60-Year-Old Soldier Killed in Iraq

'Bout fucking time you old bastards started dying.

I was under the impression that war is the domain of the young man. He has the advantage of strength, reactions and less lead in the butt. A 60 year old man would be better in the background freeing up younger and more able bodied men. I am aware that at age 57, I am not what I was at age 20.(exceptions obvious but outside of the medical problems). It shouldn't be the place of senior and older officers in front line troops. The should stay back with the generals and be safe for both their sake as well as any others.

May he rest in peace.

LETUSPRAY: I've posted a number of times for a few years and never used foul language even once - BUT, that being said, as a USAF Retiree and Vietnamese Veteran I state: You are a TOTAL ASSHOLE!

May he rest in peace.

Amen.

As a soldier and a patriot, I'm sure he would have preferred to leave this earth a little more secure in the moral and intellectual caliber of the current leadership of the nation for which he gave his life.

We'll do what we can to make it right, Major.

Godspeed.

Fuck this never ending and useless war.

Rest in peace, Major Steven Hutchison. You and your wife can be together once again.

Rest in peace, Major Steven Hutchison. You and your wife can be together once again.
#7 | POSTED BY CALIFCHRIS

Maybe he hated her and her death was a welcome relief.

Re my #6 -- sorry I cussed.

Just sick of soon to be seven years of hearing about our soldiers and Marines in Iraq either being killed or wounded, not to mention the heartache and sorrow left behind for their family and friends. Sometimes it gets to you.

sorry I cussed.

Don't feel bad - I flagged that one offensive - so you've been admonished.

But #8 made me laugh. Only rasta could come up with something like that.

Rasta

Just 2 quick questions.

How the hell do you get the dreads under the ninja mask?

Is it some kind of secret ninja trick?

Fuck this never ending and useless war.

#6 | Posted by CalifChris

amen

Something strange like this has to happen for Iraq to even get mentioned these days. Yet the war drags on and on to no purpose except to eneble us to finally get out of it without looking too bad.

"Bringem' On" said Commander Codpiece.

Yep. Fuck this war and the waste it has caused. In lives, dollars, and the image of this country.

-B

I just hope I still have that much ambition at 60.

I had a couple of 'Nam vets in my unit in Iraq, and there are still a couple left that will go with us to Afghanistan.

I have a friend in Mosul who's 62.

"""As a soldier and a patriot, I'm sure he would have preferred to leave this earth a little more secure in the moral and intellectual caliber of the current leadership of the nation for which he gave his life."""

As a soldier and patriot, I'm sure he was dismayed when he found out that there was no reason to invade iraq and murder innocent civilians except to satisfy the whim of american right wingers. More than once he probably cursed the past administration for creating an unwinnable situation and putting brave service men in the line of fire for no good reason.

'Bout fucking time you old bastards started dying.

#1 | Posted by LetUsPrey at 2009-05-14 11:08 PM | Reply | Flag:

Your time will come. Sooner or later. If anyone other than your closest family and associates even takes note of your passing, I suspect it will be with words of "tribute" similar to those in your post.

"45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

"20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
The heart of the wicked is worth little." Proverbs 10:20

Re-enlisted to fight al queda and ended up fighting for Iran.

Way to go Bushies!

OTOH-aflac and 101 can still go serve. And think of all the FOX chickenhawks under 60 who can show their love of America. Beck will have to man-up a bit, but all those tears may keep the sand out of his eyes.

Quote from numerous posters-"F**K this *&%^ war".

A war is a two sided fight for a purpose normally involving a number of pitched battles for territory and the resultant cessation of combat operations.

This is of course a simplified and brief statement but it does cover the reason for this post. We have passed the war stage and devolved to a partisan vrs invader situation. It is past time for the people of Iraq to tend to their own internal problems. If they remain unable to do so then they are not the choice of the general population and a new regime will take over. It appears that this will happen them minute we leave. Iraq for the Iraqi's whoever that may be.

