Thank you Punxsutawney Phil for creating a thread.
I just logged on today to create a similar themed thread.
As I have posted previously on Atlas on Memorial day in memory of my friend Eric joined the Oregon National Guard in an era where typically this might involve fighting forest fires, responding to flooding, etc...
Donald Rumsfeld and "Stop Loss" combined with mobilization of some of the highest quality State National Guard Units caused him to get shipped out to Iraq.
I saw him at the coffee shop in a small Oregon City where we would hang out and he told me he was getting deployed for training at Fort Hood, Texas where he was getting assigned to an Air Cav unit for "basic training".
Saw him after he came back from the training and he told me he was getting deployed to Iraq within a few Months.
Asked what he was trained on and he told me weapons depots demolitions, and supporting operations for regular US Military forces etc...
Told him that he should be aware that he didn't have to go, and that I knew people in the Peace Movement and Faith Based communities that could help him get to Canada if he wanted to apply as a conscientious objector.
His reply was that he couldn't do that because he would be letting his buddies down, and as someone with a 3rd Generation US Military background also had to do it for his family.
That was the last time I talked to him in person and not so many months later am walking down on the main corridors of the Factory where a mutual friend broke the news.
He died on 6/13/05 hit by an IED outside of Taji / Camp Cooke with a Humvee that had not been up-armored because Rumsfeld was skipping on the $$$.
From what I understand he likely died very quickly as the Gunner so hopefully it was relatively painless.
His funeral was held shortly afterwards with hundreds attending, Fire Trucks with huge American Flags, even the Helicopter formation missing one.
I spent a $100 which was a lot of money back then for what I was making, to buy a brand new suit, tie, and shoes with many mutual friends in attendance.
I could barely speak a word to anyone, even though there were so many others in mourning, and all I could do was to hug his Fiancé, since sometimes words cannot express the emotions that people are feeling.
Ended up going through a multiple year Mental Health issue scene, asking myself could I have done something different so that he would not have ended up in that hellhole called Iraq.
Went through a couple years of a Cocaine addiction to help me numb myself from internal guilt, until finally some of my best friends gave me a bit of a reality check that I should not live with that burden for choices that were not mine to make.
This included one of best friends, and later best man at my second wedding who had lost his favorite Uncle in Vietnam.
Eric did not directly choose to go to Iraq, he was indirectly drafted but ultimately he chose to go regardless of the BS he knew was behind Bush's War.
I still miss him... RIP Eric. 😭
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/gazettetimes/name/eric-mckinley-obituary?id=13542681Went up to an Anti-War punk gig in PDX listening to the
The Subhumans while he had his three months back after Basic Training.
One of their favorite bands was
Flogging Mollies .
Ended up buying an album from a Hip-Hop band serving in Iraq a year after...
