RIP Sgt. Eddie Jeffers
September 20, 2007
by Bob Parks
From Frank Salvato
Managing Editor
The New Media Journal
September 19, 2007
It is with a very heavy heart and swollen eyes from
the tears that I inform you all that one of our fellow
writers, Sgt. Eddie Jeffers who was serving in Ramadi,
Iraq, was killed today. He was patriot, humble, kind
and dedicated to his mission, his country, his family
and his faith.
Eddie was 23.
Sgt. Jeffers was the author of Hope Rides Alone. It
was one of the biggest articles we have ever
published.
Hope Rides Alone
By Eddie Jeffers
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 thoughts 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
sa me 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 Chaplain 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 like
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 reported 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 President Bush.
They will ignore the good news, because it just might
show people that he 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 servicemember, its life as usual...the war
doesn't affect you.
But it affects us.
And when it is over, and the troops come home, 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 sold iers.
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!
Isn't that what America is about anyway?
With Respect for a fallen comrad,
/// Mike ///
Michael Neer
Colonel, US Army, Retired
CALL TO DUTY - BOOTS ON THE GROUND
ONCE A SOLDIER, ALWAYS A SOLDIER |
