(Written the week before the Vanek mission) September 11^th is, well, 9/11. And November 11^th is Veterans Day.

Just before September 11^th General Petraeus testified before Congress and concluded saying that “they continue to raise their right hands” at the very time my wife was raising her right hand and re-enlisting. It was also the time that MoveOn.org ran a rhyme on a full-page ad in the New York Times accusing the General of treason.

“Nothing is sacred – free speech trumps all.” That is what MoveOn.org and Westboro Baptist Church have in common.

Veterans’ Day was four days ago. Three days ago, Joe Vanek “died of wounds sustained from enemy small arms fire in Baghdad” according to the Department of Defense press release two days ago. The following photo shows David Howell Petraeus and Joseph Michael Vanek on February 25, 2007.

9/11 occurred at the beginning of Joe’s junior year at York Community High School in Elmhurst, just west of Chicago. His father says that Joe joined the track team his senior year as part of his preparation for military life. He graduated in May, 2003 and volunteered to enter our army two months later. He completed basic training in 2003 and Basic Airborne Course in 2004 at Fort Benning.

Then, in March, 2004, Joe became part of the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He was in Mosul for his first tour during the historic national election in Iraq. He completed the Warrior Leaders Course (the basic professional development course for noncommissioned officers) in 2006. He earned a Bronze Star. Joe was on his third tour when his life was ended the day after Veteran’s Day.

As you may know, Jim came home on Halloween. Joe and Jim trained together in North Carolina and may have met. The 82^nd Division is a light infantry outfit and close-knit. They are the guys who confront the enemy eye-to-eye.

1000 miles northwest of Baghdad, 2487 years ago, a small band of highly motivated and highly trained western soldiers faced an eastern foe. The Battle of Thermopylae was memorialized in the movie The 300 last year. The 82^nd faces the (Iranian) insurgents the same way the Spartans faced the Persian army of Xerxes 25 centuries ago – not with submerged submarine-launched GPS-guided cruise missiles, but eye-to-eye.

So why don’t we drop bombs from planes flying five miles high in the sky, as Commander-in-Chief Clinton did to the Serbians? Because of something called “positive identification”. Remember Kosovo a decade ago? That was when we all learned the phrase “collateral damage”. We have nuclear weapons. If we felt toward the Iraqis as the President of Iran expresses his feelings toward Israel, we would have returned Baghdad to the desert years ago.

Young, highly motivated and highly trained American soldiers like Joe Vanek die in our effort to enable democracy, capitalism, justice and peace without collateral damage.

Eye-to-eye. In time, the details of how Joe died from small arms fire will be known. Probably not before his funeral next week, however. From other reports, I am able to describe the nature of the work Joe, and Jim and the rest of the 82^nd do every day in Iraq. The cover story of the American Spectator magazine for its November (current) issue describes an event from August 26^th involving other 82^nd Division soldiers.

Jim was posted to Bayji and Joe died in Baghdad. Midway between those cities lies Samarra – all three cities patrolled by the 82^nd. The soldiers of the Second Battalion of the 505^th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Jim is in the First Battalion) had intelligence that an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) factory was located at a certain address in Samarra. They sent a platoon to investigate.

Josh Morley wore the sergeant’s rank insignia of three chevrons, like Joe and like Jim. He and three other soldiers, Tracy Willis, Chris Corriveau and Eric Moser, climbed to a rooftop to overwatch the exfiltration route. That means they were to monitor activity on the street the platoon would use when they left to be sure that no IEDs would be planted during the search of the factory.

And if all you know about soldiering in Iraq is what you have read about court-martialed Abu Ghraib guard Lynndie England, consider the facts as I have presented them to this point: Some people were making bombs so they could blow-up other people. Americans kicked-in the door to stop the bomb-making. Morley, Willis, Corriveau and Moser were assigned to the defense of the search party.

Morley and Willis died that morning in a fierce fight. The next day, the script of “an announcement crafted by the Islamic State of Iraq (“ISI”, al Qaeda's Iraqi front), stating that nine U.S. soldiers had been kidnapped in Samarra, and had been beheaded and had their bodies thrown into Thar-Thar lake (to the southwest of the city)” established the reason for the ferocity.

The insurgents, some “of whom had long beards – a distinctly non-Iraqi trait” had intended “to kidnap the soldiers on the rooftop, and to make a public spectacle of their imprisonment and murder, just two weeks before General Petraeus's internationally viewed testimony on Iraq before the U.S. Congress.”

Denigrating American soldiers to make a political point is something that MoveOn.org and the ISI have in common.

The four-man team had been observed taking their position on the rooftop. The insurgents, intent on capturing American soldiers, had assembled a large force that rushed the rooftop from both stairwells while firing from three adjacent rooftops. Morley was struck in the head by an (un)lucky shot as he ran for the radio to call for help in the first seconds of the engagement. Second-in-command Willis died a minute later after he was wounded and lost control of a hand grenade he was about to throw at one of the stairwells.

A quick reaction force of four HMMWVs would arrive in less than ten minutes, but that was a very long time for Corriveau and Moser to defend themselves and the bodies of their two friends against what was later established to be forty insurgents. Hand grenades and small arms fire from the two stairwells and machine gun fire from three other rooftops tested the courage and tenacity of these two 23-year-olds. In the end, the insurgents were denied their prize.

I did not attend the Patriot Guard missions for Morley or Willis. The funerals were, respectively, on Monday and Friday of the first week of September in North Carolina and in Texas. I will attend for Joe Vanek, however. On Monday, I will use the truck to retrieve Kevin from kindergarten and we will both stand in the flagline during the visitation. Tuesday morning I will return to stand the line at the funeral home, escort Joe to the cemetery and then stand a line there.

