” his dad says he’d play with friends back in the States.

In an essay for the Claremont Institute after Brian’s death, Julie Ann Ponzi, an institute fellow, wrote: “What a teacher he might have been! But what a man he was. What an American he was. We must re-double our efforts to produce more like him and, in so doing, let us learn from his example.”

During his last phone conversation with his father, Brian said: “Dad, we find stuff! It’s out there!”

“He was looking for mines in the middle of the night,” Greg Wood explains. “It wasn’t hidden on the road. It was somewhere off to the side. Brian stepped on a mine. There’s just no way to protect against that.”

Brian’s grandfather served in the Army Counterintelligence Corps during the Occupation of Japan after World War II. Greg Wood says that when his own father left the country, a crowd of Japanese civilians accompanied him to Haneda Airport to thank him for all he’d done for them and to wish him sayonara.

“That was another guy in the family who cared about people,” Greg says softly. “Now he and Brian can take care of each other.”

Sgt. Brian Wood, American Hero

This message was recently posted on FreeRepublic.com [LINK]:

“My brother Sgt. Brian Wood was killed in Iraq on April 16th and since his voice can not be heard any longer, our family is trying to get an email he sent to every American who is willing to read it. We thought this email, sent from Iraq Thursday morning, April 15th, from Sgt. Brian Wood (serving in the 1st Infantry Division) to his Uncle Mike, might help shed some light on the current war situation:”

Hey Mike, Sorry about getting this off kinda late, been pretty hectic around here recently. Not quite sure what you're hearing from the news, I don't get a whole lot of time to follow it. For the most I feel that the Iraqi people actually appreciate us being here. The attacks that are happening are basically a result of unemployment, and a few terrorists (or whatever you want to call them) paying people off to do the attacks. From what I've heard from the locals around my sector they are pretty much just trying to do what they can to improve their quality of life. But when so many people are out of jobs, they will pretty much do anything they can to make ends meet to provide for themselves and their families. There are many issues that need to be resolved as far as rebuilding their country. And though the people want as many issues resolved as quickly as possible, they can't be resolved that way in an efficient manner. There are already many Iraqi police and ICDC which are basically the guys we are going after, and they use the support of the coalition forces as a cover, so the rest of the people won't be able to fight back. So it may be a long road ahead, but for the large majority of the Iraqi people, they want us here, and they want us to help them rebuild. That always makes me feel good about being here, actually making a difference in these people's lives and giving them opportunities they've never had. It always amazes me how people don't think we should be here. I don't think they really understand what life is like here and how these people were treated.

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