Michael Moore's first thoughts re the election

Army Spc. Genaro Acosta

26, of Fair Oaks, Calif.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division (Mech), Fort Hood, Texas; killed while on patrol Nov. 11 when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit and detonated two improvised explosive devices in Taji, Iraq.

The twin explosions that killed Spc. Genaro Acosta on Veterans Day destroyed even his wedding ring, but they left his gold cross intact.

"Everywhere he went, he would not take that cross off," his brother Fernando Acosta said. "He was a very strong believer in God."

Acosta, 26, of Fair Oaks, Calif., was killed Nov. 11 when his vehicle hit two explosives in Taji, Iraq. He was stationed at Fort Hood.

The avid Los Angeles Lakers fan with a fondness for the cartoon character Scooby Doo "felt very strongly about helping other people out," Fernando Acosta said. He re-enlisted this year despite his concern over the dangers because "he figured it was the right thing to do," his brother said.

"I know that he did not die in vain," said his widow, Roxanne Longoria Acosta. "He was proud of what he did."

Yup! I agree.

Army Pfc. Steven Acosta

19, of Calexico, Calif.; assigned to C Company, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died Oct. 26 from a non-hostile gunshot wound in Baqubah, Iraq.

PHOENIX ?- As Pfc. Steven Acosta was preparing to serve in Iraq, his older brother Gerardo was just returning from the same war.

Steven Acosta didn't have another opportunity to see his older brother. The 19-year-old Army supply clerk from Calexico, Calif., died from a gunshot wound suffered in a non-combat incident in Baqubah, Iraq.

His death on Sunday remains under investigation, the military said Monday.

"I just wish I could see him again, and just be with him like we used to be before," said his brother, Gerardo, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Steven Acosta enlisted in the Army before his older brother had a chance to talk to him about becoming a Marine.

"We used to make fun of each other," Gerardo said from his parents' home in Calexico, Calif. "I used to tell him how Marines were better. We used play around like that."

Over the Christmas holiday, Steven Acosta returned from boot camp and spoke of making a career of the Army. That was the last time Gerardo saw his brother.

Steven Acosta entered the Army after graduating from Calexico High School in 2002. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, at Fort Hood, Texas.

The second youngest of five brothers, Steven Acosta was born in Blythe, Calif., into a family that spends their time together playing soccer, Gerardo Acosta said. The Acostas lived in Mexicali, Mexico, before settling in Calexico in 1991.

Steven was sentimental and outgoing, his brother said. Steven's friends would regularly gather at the Acosta home, bringing their guitars to play punk rock while Steven kept the beat on the drums, Gerardo Acosta said.

While in Iraq, Steven Acosta e-mailed his family regularly, telling them about the realities of his military service: what it felt like to be under attack, something falling in his food during an unexpected skirmish and breaking his toe.

His mom packed bundles of noodles, books and Mexican sweets in the box she sent him for Sept. 27, his 19th birthday. As always, she urged Steven to not spend his money, but instead save it so he could travel the world once he returned.

Steven's e-mails stopped coming around Oct. 2, when he told his family he'd call on Saturday.

"We were waiting for his call," Gerardo Acosta said. "My mom, she e-mailed him three or four times. We were just waiting for him."

Died:
October 26, 2003

I agree, but I feel extremely uncomfortable arguing the pros & cons while confronted with the images of these young men. To me, it's like they've been used shabbily once & I don't want to continue using them. However, it is very sobering seeing the young faces belonging to those names.

Army Capt. James F. Adamouski

29, of Springfield, Va.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; killed in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash in central Iraq.


Capt. James Adamouski, 29, of Springfield, Va., had flown more than a thousand hours in Black Hawks. When his mother would fret about the danger Adamouski would promise to fly low and fast. He was not piloting the day he died.

A star soccer player at West Point, Adamouski played semipro soccer when stationed in Germany. He had big plans: He had just been accepted at the Harvard Business School and he hoped to teach economics at West Point. He married just seven months ago.

In his last message home ?- to his wife, Meighan, on March 30 ?- Adamouski wrote of his eagerness to be home, fears about the war and his confidence in his men.

