My son, the soldier, comes home for good.
At last report he had left Iraq and was waiting a flight in Kuwait. With luck he will be in Germany today and then on to Texas. By the way, he is called “remains” but I know better. He is my son.
I want to tell you about him. Not because he is so great a guy – although I think so, but because he represents the thousands of sons and daughters America is sending to far away places to secure our peace and our liberties at home.
Captain Sean Patrick Sims, commanding officer of A Company, 2-2 BN, 1st Infantry Division, was killed in action Nov. 13 in Fallujah, Iraq while clearing insurgent occupied buildings. A tough assignment, clearing an urban area. Dirty, dangerous work. Sean lost his executive officer the day before and I read of the deaths of two Marine Captains who were similarly killed in Fallujah.
It is sad when a father must write his own son’s obituary. I don’t know what to say. My son, like others falling in that conflict, was a hero who believed in his mission, his unit, and his men. He also believed leaders should be in the front, leading, not following. And that is how he died. He was well liked and respected by his superiors and the men in his company, who sensed his concern for their well being. He was also concerned about the well being of the Iraqi people and did his utmost to guard them from harm.
Sean was a devout catholic, who lived the tenets of his faith on a daily basis. There is no doubt in our minds that Sean is now in heaven and in the hands of our Lord. We grieve for his loss, which is our loss, but not for his soul. If anything, we ask his intercession on our behalf as he is now much better placed for that effort.
I don’t know what to say or how to describe the sacrifice of your blood for this country. Having served in Vietnam, twice, having a father who spent 36 years as a soldier through two wars, and a brother who served in Vietnam twice and is now 100% disabled from his injuries there, I am encouraged by the awareness of our countrymen for the sacrifices of our children. I am thankful for the realization by our citizenry that freedom is not free.
My son was not a rampant political supporter for any party, although he was probably more Republican by instinct. But he did have an abiding trust and belief in the United States of America. He felt we are a moral nation, steadfast in our principles; this nation does not take its commitment of its sons and daughters to war lightly. But unlike many nations in the world, we do not shirk our duties to commit our blood to just and necessary causes. Because that is what keeps us free.
I think he understood something which seems to have been lost in the debates over weapons of mass destruction and poor intelligence estimates in this particular war. That is that sovereign nations must be held accountable for their actions. We cannot tolerate nations that hide behind borders and provide support to enemies who are intent on our destruction. We can debate on how this war developed and was executed. It can not be debated that nations now look carefully at their responsibility and accountability before providing such support. America has made its statement. If you support terrorism, we will find you and destroy you, whatever the cost.
My son understood this and believed what he was doing was right. But he also believed that you can’t go in and destroy a country and walk away. He was anxious for the insurgents to be quickly defeated so we could start the nation building that Iraq so sorely needs. He chafed at the delays and the debates in implementing aid. He was not a romantic. He understood well the backwardness of the country, the strangle hold of its religion and more challengingly, the social and political pressure of the tribal system. They all looked insurmountable when you add them up. But he had been raised in a tradition of grit and putting one foot forward at a time, so he was not deterred by the challenge. He was faced with a difficult, dirty and seemingly impossible task, but his response was not how do I get out of it but how do I get it done.
I think his sacrifice to his nation can best be summed up in a message I received from a friend expressing condolences for his loss: “His sacrifice was made to keep my family, my sons and my grandchildren as well as all Americans safe and free and for that we will eternally be grateful.” That’s nice. My son would agree. That’s what he thought he was doing.
In retrospect, the true hero here is his wife, who is left a young widow with a young son to raise. She is a woman of grace, and grit. She will do well by her son and her warrior husband.
Tom Sims (COL, US Army Retired)
98 – o – thanks
actually, they were wondering why mcnutts was still in. they should replace him before we break his legs.
favre should stay in…he needs to get a consecutive TD toss in order to get up there with unitas. i think favres at 35, where johnny’s record was 47.
