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Title: Emotional Goodbye For Afghanistan-Bound Marines (listen if you dare)
Source:
NPR
URL Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104267469
Published: May 18, 2009
Author: Catherine Welch
Post Date: 2009-05-18 19:10:22 by Deasy
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Keywords: Israel, Mideast, Obama, Security
Views: 2926
Comments: 83
Listen Now [5 min 33 sec] add to playlist Marines prepare for deployment as part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the first major deployment of U.S. Marines into southern Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Josh Apsey, 18, waves and blows kisses to his family after boarding a bus for the first leg of his trip to Afghanistan on Saturday. All Things Considered, May 18, 2009 · The Marines known as "America's Battalion" are heading to Afghanistan. They are part of the 21,000 additional forces President Obama is deploying in the administration's new strategy for the war effort in Afghanistan. The mission of these Marines will take them to places American forces have rarely been in large numbers. Over the months of their deployment, NPR will focus on the people — the Marines and their families — who will carry the fight in Afghanistan and the burden of keeping life together at home. The Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment have been working hard, preparing for war in Afghanistan. But over the weekend at their home base at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune, it was all about meeting with family and friends, and saying goodbye. At first glance it looked like a large Sunday picnic. A rectangular lawn at the base was filled with hundreds of people. In one spot, a family sat in beach chairs talking; nearby, a young couple stood forehead-to-forehead holding each other tightly. Tom and Vicki Apsey, with their daughter, drove through the night — 11 hours from Tampa, Fla. — to be with their son, 18-year-old Lance Cpl. Josh Apsey. A Bible And Pictures From Home Tom Apsey said his son had talked about being a Marine since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but the family thought their then-10-year-old would outgrow the idea. "But he continually talked about it, and he started working toward it. It was a goal of his, and he's exactly where he wanted to be. So, as a father, I definitely couldn't be any prouder of him," he said. With about a year of Marine training under his belt, Josh Apsey said he is ready to go. "My mom, she got me a journal and inserted a few pictures in there, and she's written me a few letters; and I have pictures of my girlfriend and letters from her, as well; and I have a Bible that I keep that all in right now," he said. Josh said his Bible is his most important keepsake for this first mission overseas. In the past few days, mother and son read through the Bible together, going over passages from Proverbs and Psalms. "One of my favorites, Psalm 21: 'Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord,' " she said. The battalion chaplain, Lt. Terry Roberts, said it is his job to remind the men of their spiritual side, which is often neglected in the heat of battle. Roberts, a Baptist preacher from the hills of Kentucky, spoke from experience. This is his fifth deployment. A Line Of Buses And The Difficult Goodbye The banter between Marines and their family members subsided as the empty buses pulled up to ferry the Marines to the airport. The Marines won't be in touch with their families again until they reach Afghanistan — and then, communication by telephone and e-mail will be difficult. "You know they have come out with a new machine. It's a one-button, text-messaging machine," Roberts quipped, pulling a pen out of his pocket to make the point that the men must learn to write letters. The Marines piled the gear onto the back of a tractor-trailer. Then, they lined up and boarded the buses as loved ones clapped and cried. Before the caravan had rounded the corner and was out of sight, the families had shuffled off to their cars. At the end of the day, a handful of Marines combed the empty lawn, picking up trash and preparing the same patch for the next crowd of families, who will gather outside the headquarters of America's Battalion to say goodbye. Emotional Goodbye For Afghanistan-Bound Marines
See Photos Of Marines Saying Goodbye To Family Members
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 73.
#2. To: Deasy (#0)
stupid kid. wonder how long it will take him being there to get a clue.
Not stupid Christine. By no means. Immature, unsophisticated indeed, stupid no. I met a lot of other "kids", never a stupid one. A lot of different circumstances brought us together, we each had our own reason. We all became men over night. Consider this, without these kids volunteering for whatever reason, we would have a draft now rather than later.
Cyni, i don't see today's enlistees in any way like those who were drafted in past wars. this boy had a choice. he has not done his due dilligence as far as research. there is access to much history, especially Viet Nam from which he could have learned. if not himself, then his parents could have. they have done him a great injustice by encouraging and supporting his decision.
I have a neighbor that has a son in Iraq on his second tour. This young man is far from "stupid". Being from a family of modest means, he made the mistake of taking government help to finance medical school. He is on duty 24/7 as a surgeon, amputating the limbs of young kids and old men, day after day, telling them all the same lies, as to how they will be "fine", the government and the military will take care of them, etc etc. Once again, I would never, ever, attempt to judge how any youngster got there, I did not walk in their shoes, I did walk in mine, as a volunteer and people were only too happy to see the "stupid" kids of the lower class be gone. And then the military decided there were not enough stupid volunteers and out went the dragnet. The weeping and wailing by the parents was endless, surely their prized children should be exempt? A few days ago an Army Sgt. was killed in the ME at age 60. He had learned nothing but again he was not stupid. He had 40 years to learn.
well that is kind of you to refrain from calling them stupid. I voted for bush senior, twice, and for bush junior in 2000. so, a lot of the new world order stuff was known by plenty of people long before that. hell i supposedly knew something about it before 2000, hearing about the ''international bankers' and how kissinger was a 'dog' from the time i was a kid. yet i still voted for 2 bushes? was i stupid? looking back it would be easy to accuse myself of being naive and ignorant but stupid, maybe not. so, there is always hope. those decieved become the greatest adversaries of tyranny once they realize who the enemy is. heck, i think i am still learning every day who the enemy is, and how they operate. it is an ongoing process.
