3rd Anniversary Blues

Today’s 3rd anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War is - for many - a time of protest, but it’s also an overwhelming day of great sorrow. An anniversary is a measure of the passage of time, and it’s a reminder of what these young people who were killed in this have lost. Time is a separate account from the unimaginable pain of losing a son or daughter to the war in Iraq. At first the account is measured only in hours, and days. But as these roll on, the account accrues into months, and finally years - years that these young people didn’t get to experience. A lot happens when young lives stop: Wives and husbands who never meet, and children who never are born. And everyday that passes is another day in the account.
Rather then revisit the behavior of our leaders in this, I’m going to give that a rest today. Instead, I’m just going to remember - with gratitude - three of the young men who were killed. I attended their funerals and watched as their families followed their caskets out of the churches. That’s the most serious part of what this war means. Young lives ended and years lost, deposited forever into a bank of time.
Brandon Scott Tobler, Born 5-17-83, Died 3-22-03

Travis John Bradach-Nall, Born 2-9-82, Died 7-1-03

Bob William Roberts, Born 4-19-74, Died 5-17-04

Bob was killed on May 17th, 2004 which would have been Brandon's 21st birthday.