I'd go for GS-12 and a million to a trust fund for my daughter in case a computer blew up. I'd probably like Afghanistan. Walt used to send me stuff from there. Any one else get the Road Service video?

I'd like a Glock 40 to go with my carbine. Just edged and oiled my Puma General. The K-Bar is always at the Ready.

Got a Mate who served 6 years on the Enterprise. Aviation Boatswain's Mate. You'd need a stopwatch to time him tying a bowline. He'd go for the same deal.

My email is public. LOL

"As a soldier and a patriot, I'm sure he would have preferred to leave this earth a little more secure in the moral and intellectual caliber of the current leadership of the nation for which he gave his life."

You knew him?

Considering he signed up for Iraq after living through Vietnam, the evidence doesn't point to him having a problem with incompetent leadership.

Let's not forget that Obama has the power to end the wars RIGHT NOW but chooses not to. He could have ended it his first day in office but chose not to. You can't throw this brave solder's death on Bush anymore. This is 100% Obama now and that's a fact.

Why are you liberals okay with the deaths under Obama's administration if you so hate this war? Why no anti-Obama comments? Was it that you really hated the wars or did you just use this an excuse to hate Bush?

There are babies born today who will someday have the opportunity to die as 60 year-old soldiers in Iraq.

Why no anti-Obama comments?

Because he hasn't been in office long enough. It takes time to undo a huge fubar like the Iraq war.

Most of us understand that an immediate unilateral pull-out would be just turning the place over to Iran.

If Obama has not delivered an exit strategy in a year, he will be hearing plenty of negative comments from Democrats.

As hard as it is for Republicans to understand, history shows that Democrats have never been reticent about speaking out against those of their own party.

So long Major Hutchison, I'll see you at the rally point, but I might be a while.

SILVER IRONIST-Flagged "Newsworthy"

"You are a TOTAL ASSHOLE!"

(deep bow, whilst doffing his chapeau)

You know, sometimes it does pay to come here.

"Your time will come."

No shit? Really? You mean my aura of invincibility is but a shadow?

Fuck off.

#9 | Posted by CalifChris at 2009-05-15 01:16 AM

Just sick of soon to be seven years of hearing about our soldiers and Marines in Iraq either being killed or wounded, not to mention the heartache and sorrow left behind for their family and friends. Sometimes it gets to you.

Chris, you haven't acknowledged that continuing wars are our lot, and they probably will intensify. Every death is a tragedy. But every life brings a death with it. It's like a 5 year old kid asking his mother, "Mommy, why do people have to die?" Profound? War is an artifact of life, just as is death as a conclusion for all of us.

We mourn our dead. Unfortunately, of late patriotism has been wrung out of us, and the sacrifice seems to be in vain because of our lack of unity and of national commitment. I was once gung ho, but now I have no respect for our leadership, so we fight for the men we live among. Who was it who inspired a song, "Roger Young," Congressional Medal of Honor winner? There was a hall named after him in Los Angeles. On a national basis, we seem to have traitors at home, who disrespect the warriors, consign them to second rate medical and other care, undercut what they do, require tactics that unnecessarily sacrifice their lives, and generally renege on commitments made.

And what do you say to some worthless scumbag like "LetUsPrey." In better country and during better times, he'd be hung from a tree. How about next to Tom Dooley?

It's Rodger Young - with a "d."

209.85.173.132

Lyrics: www.wegrokit.com

`Shines The Name. . .'

For Robert Heinlein, Rodger Young stood for that noblest of men--the soldier willing to put himself in harm's way for the sake of his people. Heinlein first mentions Young in 1952, when he recorded his piece for Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe show. Heinlein expands greatly on the theme in 1958 with Starship Troopers, a controversial novel which he freely admits having written in part to "glorif[y] the military[. . .]specifically the P.B.I., the Poor Bloody Infantry, the mudfoot who places his frail body between his loved home and war's desolation--but is rarely appreciated."* In the story, Johnny Rico serves aboard the troop ship Rodger Young, and we have occasion to hear the boarding tocsin for that ship, a verse from Frank Loesser's "The Ballad of Rodger Young."

