As the Step-Father of SPC Branden Oberleitner, killed in al Fallujah on June 5th, I think that I may have a bit of insite on this one.

After the announcement of Branden's death, one of the LAST announced deaths, BTW, there was such a spontaneous outpouring of grief, that the suits decided to take the heat off by making it an annonymous report.

I AM angry at the cowboys who are playing imperial rome with our kids and our tax dollars, but I have nothing but respect for the men and women who serve their country for very little pay or gratitude from the assholes who send them to these places.

I, too, felt that we could have done as much if not more, by surrounding the region and waiting for the right moment to back an ensurgency  or respond if he dared try anything.

We have done a couple of things to make Branden's spirit live on.My Wife and I have set up a scholarship fund to help finance EMT training for deserving students in our area. Branden had completed a firefighting program at the Delaware(OHIO) Joint Vocational School, and had earned his EMT cert. Because of it, the medics in his platoon used him as a back-up to help in emergencies.

I am enrolled in the CISCO Academy, working on my CCNA cert. CISCO, last Fall, opened an Academy in Afghanistan, and will eventually, open one in Iraq, through the UN. I want to be involved in SOME capacity, because if people have a stake in their destiny, and can earn a decent living and watch their children grow up safely, perhaps they might not be as inclined to pick up a gun; that cuts both ways! (I was a little taken aback by how fast they are worrying about computer networks, before food, medicine and decent infrastructure in Afghanistan or Iraq!). As expressed in the Torah and Talmud, to save one life is to save a universe. I have to believe that the weapons of the spirit, in the end, will be more effective than guns and RPGs. I have no anger or hatred of PEOPLE in my heart, only the ways in which they behave.

Yours,

Freeman Carmack - Worthington, OHIO