Posted on 09/28/2010 5:53:10 AM PDT by raybbr
The top two links here will sort that out.
Directly translated, and as a surnam (in my original link) platero means silversmith. Apparently, it is also an idiom (I didn't know this) that refers to a grey (silver) donkey, and is refered to in the poem in the second link above.
surnam = surname
From other sources
According to Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman, four troops serving in Fallujah were having an argument when Spc. Neftaly Platero “allegedly took his weapon and began shooting the other soldiers.” Spc. John Carrillo Jr., 20, of Stockton, Calif., and Pfc. Gebrah P. Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Conn., died from their injuries the next day. The name of the wounded soldier was not released.
Carrillo was a husband and the father of two sons, KCRA reported. He was serving on his first deployment to Iraq when the incident occurred. Noonan was described by friends as a seeker of knowledge who enjoyed making people laugh.
and
“It was very devastating. To find out he was shot by a fellow soldier is unbelievable,” Desiree Carrillo (soldier’s Mom) told KCRA. “The military should be embarrassed.” (Should be ashamed, really)
and
From the strange side of the blog-o-sphere:
Reports meeting news rooms today confirmed that Spc. Neftaly Platero an American solder simply lost control fatally shooting to death two American colleagues and injured another soldier in Iraq. Usually troops are scared of the opposition, but this is mutiny within the ranks.
Interestingly this is occurring in Iraq while president Obama expresses his fears about democrats eluding the 2nd November mid term elections treating it as if it were Obama’s elections. Similarly it is Obama who wants peace in Iraq. Soldiers are now shooting at each other even though there is no active war. There is mutiny within the ranks.
indeed I have an Afghan Jewish pal in Tel Aviv named Neftaly
a diamond rough expert
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