To the everlasting glory of the infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young

E ither through error or for reasons perhaps only he knew, Heinlein conflated the lyrics of two verses to get the couplet cited above; both lines are present in the original song, but not in the same stanza. Below is a zipped sample from the World War Two-era ballad, sung by Nelson Eddy. Warmest thanks go to Frank Buzzell, of Spring Lake, Michigan, from whose collection of rare recordings this comes, and to the resourceful Clif Martin of Muskegon, Michigan, who recorded and shipped the song to us.

ryoung.ZIP (wav format, 341K)

New! ryfla.htm (Flash format, 479k)

Lyrics to "The Ballad of Rodger Young,"

No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry.
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Shines the name--Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.

Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen--
Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom--
Caught in ambush till this one of twenty riflemen
Volunteered, volunteered to meet his doom.

Volunteered, Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting annals of the Infantry
Glows the last deed of Private Rodger Young.

It was he who drew the fire of the enemy
That a company of men might live to fight;
And before the deadly fire of the enemy
Stood the man, stood the man we hail tonight.

On the island of New Georgia in the Solomons,
Stands a simple wooden cross alone to tell
That beneath the silent coral of the Solomons,
Sleeps a man, sleeps a man remembered well.

Sleeps a man, Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting spirit of the Infantry
Breathes the spirit of Private Rodger Young.

No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry,
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Shines the name--Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.

Frank Loesser

******************************
**********************

New Age cynicism has destroyed the sense of patriotism and community.

New Age cynicism has destroyed the sense of patriotism and community.

Get over it. You rant like you're old enough that you're knocking at death's door, so quit using my generation's precious oxygen to bitch...

"Old Age" devotion to unrealistic and stagnant ideals, after all, lies at the root of the overwhelming majority of current problems.

"New Age" cynicism is the first stage of recognizing this. Cynicism is not the endpoint... some individuals are actually interested in cleaning up the mess that our predecessors have created and continuing to move humanity forward. Instead of constantly repeating the mistakes of the past.

"Your time will come."

No shit? Really? You mean my aura of invincibility is but a shadow?

Fuck off.

#30 | Posted by LetUsPrey at 2009-05-15 09:42 PM | Reply | Flag:

I wouldn't call it an aura. It's more like an odor; and an unpleasant one at that.

War is an artifact of life

Good thing there are plenty of other people to fight it, eh?

Most of us understand that an immediate unilateral pull-out would be just turning the place over to Iran.

Only you didnt understand it while bush was president, right?

good #31 johnson..

And what do you say to some worthless scumbag like "LetUsPrey." In better country and during better times, he'd be hung from a tree. How about next to Tom Dooley?

#32 | Posted by Johnson at 2009-05-15 11:04 PM | Reply | Flag: Nazi fantasizes about executing his opponents

New Age cynicism has destroyed the sense of patriotism and community

People are right to be cynical about war.

People are smarter these days about the ugliness of war.

There is no patriotism in Bush's excellent Iraqi adventure.

Corporatism, to be sure, but patriotism? Not so much.

The anti-war movement is a community of sorts.

One whose company Johnson will never keep.

RIP Steven Hutchison.

Your sacrifice was notable even if your cause was not.

Be Well.

Something strange like this has to happen for Iraq to even get mentioned these days. Yet the war drags on and on to no purpose except to eneble us to finally get out of it without looking too bad.

#13 | Posted by brock at 2009-05-15 05:47 AM | Reply | Flag:

That depends. If you are of the Harry "the war is lost" Reid persuasion, that should be your expectation.

However, the rest of the folks will have to wait to see what the Iraqis do with their country. Will they be able to build a stable and prosperous Iraq; or will it devolve into a protracted struggle between Sunni, Shia, Turkoman and Kurd?