SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS : AT HOME AND ABROAD
(Apr 12 2008) - HOPE RIDES ALONE : [Print]
Post Special Addition : Submitted by Sergeant Joseph Lucketta
On April 9th 2008, Sgt Joseph Lucketta forwared to the Post this inspirational letter that Sgt Eddie Jeffers wrote, just before he died in Iraq - Sept 19th 2007. This letter {below} has been well circulated and in memory of Sgt Jeffers, the Post will do the same. Thanks Son ...
Hope Rides Alone - by SGT Eddie Jeffers - One of the Fallen
I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn
to the ground.
I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar
rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the
streets of their neighborhoods.
My nerves hardly rest; my hands are
steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the
purpose of taking the lives of others. I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is
everywhere.
It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners
and windows, and it is always there. There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into tho ughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this.
Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same
streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.
And to think, I volunteered for this...
And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.
But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi , Iraq , the cries and
screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me.
In a year, I will be
thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit
your average man. And then, I will be alone.
And then, I will walk down the
streets of America , and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of
the same people who compare our President to Hitler.
I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al
Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their
mouths about a subject they know nothing about.
It is their right,
however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of
boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home.
I use the
word boys and girls, because that's what they are.
In the Army, the average
age of the infantryman is nineteen years old.
The average rank of
soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.
People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant.
Not just to this war, but to
the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are.
They
don't realize its effects on this war.
In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplai n would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward's war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new.
The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans.
The
enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives.
And
they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.
Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around
and compare this war to Vietnam .. In a way they are right, this war is
becoming li ke Vietnam .
Not the actual war, but in the isolation of
country and military.
America is not a nation at war; they are a nation
with its military at war.
Like it or not, we are here, some of us for
our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on.
Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering
with our war.
Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the Internet...and
there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the
midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are
even jailed...for doing their job. It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this.
Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS re ported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq ? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening,
but people will not let up their hatred of Bush.
They will ignore the
good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.
America has lost its will to fight.
It has lost its will to defend what
is right and just in the world.
The crazy thing of it all is that the
American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing.
It's not like World War Two, where people rationed food, and turned in
cars to be made into metal for tanks.
The American people have not been
asked to sacrifice anything.
Unless you are in the military or the
family member of a service member, its life as usual...the war doesn't
affect you. But it affects us.
And when it is over, and the troops come ho me, and they try to piece together what's left of them after their
service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy
Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the
last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging
death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be
where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world
can't touch them.
Somewhere where they can complain about things they
will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and
women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.
We are the hope of the Iraqi people.
They want what everyone else wants
in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home.
They want a country
that is safe to raise their children in.
Not a place where their
children will be abducted, raped, and murdered if they do not comply
with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper.
And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to
the cause, and see it to its end.
But the country must unite in this
endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone.
We must
all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not.
And supporting us is
more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars.
It's supporting our
President, our troops and our cause.
Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers.
Right now, hope
rides alone. But it can change, it must change.
Because there is only
failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it
doesn't.
Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering,
let's stop all the bad news, and let's stand and fight!
Eddie's father, David Jeffers, writes:
I'm not sure how many letters or articles you've ever read from the
genre of "News from the Front," but this is one of the best I've ever
read, including all of America 's wars.
As I was reading this, I forgot
that it was my son who had written it.
My emotions range from great
pride to great sorrow, knowing that my little boy (22 years old) has
become this man.
He is my hero.
Thank all of you for your prayers for him; he needs them
now more than ever. God bless.
Though Eddie is no longer with us, you can help to let his voice be
heard, pass this one on.