"The conventional Iraqi Army forces are no match," he wrote. "However, the crazy Iraqi with a bomb strapped to his chest or a shoulder-fired missile is what scares me the most."

Army Pvt. 2 Algernon Adams

36, of Aiken, S.C.; assigned to the 122nd Engineer Battalion, Army National Guard, Edgefield, S.C.; died Oct. 28 of non-combat-related injuries at Forward Operating Base St. Mere, Iraq.

Spc. Algernon Adams earned a Purple Heart in Iraq in August when he was one of four engineers wounded when they were hit by shrapnel. Adams, 36, a member of the South Carolina National Guard, died Oct. 28 at a base near Fallujah of a gunshot wound. "He was just a good son," said his mother, Ann Brown. "He went and did his duty and he was there for his country." Adams graduated from high school in Augusta, Ga., and had served in the Guard for about 17 years, his mother said. He lived in North Augusta, S.C. Adams is also survived by his wife, Lisa.

You're right of course.

The poignant notes of taps filled the rafters of the Main Post Chapel during a memorial ceremony Thursday for a Fort Drum Soldier who died in Walter Reed Army Medical Center from wounds sustained in Iraq.

Sgt. Brandon E. Adams, of 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, died Sept. 19 from severe shrapnel wounds to his head. Adams sustained the wounds Feb. 16 in Iraq, following a grenade explosion during a prolonged room seizure with his squad.

Adams' memorial was attended by his parents, other relatives, and his entire company. The faces of his fellow Soldiers were solemn as Lt. Bradford D. Duplessis, B Company commander, offered them words of comfort.

"He will forever be a part of this unit and this great nation," Duplessis said. "Today we will hear the notes of taps," he said. "Taps; it signifies the end of the day, but the last note of ?'Taps' is the first in ?'Reveille.' So it is signified that at the end of the day, the premise of a new day lies ahead."

The tension of grief was thick in the air as the 1-32 Infantry chaplain took the podium and reverently delivered his eulogy about the sacrifice of the American Soldier.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of those who fight and that of their tyrants," said Chaplain (Lt.) Arthur D. Van Der Velde. "Remember the sacrifice of Sgt. Adams. He fought hard, but that struggle has ended in peaceful rest."

The Soldiers close to Adams remember him with candid affection. Spec. David Brian Partington, who received shrapnel wounds to his legs during the same battle, recalled Adams with fondness.

"He was always studying for the board. He was very smart; he knew a little bit about just about everything. He excelled in all the things he did," Partington said. "I'll miss him a lot.

"It would be great to have him as a leader," Partington added. "He was an all around good guy and Soldier."

Staff Sgt. Buddy R. Lerch, Adams' platoon sergeant, received the news of his death by phone almost as soon as he passed.

"Sgt. Adams always took a lot of initiative," Lerch said. "He made a very good impression on me from the beginning. Anything that needed to get done, got done if it was up to Sgt. Adams.

"He was always laughing and joking," he said. "It's important to be positive out there in a combat situation. It's the only thing that's going to keep you going."

As the notes of taps cut through the sadness of the day, many seemed to lift their eyes at the last note, perhaps to find hope. As the ceremony ended, the Soldiers filed past Adams' picture, boots and Kevlar, paying their respects and rendering their salutes to a comrade well remembered and to a new day.

DO you plan on posting every single one?

Spc. Clarence Adams III


RICHMOND, Sept. 8 -- He was the big brother who always had the right advice to give, who called to make sure his little brother was getting along all right and turning into a good man.

That's how Mykale Adams, 15, will remember his older brother, Spc. Clarence Adams III of Richmond, who died Tuesday of injuries he suffered in Iraq on Monday, his 28th birthday. He was a mentor and friend to everyone he touched, family members said.


"He was the type of brother that always wanted to make sure that I didn't go through the things he had to," Mykale Adams said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "He was always looking out for me, no matter where he was."

Clarence Adams III, who grew up in Richmond and was stationed in Fort Hood, Tex., was injured Monday when the vehicle he was riding in hit a roadside bomb, Department of Defense officials said. Adams was assigned to Fort Hood's 91st Engineer Battalion, 1st Calvary Division. Military officials said that the circumstances of his death are under investigation.

