We lost a great friend, a wonderful husband and father, an excellent Doctor, Officer, Ranger, and soldier this week. My heart goes out to his family - we only knew him for a short time at the Army War College, but he was the type of leader that makes an instant impression on you.

"To fallen soldiers let us sing
where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
to the mansions of the Lord"

Randall Wallace -"Mansions of the Lord"

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1982/39050/

In what many call the greatest speech by an American President, Abraham Lincoln spoke to the assembly at Gettysburg about the need to carry on the fight:

"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced"

The State of the Union speech that President Bush gives Monday will be at least 15 times longer than the Gettysburg address and yet will not be nearly effective as the Gettysburg address, given today, would be in discussing today's situation in Iraq. The Gettysburg address was given before the War was over - to that point the Union had lost more battles than it won - in contrast, some would say that we have "lost" this war after winning every battle, firefight and skirmish to date.

If only Lt Mark Daily could have been selected to serve as the President's speech writer rather than serve his country in Iraq. In his MySpace Blog posted shortly prior to his death in Iraq this week, Lt. Daily clearly defines why we need to continue the work that has been "thus far so nobly advanced". This posting should be required reading for Congress, the State Department and the Pentagon. It should be read aloud at the next session of Congress.

LT Laura Walker helped build roads and bridges to democracy, lets hope LT Mark Daily's words can build bridges of understanding on why we need to help the Iraqis keep building Iraq's Road to Democracy

May they both Rest In Peace

News travels fast - unless it is good news. Or should I say good news involving our men and women serving overseas doesn't even travel. When our military makes a mistake, or stoops to the level of their enemies or is involved in criminal acts, it is front page news, lead story on the nightly and hourly news. These stories are few and far between, but because they are reported over and over again, you would think they are commonplace and the norm rather than the exception. Yet everyday thousands of Americans are doing wonderful things for Iraqis and Aghani and they go unnoticed. You can't pay people to write good stories about our military (we tried but as soon as the MSM got wind of it, it was stopped)! It saddens me that it takes talk radio and bloggers to get the "good news" out. I thank God that there are the Laura Ingrahams and Rush Limbaughs that actually go overseas and report back on the good things these people are doing - Laura was especially impressed with the courage, professionalism and the great things our troops are doing for the Iraqis and (novel concept) she actually talked to the Iraqis that our men and women were helping. She is going back this fall - her show during her trip should be mandatory for every political affairs student in our country - they will get the real story and hear from real Americans and Iraqis how we are building a free and democratic country there.

I am starting this blog to try to tell these stories that seldom are heard, yet should be told every single day. I am inspired to do this by one of the last acts on this earth of Lt. Laura Walker  - http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Route-to-Democracy&id=54419 - I have read this article over and over again, and each time I am saddened a little more - sad because not enough people have read the story or even know that we have built a road that makes life better for the people of Afghanistan. Sad because her life was cut short before the road was completed. Sad, no bitter, because millions know the story of the woman holding the leash tied to the Iraqi prisoner, yet only a handful of us know the story of Lt Laura Walker. My writings will be dedicated to her memory and the memory of all our men and women building "Routes to Democracy".