Mark Levin read from a January 22, 2008, eulogy by Col. Rod Coffey to honor six soldiers in his command who were killed when they were lured into a booby-trapped house in Sinsil, Iraq, two weeks before and terrorists set off the explosives:
Col. Rod Coffey honors the fallen (Updated with audio at 10:04 PM EST)
The act of going in first, the act of willingly doing your duty in a dangerous environment, is by its very nature an act of heroic self-sacrifice for the sake of others. These men we honor today had that spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty to an awe-inspiring degree.
And so I need to speak of what else they died for, and what I believe our honored dead would now expect of us.
I’ll begin by saying what they would not want. They would not wish to be seen as victims of a misguided war, victims of stop loss – or victims of anything else for that matter.
We know we are fighting extremism here in a thousand ways. And as the hometown news articles are getting written several of these fallen heroes are on record stating they believed the war in Iraq is a noble cause.
For those who want to support us by getting us out of Iraq as soon as possible, without a victory, I have but one comment. You’re too late. We have sacrificed too much and all we ask of you is the necessary time to finish the job.
Our children and yours, our grandchildren and yours will be safer for it.
This squadron and the formations on its left and right have in the balance sheet of history, already achieved far more than extremist reckless hatred will ever accomplish.
SSG Dozier once asked his father Carl, “Is it weird to really want to do this?â€Â
His father Carl, filled with pride at what his son had become said “No,” “This is what you’re trained to do.”
On another occasion this brave man, SSG Jonathan Dozier told his father he was prepared to die, “But,†he said, “I don’t want to die for nothing.â€Â
So I ask you Wolfpack to make this promise with me: SSG Dozier, will not have died for nothing. We owe him a victory. We owe him a win. We owe him our own lives if necessary… READ THE REST
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Not everything that I hear on talk radio is true but all things that are true and important I do hear on talk radio. While I might have found this letter on the Internet, the last place that I would have expected to discover its’ existence, or the story it portrays, would be within the pages of the NY Times, the LA Times or any of the nightly TV News channels. Had this been a story regarding troop moral, civilian casualties, custody of Brittany Spears children or an actress or actor that overdosed I could count on front page coverage for weeks to months. The heroes go unnoticed while those that wish they could be heroes or those who fail get all the attention. From the perspective of the biased and propaganda enriched mainstream informers people are not capable of great or heroic things on their own. The future, in their perspective, lies not in great or normal human beings doing great things but in a government that can compensate for human failures and inadequacies and to that end they strive to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Such bravery reminds me of the stanza “into the valley of death rode the six hundred†from the poem describing the courage of the Light Brigade or Sam Houston’s response for the American courage and bravery that perished at the Alamo. The history of this Country is resplendent with instances such as this because this is who we are.
Some might say where have all the heroes gone but we really know that they have gone nowhere, that they are still among us, and that they will always be there for us when the need arises. They know what they must do, and they always do what they must, when they need to do it. They are true Americans and their sacrifices will be remembered because they are the heroes and patriots that gave us today and who insure for us tomorrow by what they have done in the past and for what they can be counted upon to do in the future.
To this end we are also in debt to talk radio, which never lets us forget about the sacrifices of the brave and courageous among us by telling such stories in the way they need to be told.
Only two defining forces have ever died for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American Soldier
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom