No Soldier dies in vain. Never. She has no idea how dishonoring she is to her son and other soldiers everywhere.

I remember hearing this sort of thing before. I had to search but found it. Its from a guy I served in Basic and Jump school with, I didnt go RIP because I had orders cut for Europe and didnt want tp pass it up. Anyway He was a Ranger in Somalia and when Joyce father asked him if his father died in vain, he had a good response. I know you have heard his name before.

Keni Thomas

His response here.

When you think about it, war and combat and fighting, none of it makes any sense. There's really no purpose to it, and you fight it because you have a sense of duty. And when it comes down to it that's what you're fighting for. You're not fighting to be a hero, you're not even thinking about that. You're thinking about my sense of duty, and the man next to you, and fighting [to] keep yourself alive. And what do you mean by the cost? The cost to other people. The families. I know the Joyces. I loved Casey [Joyce]. And I've heard his dad wrote in the papers, 'Did my son die in vain?' And I can't accept that he did. Absolutely not. In the big scheme of things he may have died in vain but then what the hell is combat? What purpose does it ultimately serve in the end? Did we really have to have World War II? Did we really have to have Vietnam? Did we really have to have Somalia? I don't think you really have to have any of that, but it happens in this world. He died for what I find important which is sense of duty, and the man next to you. Maybe Todd Blackburn wouldn't be here today if Casey [Joyce] hadn't been there. Maybe that was his purpose, maybe that was his reason. But if you say that anybody died over there in vain, you're invalidating everything that we fight for and everything that we believe in.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ambush/rangers/thomas.html

So I guess nobody fights for freedom according to Thomas??

ETA: Fuck him.

Quoted: So I guess nobody fights for freedom according to Thomas?? ETA: Fuck him.

I am sure he is more than qualified to express his view on combat than many here. Maybe he meant there is no need for war if people were civilized, we wouldnt have to do it.? I dont know But like he said, it happens.

Anyway you missed the point.

Quoted: Quoted: So I guess nobody fights for freedom according to Thomas?? ETA: Fuck him. I am sure he is more than qualified to express his view on combat than many here. Maybe he meant there is no need for war if people were civilized, we wouldnt have to do it.? I dont know But like he said, it happens. Anyway you missed the point.

No, I understand the whole "if people were civilized we wouldn't have to use war", I've long understood it. The fact is that humans are animals, and animals always strive to establish dominance, and while there are a good amount of humans on this earth who have been "domesticated", there are still some that go rampant, and even some domesticated ones do some heinous stuff... like pit bulls, but pit bulls don't have airplanes, just jaws.

War is in our helix.

when you enlist in the military ,you have to realize that it just possibly may involve being sent into a combat theater. [whether you agree with the cause or not] nobody put a knife to your neck and made you sign. to MS. sheehan: ask your media friends why they don't show on national TV the iraqi people who are elated the US forces have freed them from such an evil dictator and now have no fear of any secret police implicating them on phony charges and ruining their lives and familys. your son died so that others can live in a free society [as we do here in the US] where one can be free to speak out on issues they disagree with, with no fear of secret police visiting them in the middle of the night. your son died so that others can live as you do and have the freedoms as you do, when he meets his maker face to face he will be judged as being courages and dieing for a noble cause [human dignity and freedom] no doubt he died displaying courage[ which is best defined as being scared to death but you do it anyway] as in the case of SGT. YORK sometimes you just have to trust in something a heap bit bigger than you that you're doing the right thing and those who are doing wrong will be judged in the afterlife accordingly and will receive their just punishment from the almighty.