An Extraordinary Burden

I am remembering Ruth Mortenson tonight. On April 20^th of this year, her son died in Iraq, killed there by the detonation of a roadside bomb. Lance Cpl. Mary G. Mortenson, a Marine on deployed for his third tour – third “pump” in Iraq, was killed before his 23^rd birthday; he’d spent his 20^th, 21^st, and 22^nd birthdays in Iraq.

The Washington Post, Sylvia Moreno reporting, tells the story of Ruth and Marty while it tells more than I already knew about the increasing hardship under which our soldiers were being called to function. Three infantry battalions and three rotary wing squadrons of Marines are already on their third pump in Iraq.

“We’re not expanding numbers, and we’re not reducing our commitments around the world,” said University of North Carolina history professor Richard H. Kohn, a former chief of Air Force history at the Pentagon. “We’re taking it out of the hide, as they say in the military. If they have to go back a second or third time, particularly a third time, is it really fair?” Kohn said. “I would call that an extraordinary burden.”

From Kevin at The Washington Monthly … When retired General Jack Keane was asked to confirm reports that the commanders in Iraq did not need additional troops,

The General explained that what was meant is not that more troops aren't needed: in fact, Keane has seen first-hand that the officers in the theater are badly understaffed and over-tasked.

He went on to say that there is powerful opposition to the American presence, and that our troops are having great difficulty with the cultural and social challenges of combating an urgan Iraqi insurgency that, in his words, has as its sanctuary the Iraqi people. Thus, notwithstanding how overloaded our troops are, General Abizaid and others have concluded that more American forces would make the problems worse, not better.

Marty Mortenson emailed his mom a few months before he died to apologize for missing her birthday. He said, “I have had so much on my mind. … going off to war 4 the 3^rd time isn’t easy.”

On March 27 Mortenson wrote home, “I am fine don’t worry.” On April 18 he wrote in anticipation of plans to start school: “I am trying to put out ideas because on may 19^th I only have a year left. That only leaves me with 6-7 months when I get back … not a lot of time.” On April 20^th he died.

I am remembering Ruth tonight while I continue to pray for the soon and safe return of those sons and daughters still hoping to survive.

technorati tags: war, Iraq, Tommi