A Teen's Reaction to the Fort Hood Memorial Service

By GottaLaff

Image via Fort Hood Sentinel

I've previously posted the observations of a remarkable high school student regarding the Ft. Hood shootings. Her insights were unique and poignant. Please read them here and here.

She just IMed me the link to her own blog post on the same subject, and I strongly recommend going over here to read it. Just to tantalize you, here is an excerpt or three:

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan since the fall of my second grade year, and in Iraq for half of the years I have been in school. [...]

My brother wears the same uniform as the grieving soldiers, and he has served at Fort Hood. I lived with him at Fort Hood during one of his trainings for his career as an army truck mechanic. The buildings in the background of the live shots were familiar to me, and I imagined that afternoon what it would be like to attend a memorial for my own brother. [...]

We have not seen military funerals for any of the 5000 military service members killed in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan since I learned to write my name in cursive. Our morning announcements don’t indicate the number of those forever wounded in body or soul in that time. And we have certainly seen no mention of Afghan or Iraqi civilians killed by our military since my adult teeth started coming in.

Remember, the author just turned 18. The "professional" punditiots could take lessons.

Fellow Soldiers, family and guests take a moment of silence during a memorial service for 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Soldiers: Spcs. Jake Velloza, Jeremiah McCleery, and Shawn Sykes, June 18, at Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel. Sgt. Karl Williams, 3rd BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs