“Graduated from Whatever High School”, “Going to State Tourney” and even “For Sale” hand written messages on windows of passing cars get scant attention.  But today, a different kind of hand-lettered message not only got my attention, but it has carried over to this blog entry.

It said: IN LOVING MEMORY: Sgt. John Kyle Daggett. The white Toyota Tundra pick-up. with the Washington license plate, was going somewhere and the message went with it.  I stayed close for four or five miles while I thought about all the Sgt. Daggetts whose names should be on their next of kin’s vehicles.

When I had to exit Hwy. 205 for NE Glisan I pulled alongside hoping to see the driver, but instead I saw a decal on a side window. It was a copy of the once famous ‘Kilroy Was Here’ logo, the one that showed a nose and the top of a head resting on a fence. But this one was different.  The nose and head were there alright, but the verse said: “A Hero Was Here- JKD”.

Too bad that there aren’t another 4,000+ cars, trucks and other means of transportation traveling across America in a single line so the full impact of how many Sgt. Daggetts we’ve lost can be vizualized.

It is now August 2008, and a full three years have passed since I was motivated enough by the War in Iraq to write about it.  About all I can do now is to include what I wrote then.

Numb and Number

© Mr. Blin – August 2005

When the toll reached over 700, I thought that was a lot.
Now I read that it’ll soon exceed 1,900 men and women. Dead.
Multiply that number by 10 for those who died in their sorrow,
And that is just from their immediate families.

The brass says: “We’re going to be there for four more years.”

So we can multiply 19,000 by four times more.
What you get is 76,000.
Maybe add a fudge factor, if we are not getting the real numbers.
Now is that large enough to get us to stop raising the count?

The president won’t admit his math mistakes.

Do we need to find another 76,000?
The Spirit of 1776?  I don’t think so.
These numbers may look like penny ante when compared
To the big wars, the ones we are so proud of.  Like WW I and WW II.

Don’t bring up the Civil War; that was only about killing our brothers.

Oh, and find a number for those trying to live without limbs.
They can’t even count to ten on their fingers and toes.
Let alone know how they are going to make it all add up.
How many Moms are there in spirit at Camp Casey?

America needs to do the math.

Who counts the lives lost by Iraqi and Afghanistan civilians?
If this were a pledge drive, the red line should already be at the top.
Tell me again, how many WMD’s were found?
Oil, can be found in ‘foil,’ which is what we’ve become.

Democracy is priceless, but at what cost?

What purpose do these numbers serve?
The president says the dead soldiers served their country.
Many of their families may have a different opinion on this matter.
‘Served Up’ may be their unfortunate choice of words.

Won’t we ever learn that every lost life counts?

Here are some of their ages: 27, 34, 27, 19, 24, 22, 22 and 38.
A grand total of 213 years.  The line forms to the right.
These ages were from this week’s reported casualties.
They belonged to the 69th, 278th, 7th, 2nd and 463rd.

The Associated Press count has seven more then the Defense Dept.’s tally.
Odd that the numbers don’t match up, but nothing else does.

I’ve read and re-read those numbers from today’s Oregonian.
What do I do about my numbness with these endless numbers?
I can’t skip to the sports pages to find numbers that matter.
Ken Griffey, Jr. said it well: “ I don’t matter, those in uniform do.”

Maybe like Private Ryan, some day there’ll be a movie of this war.
A possible title: Numb and Number.
But, Jim Carey wouldn’t touch that script because it isn’t funny!
Actually what is funny any more?  We are losing our bones.

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