A lot of us were stupid. My first lesson in "party" politics was when both "parties" offered the nomination to Eisenhower. How could that be??????? My personal alarm bells went off but I was not astute or mature enough to understand what it all meant. I voted Ike because he stopped the war and I got to go home, alive. That meant a lot.
#74. To: Cynicom (#73)
(Edited)
Ike was the Supreme Allied Commander of the allied forces that won the war for The Soviets. And, since a certain tiny but influential ethnic minority wanted commieism to prevail over the other isms, Ike was our greatest living war hero. (Discounting Sgt. Alvin C. York of course. He didn't have the power to starve thousands of Germans after the cessation of formal hostilities, so, his hero status was...ho hum... to the folks who molded public opinion then. And, Nazi sympathizer George S. Patton? well, the less said about him after his welcome, timely and likely arranged demise the better. I can certainly understand why the DEMs wanted IKE, too. After all, the people behind the curtain of both parties (then and now) were the same elated victims who were relying on IKE's anti German-pro reparations zeal. ________________________ From wiki: "He made the decision to reclassify German prisoners of war (POWs) in U.S. custody as Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEFs), thus depriving them of the protection of the Geneva convention. As DEFs, their food rations could be lowered and they could be compelled to serve as unfree labor (see Rheinwiesenlager). Eisenhower was an early supporter of the Morgenthau Plan to permanently remove Germany's industrial capacity to wage future wars. In November 1945 he approved the distribution of 1000 free copies of Morgenthau's book Germany is Our Problem, which promoted and described the plan in detail, to American military officials in occupied Germany. Historian Stephen Ambrose draws the conclusion that, despite Eisenhower's later claims the act was not an endorsement of the Morgenthau plan, Eisenhower both approved of the plan and had previously given Morgenthau at least some of his ideas about how Germany should be treated.[36] He also incorporated officials from Morgenthau's Treasury into the army of occupation. These were commonly called "Morgenthau boys" for their zeal in interpreting the occupation directive JCS 1067, which had been heavily influenced by Morgenthau and his plan, as strictly as possible.[37] And this: "Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower preached a doctrine of dynamic conservatism.[citation needed](Too funny! This was the Republicans giving our Jewish bruthas and sistas what they wanted while selling it as some kind of "dynamic conservatism." The mood of the country was such that the PWs could draft and slip the IRS Code of 1954 to us shortly after._HD) so He continued all the major New Deal programs still in operation, especially Social Security. He expanded its programs and rolled them into a new cabinet-level agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, while extending benefits to an additional ten million workers. His cabinet, consisting of several corporate executives and one labor leader, was dubbed by one journalist, "Eight millionaires and a plumber."[42] Eisenhower won his second term in 1956 with 457 of 531 votes in the Electoral College, and 57.6% of the popular vote." By the time he warned the country about the military industrial complex it was too little too late. And, he must have known that he was largely responsible with his "strong, anti commie NATO" commitment. And then there was this: "Civil rights "Eisenhower supported the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which segregated ("separate but equal") schools were ruled to be unconstitutional. The very next day he told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children.[48][49] He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. Although both Acts were weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870s. The "Little Rock Nine" incident of 1957 involved the refusal by Arkansas to honor a Federal court order to integrate the schools. Under Executive Order 10730, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into an all-white public school. The integration did not occur without violence. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in tense arguments." Do you see why the DEMS couldn't have fielded a more responsive hand puppet? And, what could an anti IKE platform possibly have been? "Sure, IKE won the war but do we really want a bald man as our president?"
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestTom Apsey said his son had talked about being a Marine since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but the family thought their then-10-year-old would outgrow the idea.
#6. To: christine (#2)
stupid kid. wonder how long it will take him being there to get a clue.
#15. To: Cynicom (#6)
#21. To: christine (#15)
Cyni, i don't see today's enlistees in any way like those who were drafted in past wars.
#68. To: Cynicom, christine (#21)
at age 60. He had learned nothing but again he was not stupid. He had 40 years to learn
#73. To: Artisan (#68)
was i stupid?
Replies to Comment # 73. My first lesson in "party" politics was when both "parties" offered the nomination to Eisenhower. How could that be???????
End Trace Mode for Comment # 73.