Attributed to George Orwell: "Good people sleep well in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to commit violence in their name."

Orwell was talking about the men of the 82^nd.

~~~

Update Monday night: What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I wrote of how cold it was for Ashley Sietsema. The Joe Vanek flagline today enjoyed perfect temperatures. There was in excess of 100 percent humidity, but “at least nobody is shooting at us” as I like to say.

I had to get Kevin from kindergarten and deliver him to Taekwon Do. We had a three hour window. The funeral home is more than an hour away and rush hour traffic through the 294 construction would be unpredictable. Happily, it all worked-out.

A month ago, Kevin told me that he didn’t want to be a soldier anymore. He explained that they all get killed. He has been on many missions with me and they were all to honor and celebrate a dead soldier, so his perspective is understandable. I reminded him of the many times his Uncle John and his Uncle Jim had gone to Iraq or Afghanistan and returned home, but I didn’t want to press the point.

So it was wonderful that, in our very brief visit today, Kevin met SGT Mike DiDonato. I just wish more people could get the insight that can only come from meeting a soldier like Mike. If everyone in Elmhurst understood what it takes to be a good soldier in our army, there would be 40 thousand flag-bearers in our line tomorrow.

~~~

Tuesday afternoon update: The funeral is over and Joe Vanek is at rest. I may comment further later, but I am busy processing photos now. I will only offer the words of Major General W. H. Johnson spoken at the end of the graveside service:

Nine days ago, another costly sacrifice was laid upon the alter of freedom as Sergeant Joseph Michael Vanek gave his last full measure on the battlefield.

A proud soldier of C Company, 2^nd Battalion, 325^th Infantry, 2^nd Brigade Combat Team, 82^nd Airborne Division, Sergeant Vanek went willingly to serve his nation. He offered his skill, spirit and determination – and, ultimately, his life – to secure the blessings of liberty we all hold so dear.

His path from Elmhurst, Illinois to Baghdad, Iraq was marked by a sense of mission. As a sergeant, he was a leader of men; soldiers in combat. He was respected and admired by his men and his leaders.

Sergeant Vanek was a combat veteran on his third tour in theatre. He deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, III and V. His friends and men remember him as an expert and a professional at his job. He was known for taking care of his soldiers on and off duty. Most telling is a comment by one of his troopers who stated, “I would follow him into combat any day.” This speaks volumes on the lasting impact he had on those around him.

As we gather to honor him, Sergeant Vanek stands tall in the minds of his fellow soldiers, his friends and neighbors. Most of all, he stands tall in the hearts of his mother, Janice A. Vanek, his father, Frank G. Vanek and his sister Anne.

Make no mistake: The struggle that cost Sergeant Vanek his life is one that we must and will win. By taking the fight to the enemy, he acted for all of us who treasure liberty. Take heart that he served his country faithfully and well as a soldier in our army.

Take solace in the loving memory of this fine young man. God bless Joseph Michael Vanek and all who knew and loved him. God bless America.

Thank you, General.

Monday afternoon visitation and Tuesday morning flagline photos

Tuesday morning during the service and then at the cemetery photos

back to ALL MISSIONS

Afterthought, Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day:

There were two dozen White Falcons present. These were troopers from Joe’s battalion. That number includes four troopers from Joe’s Company. Except for the mother, father and sister, no one present felt the loss more than these soldiers.

Most of these soldiers had roles in the funeral. During the church service I noticed one of them moving across the concrete in front of the building. He would take a small step forward with his right foot and then bring his left foot even with it and stop. Then he would take another small step and repeat the motions. He got to the concrete stairs that descend to the waiting hearse. He stepped down with his right foot. Then he brought down his left foot to the same step and again he paused. (picture 845) He was rehearsing the steps he would take as one of the six pallbearers. (pictures 874 and 880) This graceful athlete didn’t really need to practice his walking. He practiced anyway. When he held his corner of the casket, his friend inside the casket would be counting on him and SPC Bennett wasn’t going to let his friend down.

There were many examples of that seriousness of purpose.

As a symbol, our national flag is never dipped in deference nor is it ever flown below another flag. The exception that proves the rule arises from a military funeral. Both the funeral home and the church had flagpoles at the front of the buildings with the flags flying at half-mast. Indeed, by order of the Governor, all flags were to be half-masted this day.

The Patriot Guard usually produces dozens of people holding one 3-foot by 5-foot flag each. The casket flag is special. It has longer red and white stripes than flags of regular proportions. And it is different from all the other flags in other ways. It is draped over the casket during the visitation, folded back to allow viewing of the open casket. One paratrooper stands guard at the head and another at the feet.

At the cemetery, the removal, folding and presentation of the casket flag central to the ceremony. (pictures 932 through 967) But between the funeral home and the cemetery, the Catholic ritual replaces the casket flag with a simple white pall that signifies every man’s equality and humility in death. So, naturally, the casket flag is stuffed into a duffle for the duration of the service.

Not hardly.

One lone soldier stood motionless in the vestibule of the church holding Joe’s carefully-folded casket flag to his heart all through the funeral mass. He stood, wrists crossed, near the glass wall at the top of those concrete steps. His steady gaze focused through the open doors at the rear of the sanctuary. I took three pictures of him but his eyes never moved. I then walked over to him and quietly said, “Thank you.” Still his eyes did not move and I wondered if he even heard me. There is no NFL running back who protects the ball better than did PFC Peters protect that flag that day.