I learned yesterday of a young soldier from the town next to mine...

that was killed in Afghanistan. I had met him briefly at the Armory here, nice kid, 19 years old

I was thinking of a way to remember him, I came up w/this video from an earlier time, and another war. Some things are eternal though, they pass through time, and regardless they affect us all in one way or another.

From an old surviving vet to PV2 Jacobi rest in peace soldier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyqGfGBs3mc&playnext_from=TL&videos=StqELjHrkRw

And for me Owen's question is the one that appplies

Dulce et decorum Est

DULCE ET DECORUM EST1

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares2 we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest3 began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots4
Of tired, outstripped5 Five-Nines6 that dropped behind.

Gas!7 Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets8 just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime9 . . .
Dim, through the misty panes10 and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering,11 choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud12
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest13
To children ardent14 for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

this young man PV2 Jacobi. I hope I don't sound offense in response to your thoughtful expression to this young man. Your work should be used as a reminder why this war needs to end. When these vets come back, the communities that are welcoming them home, hopefully, will be aware of the toll this sacrifice has taken on their bodies, and open up a way of life that has dignity, and peace so they can recover. This is the least we can do.