(guest blogged by Logan Murphy)
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As many of you know, the last weekend of January was one of the deadliest for U.S. soldiers in the ongoing occupation of Iraq. Among the casualties were 12 National Guardsmen who died when their Blackhawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad.
Newsweek digs deeper than reporting the number and provides a glimpse into the lives of the 12 soldiers and the impact on their families. Together, the twelve left behind 34 children and at least a dozen grandchildren. To put a face to the losses is devastating. Take this heartbreaking example:
Cpl. Victor Langarica did not share (his fellow troops') optimism about the mission in Iraq. From the moment he received his deployment orders last April, he seemed convinced that he would not leave the war zone alive. Worse, he believed that he was going to die for no good reason. A twice-divorced single father of a young son and daughter, he had joined the Army hoping to gain the skills that would lead to higher pay than he made at Home Depot. His mother and ex-wives looked after the kids while he was overseas. He was proud of the nine months he served in combat in Afghanistan after 9/11, but the experience left the lighthearted 29-year-old sullen and fearful. Once he was surprised by an Afghan soldier who put a gun to his head. Just as the soldier was about to fire, a fellow American shot the Afghan dead. He never found out who had saved his life, but thought of him as an angel.
Unlike most of the others who died in the crash, Langarica was regular Army. But when he got his deployment papers to Iraq, he didn't want to go. The invasion made no sense to him. " 'I don't understand why Bush is doing this to us'," his mother, Pearl Lucas, recalled his saying. " 'If I die, I won't know why I died, if it was for oil or for revenge'."
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