A standout football player for Varina High School here, Adams went to Virginia Union University on a partial athletic scholarship, family members said, and joined the Army after two years to help pay for the rest of his education.

His father, Clarence Adams Jr., who served in Europe during the Vietnam War, said military service began as a means to an end for his son but became his love and passion. The younger Adams served in Kosovo and was awarded a commendation for his service there, his father said.

"He was a true soldier," said Clarence Adams Jr., 58, a pipe fitter for the Veterans Administration in Richmond. "He wanted to do right, he wanted to make a difference in the world, and that's why he went."

Mykale Adams said that Clarence was the type to worry about his family first. He said his brother often called from far-away places, filling him with the lessons of his own life and tutoring him on how to navigate tough situations.

"He would tell me never to stoop to a low level, to always carry myself with respect," Mykale Adams said.

Both his father and his brother said Clarence Adams was devoted to his family, including his wife, Tanya, and their three daughters -- the youngest born several months ago -- his mother, Mary, of Richmond, and his twin sister in Florida.

Clarence Adams Jr. said his son also had a flair for adventure and the dramatic.

"Leave it to my son to be killed on basically the same day as his birth," he said. "That was my baby . . . and he loved what he did and he loved his family. To him, that's what came first."

Army 1st Lt. Michael R. Adams

24, of Seattle; assigned to 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.; killed March 16 when he was struck by the barrel of a .50 caliber weapon mounted on his tank in Asad, Iraq.

In an e-mail to his family, Michael R. Adams talked of how much he loved his job and of the responsibility he felt toward the 15 soldiers he led. He remained with his platoon longer than he had to because he wanted to return with them to Fort Carson, Colo., on the unit's last boat home. "I always tell people that I have the best job in the world, and I can't believe they pay me for this!" he wrote.

Adams, 24, of Seattle, died March 16 riding in a tank west of Baghdad. A passing vehicle collided with the tank, causing a .50-caliber machine gun on a swivel to whip around, striking Adams. "He died doing what he wanted to do," Adams' father, Don, said. An Eagle Scout before his 16th birthday, Adams graduated from high school in 1998 with a near-perfect grade-point average. That earned him nominations to the U.S. Naval Academy and to West Point.

Pam Schilz, who had been Adams' guidance counselor, said she is not surprised that the returned members of his platoon in Iraq gave up their family time, with some even paying their own way to fly to West Point, to carry his casket. "I totally understand why. He would always watch out for the people around him," she said.

How about you phonies come talk to me when it is one of your "brothers" that has fallen. You will never know what it is like to lose a fellow soldier and what it is to have people like you and Michael Moore using these brave and wonderful soldiers as political pawns for some sort of agenda you have against the president. The people voted and they agreed with what he is doing.

You assume too much !!!

The use of these young men for political purposes is beneath contempt.

I give panz the benefit of the doubt, and choose to believe that this isn't his intent. That being, I am appreciative to see their faces and hear a little bit about them. They are heroes who signed on to serve our country. I am grateful for their service, and it makes me even more hopeful that the struggle they died for will ultimately succeed.

I believe as most of them did. What we are doing in Iraq will, in time, create an oasis of peace and freedom--which will suck the life out of Islamist extremist terrorism...and make the world a better, safer place.

Yes he is. In propagandizing that they died for nothing, he conveniently forgets those that did, indeed, die for nothing.

They are THESE MEN.

Huh? Iraq and 9/11? 'Tis a non-starter,

How about WE don't politicize the deaths of these young men HERE, by arguing, & just let their images speak for themselves?

If you don't think a flourishing democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq won't send big ripples across Terroristland, you are wrong.

Its hard to recruit happy, successful, hopeful people to die for a miserable, oppressive religion and a billionaire Saudi.

Educate them, give them hope, jobs, a decent home --Hell, just some air conditioning...and a competing news source...

And yet, it's surprisingly easy to recruit people that have been bombed. Hmmm...

There are young people all over Iran fighting underground for democracy. When Bush was re-elected they were surreptiously flashing the "V" for victory sign. They see freedom as a possibility, the want it and they are willing to fight and die to get it.