Soldier with Clark youth ranch ties killed in Iraq -

Jerry Schneider could hear the resolve in Collier Barcus' voice when the 21-year-old left a message on his answering machine last month. "He said 'Jerry and Mickey, this is Collier. I'm overseas. You guys know you changed my life. I love ya,'" Schneider remembers. It was short but to the point

http://www.codyenterprise.com/articles/2004/07/30/news/news1.txt

Schneider and his wife Mickey met Barcus five years ago when the 17-year-old arrived at the Mount Carmel Youth Ranch the couple operates in Clark for troubled or at-risk boys. Barcus was from McHenry, Ill., near Chicago. "He was a really tough kid that had been going down the wrong path at home -fighting, drinking, not going to school and getting into the drug scene," Jerry said. "He knocked out the tooth of one of the staff guys in the first week he was here."

As part of a special operations team, he was to evacuate Iraqi soldiers from military headquarters in Samarra on July 8. While he was in the building, alleged Al-Zarqawi militants blew the building apart with a car bomb and then fired on it with 38 mortars. Four other American soldiers and an Iraqi National Guardsman were also killed. Barcus' commanders knew his last mission was a dangerous one, and they told him to call his family to ensure his will, life insurance and list of beneficiaries were in order. Below his mother, he listed the Mount Carmel Youth Ranch as a beneficiary

and *Co ended it.

More grieving for more people.

:cry:

Who end up getting "DEAD ENDED"

fuck you aWol*... :(

give a damn about these kids. They don't have any money. They don't come from the right families. He doesn't even go and meet their caskets when they return home.

Just IMAGINE a goverment which refuses to allow cameras to note the arrivals of caskets of Americans killed in war. They showed us how they respected the sacrifices these people were forced to make needlessly.

Also, remember Nightline's tribute to the first 700?

CONG. RANGEL PROTESTS PLAN TO BLOCK
"NIGHTLINE" TRIBUTE TO TROOPS
KILLED IN IRAQ

New York Lawmaker Says Preempting Reading of Names of the Dead Is Part of a Pattern of Dishonoring Fallen Heroes of the War

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2004 -- Cong. Charles Rangel today strongly protested a plan by a group of ABC television affiliate stations to block the reading of the names of soldiers killed in Iraq during tonight's broadcast of "Nightline."

"This action is a cruel insult to the families of all the 700 families with sons and daughters who have been killed in the war in Iraq," Cong. Rangel said. "For the first time, the entire nation will stop for a moment to pay a silent tribute to our fallen heroes while their names are read off in a roll-call of honor. It's just unfair that eight cities will be prevented from participating in this tribute because of the actions of these stations."

The Congressman's comments were in response to the announcement by Sinclair Broadcasting, a Baltimore-based television station owner, to prevent the eight ABC affiliates owned by the company from broadcasting tonight's segment of "Nightline," which will feature the reading of the names of the 700-plus American troops killed in Iraq.

The affected stations are in St. Louis; Charles, W.Va; Pensacola, Fl.; Springfield, Mass; Asheville and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and Tallahassee, Fla.

"This is an opportunity for all Americans to sit in the quiet of their own homes, and not only see the faces of the young men and women who have been killed, but to honor them by reflecting on the depth of their sacrifice," Cong. Rangel said.

Sinclair was also criticized by Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War hero, who wrote to the company's president David Smith protesting the decision. Smith and executives of his company are reported to be substantial financial supporters of President Bush.
(snip/...)

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny15_rangel/CBRProtestPlantoBlockNightline043004.html

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Saigon68, this story is almost more painful than one can bear. To think he tried so hard to overcome a bad beginning, and then to be lost, anyway, is unacceptable, considering the war was and is bogus.

I believe Kerry knows its bogus too. He is actively looking for a way out. You can bet, he won't show his hand though until he is elected.