http://truthout.org/docs_03/040203A.shtml

"One of the dead was Second Lieutenant Fred Pokorney, 31, a marine
artillery officer from Washington state. He was a big guy, whose
ill-fitting uniform was the butt of many jokes. It was supposed to have
been a special day for Pokorney. After 13 years of service, he was to be
promoted to first lieutenant. The men of Charlie company had agreed they
would all shake hands with him to celebrate as soon as they crossed the
second bridge, their mission accomplished.

It didn't happen. Pokorney made it over the second bridge and a few
hundred yards down a highway through dusty flatlands before his vehicle
was ambushed. Pokorney and his men had no chance. Fully loaded with
ammunition, their truck exploded in the middle of the road, its remains
burning for hours. Pokorney was hit in the chest by an RPG.

Another man who died was Fitzgerald Jordan, a staff sergeant from Texas.
I felt numb when I heard this. I had met Jordan 10 days before we moved
into Nasiriya. He was a character, always chewing tobacco and coming up
to pat you on the back. He got me to fetch newspapers for him from Kuwait
City. Later, we shared a bumpy ride across the desert in the back of a
Humvee.

A decorated Gulf war veteran, he used to complain about having to come
back to Iraq. "We should have gone all the way to Baghdad 12 years ago
when we were here and had a real chance of removing Saddam."

Now Pokorney, Jordan and their comrades lay among unspeakable carnage. An
older marine walked by carrying a huge chunk of flesh, so maimed it was
impossible to tell which body part it was. With tears in his eyes and
blood splattered over his flak jacket, he held the remains of his friend
in his arms until someone gave him a poncho to wrap them with."
~~~~

it also talked about a man who always has an ultrasound picture of his unborn daughter with him...

i always said i never wanted to see a war happen because i never wanted to have a generation of little girls growing up with their daddies having gone thru what mine did.

but they're doing it again anyway.

curse those arrogant assholes in washington for exposing these men & women to this mess.