Posted on 06/03/2007 8:05:34 AM PDT by Creightongrad
Omaha native among dead in Afghanistan helicopter crash
BY TIM ELFRINK WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
When Bob Allgaier picked up his newspaper Thursday and read about a fatal helicopter crash in Afghanistan, his stomach churned.
He did his best to forget the story.
But later that afternoon, when two uniformed soldiers came to his door in west Omaha, he had no doubt why they were there.
"When I heard the doorbell ring and saw a black Suburban and the formal uniforms, I thought, 'This is not good. They don't come for social visits,'" Allgaier said Friday.
His son, Chief Warrant Officer Chris Allgaier, 33, a helicopter pilot with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, was among the five U.S. soldiers killed in the crash. A Canadian and a British soldier also died.
Shortly before the CH-47 Chinook crashed in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province, up to 40 U.S. soldiers streamed out of the helicopter in an air assault on a Taliban position, military officials said.
The helicopter may have been hit with a rocket-propelled grenade, officials told the Associated Press. The Taliban claimed responsibility for attacking the aircraft.
Chris Allgaier graduated from Creighton Prep in 1991 with a sparkling academic record and a 4.0 grade-point average, his father said.
He was easy-going and cheerful, and often played peacemaker between his younger sister, Sharon, and older brother, Rob, his family said.
"You couldn't ask for a better brother," said Sharon Allgaier of Omaha. "He was very empathetic. He was a very good listener, always there for me any time I needed to talk."
Chris Allgaier went to St. Louis University to pursue a long-time interest in flying, his father said.
"He was always picking up little model airplanes and aviation books when he was a kid," Bob Allgaier said.
After he graduated from the university in 1995 with a degree in aeronautical administration, he joined the Army to fly helicopters.
Chris Allgaier's deployment to Afghanistan in January was his second tour of duty in the country and came about a year after he returned from a year-long mission flying helicopters in Iraq, his sister said.
He lived in Spring Lake, N.C., near the 82nd Airborne's headquarters at Fort Bragg, with his wife and three daughters.
Allgaier's family and friends have struggled through a range of emotions since learning about his death, his father said.
"I catch myself going from choked up to upset and to mad about the whole damn situation," Bob Allgaier said. "Even though he had a high-risk job, you never really think this would happen."
His mother, Sally, died in 2004. In addition to his father and sister, Allgaier is survived by his brother Rob, of Omaha; and his wife, Jennie, and daughters, Natalie, Gina and Joanna, of Spring Lake, N.C.
Funeral services were pending.
As an alum of Prep, I can tell you that anyone who graduates with such a high rank is not only exceptionally smart but also extremely hard working.
Both Creighton Prep and St. Louis University are operated by the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.
When one of our best and brightest is killed in war every American loses part of his soul. But Chief Warrant Officer Allgaier and every other American killed or wounded in the War against the Islamists did not die or become injured in vain as we will win this war.
Why do we win?
Because at some point the "average" Muslim in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan comes to the realization that if they "win" this war they really lose. Put another way, what's in it for the "average" Muslim if the Islamists win?
Answer: A seventh-century theocracy that benefits a small group of immans and mullahs.
Human nature and self-interest at some point takes over. No one wants to go BACK in time on a permanent basis. And it also can't be done. You can't unring the bell of modernity.
A sharia-based society is a crummy and difficult life. The average Muslim likes the modern creature comforts of today. Things like satellite TV, the internet, running water and paved streets. Sharia law doesn't favor these things and tries to get rid of them.
At some point it will sink in that the homicide-suicide bombers are horrible and stupid people. Allah and the Prophet did NOT greet them in paradise upon the completion of their act of murder-suicide. They were tricked, naive and uneducated to fall for this stupid idea. There's a good reason why al Sadr and his ilk are NOT blowing themselves up. They are too busy chowing down on free food. And plenty of it!
So, what's the point?
In Latin, qui bono? Who benefits?
Women don't benefit in an Islamist society. They suffer horribly. They will wise up.
The Judeao-Christian society of the West is morally superior, technologically superior and it best serves the self-interest of the most people. Whatever bin Laden is advocating is NONE of these things and the average Muslim will figure it out at some point.
The people that we are fighting are a small group of uneducated barbrians. They are also cowards. We need to call them out on their cowardice and failed societies. We need to focus on what they will "achieve" for the majority of their people if they win; a crummy, crummy life for most people while a few so-called religious leaders lead a life of luxury.
My main concern is that our politicans have about half the brains and courage as our best and brightest serving us today in the armed forces. And the media is just feeding the cries for surrender. If the politicans let us win this thing, we will.
ping
Don't hold your breath.
While your suggestion that common sense will eventually percolate down to the average Mohammedan is a nice thought, it is counterbalanced by 1300 years of Muslim history.
Even here in the U.S., young male Muslims attend madrassas and mlosques, and imbibe the teachings of the imams, who tell them that Muslim men did not perform the 9/11 attacks. 25% of young American Muslims think suicide bombing is OK.
If they believe this nonsense here, how much more so are they brainwashed back home?
Not quite.
I think is more like the actual situation.
Sharia Law also wants you and I to wear the collar of Dhimmitude...if they try to force us to wear it, we'll kill 'em.
We'll go "Starship Troopers" on them. To heck with going medieval, that's their game.
That’s why we need a massive and effective information campaign. See “Florence of Arabia” by Chris Buckley for an example; a funny one.
“My main concern is that our politicians have about half the brains and courage as our best and brightest serving us today in the armed forces...”
Truer words were never spoken! I have nothing but disdain for the politicians in DC and that goes for both parties. I have never seen such gutless, worthless cowards elected to office. I have never seen or read of elected representatives who are less patriotic, who have less concern for our country, who have less respect for the American Constitution. The current members of the US Congress are arrogant and have nothing but total disregard for the American people’s wishes. IMO, these gutless cowards consider themselves “Royalty.” I pray that the American people vote them all out of office at the first opportunity. It’s time to start over with Americans that put the safety and security of the country before their own egos, greed, and quest for power. The current US Congress disrespects the American fighting spirit and disrespects those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect and defend this great nation as well as those now serving. I pray that each and every member of the US Congress hangs their head in shame for they have disgraced us all. I’m sure the American patriots lying in Arlington are turning in their graves. I know my father, who was a veteran of WWII and Korea, is turning in his grave at the likes of Pelosi, Murtha, Kerry, Kennedy, Schumer, Reid, Feingold, Boxer, Feinstein, and all the RINO’s who mistakenly call themselves Republicans. It is truly a black day in American history that we have such worthless human debris representing us.
As most of us know, some religions only survive because of the psychological stranglehold that their structure and teachings maintain over their flock. Radical Islam is one of the most efficient by preaching western cultures as evil because we are more permissive in a sense. And by keeping women imprisoned in burkas and telling dead-end men that they can have 72 virgins if they die for Allah, what do you expect. Death is the only way out for some of these people. One of the Achilles heals of Islam will be when the women unite and revolt. For communism, it was toilets, levis, tv and ball point pens. For Islam, it will be education, freedom of mobility, jobs, divorce, independence from men, etc. for women. Because most of the Iranians are young and crave more western culture, cutting the head off the snake would significantly dampen world-wide terrorism. Regime change will also speed up the already growing revolt by women.
ping
But we need to help them recognize their own cognitive dissonence with media, internet and whatever. That’s what the CIA should be doing!!
“Work as if everything depended upon you, but pray as if everything depended on God.” St. Ignatius Loyola.
Communism lasted barely 100 years. Islam has been around for 1300. No comparison. The “women’s movement” in Islam
will not change anything.
monday ping
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