[biggerten]

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In January 2003, Nick was shipped to Afghanistan. He had become an Army Ranger, a jump master for paratroopers and a sniper. He was in the thick of the action. Last Dec. 19, his 26th birthday, Nick called to say he was headed to Iraq. At that point, with U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians being killed almost daily, Galleymore began to panic. She couldn't sleep at night, "because I was thinking, 'My kid is going to get killed for something I don't believe in, and I don't think he knows what he's getting into.'

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Call me an optimist, but I figure a 26 year old, an Army Ranger, a jump master/sniper might know a thing or two about what he's getting into. Mama should realize that her little boy is now a man, a man's man. She should be proud and have confidence in such a son. I could ony hope for sons were like him.

Oh well. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

[cupcakes]

Contrast this with the woman in Cleveland whose son was one of the 4 civilians killed. I don't know if she has said anything else in the past couple of days, but on our local news in central OH, she talked about how proud she is of him and how he was living the life he wanted to live.
No doubt she feared for his life too, but I suppose the difference between her and this other mother is that she is an adult woman who realizes her son is an adult man and of course the woman in Cleveland won't even get the remains of her son back, let alone see him again, but she hasn't let it turn her into a vengeful hag and has kept perspective despite such a painful loss.

[Mr. Silverback]

Call me an optimist, but I figure a 26 year old, an Army Ranger, a jump master/sniper might know a thing or two about what he's getting into.

Exactly my reaction.

Mama should realize that her little boy is now a man, a man's man.

I've been reading a lot of this "Military family member" crap lately. There's a lot of this same vibe where the moms are anti-war mainly because they haven't figured out that the umbilical cord has been cut. Fathers, wives and other assorted relatives often have the same thing, only with their own twist: "Just because I married a Ranger doesn't mean he should be away from me in a war", etc., etc.