Regardless of the media coverage of young actor’s D.U.I.s, we are fighting a war in Iraq. The main outcome of war is, of course, death mostly. Not that you would know that unless you have a deceased family member or friend. President Bush has yet to attend a military funeral, although he loves to give his speeches in front of military personnel. He has had about 3,680 chances to do so as I type this. The military also refuses to let the media shoot footage of the body bags or the flag-draped coffins coming home to United States burial grounds.
The news media has given some attention to our soldiers. The News Hour on PBS ends each broadcast with pictures of the deceased soldiers with no music. The silence is deafening as the pictures of young men and women never to resume their civilian lives come to the screen. Nightline had a special called “The Fallen” where they read the names and showed photos of the 900 dead at that point in the war. A conservative owner decided not to show that Nightline because he thought it would “focus attention solely on people who have died in the war in order to push public opinion toward the United States getting out of Iraq.” I think if you are going to have a war, you have to see the effects. And you have to honor those people who died in it. Nightline would need about four hours of advertising-free airtime to honor the dead at this juncture.
I bring all this up because of an article on the funeral of Brenton Thomas Gray, a military contractor who died in Iraq from a car bomb. If the soldier’s deaths are being ignored, what about military contractor’s deaths? There are 125,000 contractors in Iraq right now and 1,001 have died. The New York Times article on Gray is the only contractor funeral coverage I’ve seen.
Gray seems like a lot a military guys that I know: a warrior in blood and bone.
“Yeah, you can make a buck,” said Wayne Colombo, a white-haired warrant officer who, well before he worked with Mr. Gray, served with a Special Forces A-team in Vietnam. “But you’re also back with guys you know, doing what you can — and doing what you know.”
Putting aside the problems of a private and unregulated army financed by our government, I have nothing but understanding for contractors. The army doesn’t pay that well and as Walter Reed has shown us, doesn’t take care of them medically. Why not get paid well for the dangerous labor that you do? Contractors can make up to $18,000 a month. That kind of money makes the danger worth it, and you get to do what you love to do.
The downside of course is the loss of life. Dying is hard but the death of a friend or family member is where the real pain is. The funeral’s eulogies were spoken at the cemetery and at a pub:
No one goes dry on the anniversary of a contractor’s death. The party moved from the graveyard to a tavern near the railroad tracks. Your money wasn’t good there. Mr. Gray’s favorite drink, a gin and tonic, was placed beside his portrait on the bar.
While the ritual of burial was honored at the cemetery, the real eulogizing, the shared memories could only be done at the pub. The detail of the railroad tracks also shows who is bearing the cost of the war: the lower and middle class. The reporter has a deft touch and shows the insular world of the military and the stoic grief of the families:
The room seemed physically to stiffen as Mr. Gray’s teammates from Iraq walked in, a tight-knit group that installed itself at the bar. One of them set out the portrait of Mr. Gray with the smoky circle of an ammunition detonation rising in a halo at his head.
“How long did you know my son?” Mr. Gray’s mother asked.
The team leader said about two years.
Mrs. Gray touched another picture of her son, in a photo album lying on the bar.
“That’s my fair-haired boy,” she said. And both of them walked away.
At the end of the article, two Special Forces soldiers walk to their Harleys and sheath the American flag. All the political posturing in the world cannot match this simple act. I’d like to drink a toast to Mr. Gray. I’d like to drink a toast to all who have died, but that would put me in a coma. All I can do is give my sympathies to all those families and hope for something better, anything better that what we have now.
The news media has given some attention to our soldiers. The News Hour on PBS ends each broadcast with pictures of the deceased soldiers with no music. The silence is deafening as the pictures of young men and women never to resume their civilian lives come to the screen. Nightline had a special called “The Fallen” where they read the names and showed photos of the 900 dead at that point in the war. A conservative owner decided not to show that Nightline because he thought it would “focus attention solely on people who have died in the war in order to push public opinion toward the United States getting out of Iraq.” I think if you are going to have a war, you have to see the effects. And you have to honor those people who died in it. Nightline would need about four hours of advertising-free airtime to honor the dead at this juncture.
I bring all this up because of an article on the funeral of Brenton Thomas Gray, a military contractor who died in Iraq from a car bomb. If the soldier’s deaths are being ignored, what about military contractor’s deaths? There are 125,000 contractors in Iraq right now and 1,001 have died. The New York Times article on Gray is the only contractor funeral coverage I’ve seen.
Gray seems like a lot a military guys that I know: a warrior in blood and bone.
“Yeah, you can make a buck,” said Wayne Colombo, a white-haired warrant officer who, well before he worked with Mr. Gray, served with a Special Forces A-team in Vietnam. “But you’re also back with guys you know, doing what you can — and doing what you know.”
Putting aside the problems of a private and unregulated army financed by our government, I have nothing but understanding for contractors. The army doesn’t pay that well and as Walter Reed has shown us, doesn’t take care of them medically. Why not get paid well for the dangerous labor that you do? Contractors can make up to $18,000 a month. That kind of money makes the danger worth it, and you get to do what you love to do.
The downside of course is the loss of life. Dying is hard but the death of a friend or family member is where the real pain is. The funeral’s eulogies were spoken at the cemetery and at a pub:
No one goes dry on the anniversary of a contractor’s death. The party moved from the graveyard to a tavern near the railroad tracks. Your money wasn’t good there. Mr. Gray’s favorite drink, a gin and tonic, was placed beside his portrait on the bar.
While the ritual of burial was honored at the cemetery, the real eulogizing, the shared memories could only be done at the pub. The detail of the railroad tracks also shows who is bearing the cost of the war: the lower and middle class. The reporter has a deft touch and shows the insular world of the military and the stoic grief of the families:
The room seemed physically to stiffen as Mr. Gray’s teammates from Iraq walked in, a tight-knit group that installed itself at the bar. One of them set out the portrait of Mr. Gray with the smoky circle of an ammunition detonation rising in a halo at his head.
“How long did you know my son?” Mr. Gray’s mother asked.
The team leader said about two years.
Mrs. Gray touched another picture of her son, in a photo album lying on the bar.
“That’s my fair-haired boy,” she said. And both of them walked away.
At the end of the article, two Special Forces soldiers walk to their Harleys and sheath the American flag. All the political posturing in the world cannot match this simple act. I’d like to drink a toast to Mr. Gray. I’d like to drink a toast to all who have died, but that would put me in a coma. All I can do is give my sympathies to all those families and hope for something better, anything better that what we have now.
3 comments:
Wow, I didn't know Bush has never attended a military funeral before. Maybe he can't bear to handle the consequences of his actions. Sad.
I've read that Bush is untroubled by his actions. Conservatives see it as a sign of strength. I see it as a sign of a sociopath.
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