Not Just "Some Soldier On the News" Who Was Killed

For most of America, I believe many have  become accustomed to seeing the war on the news every night and perhaps  lose sight or fail to realize the gravity  of  what is given. You may think, "well that does not affect me" or "they're just the lower class, so who cares". The truth is that all of those that I have served with are from every walk of life and should you believe in "social class", every class of citizen. All have died for one another and when you see what these young souls face and do for one another, you see that there is no such thing as social class because bullets and shrapnel do not discriminate. In a word, it's just death that has come far too early for these that are no longer with us. We knew them. Some more so than others, but their faces were familiar and none of us expected their end when it came. So maybe you were born into privilege and maybe middle class or even very poor. When your end comes, your "social status" will have nothing to do with it and nothing that you think that you can do will prevent it from coming to pass. Enjoy your family, your friends, your good health and your time. None of us know when and there are those who tread and carry out what you could never even imagine, though some think that they can playng it on a damn video game which fails to show reality &  loss. Life is easy when you can "save it" and "regenerate" when your health level gets low. They were people who had lives.
SSG David Hickman
C CO, 2nd BN, 11th IN REG (IBOLC)
Ft. Benning, Georgia

Cody Eggleston with me on patrol a week before he was killed, KIA rocket shrapnel; Heath Pickard, died of wounds that day, rocket shrapnel ; Raymond Lamar Henry, KIA road side bomb, ball bearing shrapnel; SSG Irving Hernandez, KIA precision small arms; SGT Eugene "Willie Will" Williams, KIA suicide car bomb.  I did not personally know Lucas Frantz, KIA precision small arms. He was in Alpha Company with my Step son, formarlly SGT Nelson, ETS'd.  SSG Jonathan Rojas, KIA precision small arms, I only seen in passing at our crapy E6 "barracks". SSG Trout was in his company and I think platoon.