99 – hey, 6 in a row was fun. philly is simply a better team. i concede. still love the pack.
see the inherent optimism? see the lack of hate?
and see how you try to taunt?
man, am i glad w won.
not bad for a French quaterback. it was be the Bordeaux & the Brie.
102 you taunt me for taunting. nicely done.
heh, i am glad you equate mississipi and france, somehow…you should go to my web site maybe at
http://packerfan.bloghorn.com
and link to the new book.
dee & dg are here. me & you. we’re double dating.
& what a cute couple they make if they don’t kill each other.
Huh?:neutral:
& you still can’t stop busting on Michael Moore. to you incorporate that into the presentations to your clients? you do need help.
just a little humor, dee. & if i translate your response accurately, very very litle.
108 – am assuming you didn’t mean me b/c i haven’t thought about michael moore til you brought him up.
i am logging off soon.
to play your game, who won the super bowl between the pack and the pats say around…’96?
adios yourself.
Hey I’m writing a pyschology paper on propaganda with Mikey being my central focus, my professor is not a whack job lib either so I dont worry about getting an F:lol:
dee, that sounds like fun…man, i wish i was still in school…
Moore would be an intersting subject. in deviant psychology, a pacifist saint is considered just as extreme as a sociopathic serial killer, in reference to the “norm”.
Moore is not in the middle of any bell curve i’ve ever heard about.
Well dee, don’t forget Bush’s hyped landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln — now that’s propaganda!
I’m enjoying school but I wish I had not waited this long to go back. Trying to find a school without a two year waiting list for nursing & that is affordable is my biggest problem right now:sad:
I thought you were just a youngin dee?
114 Mission accomplished was for those troops on that ship and there specific mission. General Tommy Franks suggested it to the president. This is a war on terror that will last years and take us maybe other places. That was not propaganda. it was the president thanking our troops for a job well done.
I’m 32…thats still young…right?:mrgreen:
115 – you’re going for a Bachelors? i did an AA RN program – 2 years at a community college. if you don’t plan to go into teaching or go on to a PA, it works just fine.
i love my bumper sticker – W 2004- Mission Accomplished.
Those of us get what it means now, and what it meant then. To think that people thought it meant he thought the war was over….sigh…
119 Why are you not working as a RN? As far as school goes, the enrollment for nursing is so high right now its a two year wait to get into the program…thats the problem I’m having.
My mistake dee, I thought you were 22. Well you look it anyway:wink:
Is it tough getting a spot in a nursing school?
oops there’s my answer.
nursing changed for me in 1983 when the insurance companies and the hospitals got together on something they call DRG’s…diagnostically related groups. without going into detail, it meant less care, premature discharges, more readmissions, fewer staff for patients with higher acuity.
a mess and it had to do with $$.
that was the start of the various ‘critical nursing shortages you hear about from time to time.
i was taking anti-depressants and had a stress-related psoarisis rash at the end. it was time to go.
57 – I wasn’t talking about abusing the system. I was just interpeting the constitution as being about the rights of the individual.When you say
that “getting impoverished children and others fed, sheltered & cared for when sick”,- they may be good intentions(or not), but they are still consistant with the idea that the individual must sacrifice for the benifit of the state and should not be the proper concern of a govt in a free society. A worker and empoyer should be able to trade freely without a third party(govt)taking in order to redistribute.If you want to help others than do it yourself.
I don’t look at whether people abuse the system or not, just at the system. It now works as if it was designed to manufacture welfare recipients(more people who will vote democrat). If your honest, you won’t want money you haven’t earned, and therfore will get out less that you put in. If you are dishonest, you cash in and benfit. Its almost beside the point to blame the welfare recipient.
When enough people believe they can get something for nothing, they will vote the next hitler into office. That’s what I was saying.
sorry for taking too long to respond, working too much.
I appreciate you working so hard so that I can still get my food stamps.
I love them bonbons and Gov’ment Cheese!!!