I’ve been a teacher for 13 years. This war has dragged on for 4 years. I guess the odds had to catch up to me sometime. I’ve lost a former student I taught - he was killed in this war this weekend.
Tommy Latham was 22 years old, on patrol in Iraq, when he fell victim to a roadside attack, apparently. His name isn’t listed on iCasulaties.org as of Tuesday night. He’s not on the Department of Defense list either. (EDIT - it is now listed at 9:30 p.m. EST)But he’s gone. He’s left a 22-year-old widow (another former student of mine), a 5-year-old stepson and an almost 2-year old daughter.
I want to be angry, but I’m not sure I should be. I hadn’t talked to Tommy since he graduated; I didn’t even know he’d enlisted. I have no idea if he supported or rejected this war. Maybe he believed he was doing good work in Iraq. I’m sure he was. I have no idea what his widow or family members think.
I do know this - the Iraqi people don’t want us there, for the most part. The American people want our troops removed sooner rather than later, for the most part. And the world community still wonders why we went in the first place, for the most part.
I want to believe Tommy Latham died for something. I want to believe his sacrifice somehow was necessary.
I’d hate to think I’m sullying the significance of his sacrifice by saying he died in vain. I really want to believe he didn’t. But I can’t help but think – why are we still sending soldiers there?