Strollerderby : war

Girl Scouts Use Cookie Money For Soldier's Care Package

Brett Singer — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:30:00 GMT

No matter where you are on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree that soldiers need our emotional support. Plus a frisbee. It'll help with morale.

That's why the Girl Scouts of Troop 1766 at Saint Mary Magdalen School in St. Louis decided to use their earnings from sales of Thin Mints, Samosas and all the other treats to buy some fun stuff to send to Gene McNeil, a soldier currently serving in Afghanistan. McNeil is the father of five Saint Mary's students.

The girls earned enough to pack five boxes full of "Frisbees, Nerf footballs, games, snacks, personal care items and a God's Cod Fish Fry shirt from this year's Lenten fish fries," according to the Webster-Kirkwood Times. They also included a note that said the gifts were "Purchased with our cookie sale money to thank you for your service!"

Aw.

I'd rather have everybody safe on U.S. soil, but if they have to go "over there" as the song says, something like this should at least bring them a much deserved smile.

Source

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American Newborn's Stuck in Iraqi Red Tape

JeanneSager — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:29:00 GMT

Would you go to a war torn country when you were six months pregnant? What if your eighty-six-year-old mother-in-law was there and in ill health?

Grace Alshemmari had never left the United States before, but when her husband, an Iraqi refugee, wanted to visit his ailing mother, she said OK. She'd be home, she thought, in time to deliver her little boy back in the good old US of A.

Except she wasn't. At thirty-five weeks pregnant, Grace Alshemmari was told she couldn't get on an Iraqi Airways jet to fly back to the United States. She was stuck in Iraq for the rest of her pregnancy. In May 2008, she gave birth via C-section in an Iraqi hospital to baby Amir, a week late.

Now Grace is home in Indiana, and her son's stuck in Iraq. She's been told the only way to get the baby out of the country is by visiting the US embassy in Baghdad, but her husband's family has warned that it's much too dangerous for an American citizen in Baghdad right now. She'd be putting herself - and the baby - in mortal danger. The family made attempts to file the necessary paperwork in another Iraqi city and at an embassy in Jordan, but again they were pointed to Baghdad.

So Grace came home in September, hoping she could reach out to the American government from within the borders rather than across the globe. She's been told the State Department can't help her - she has to follow procedures that were set in place to ward against "baby smuggling." They want to verify the baby is truly a U.S. citizen before they let her bring Amir home.

I'm still not sure I'd get on a plane and fly to a war-torn country when I was six months pregnant - sick mother-in-law or no sick mother-in-law. But for family, it's hard to say what you will and won't do until you're there. Can you really blame her for supporting her husband in his time of need?

As for the baby smuggling - what ever happened to checking with the Iraqi hospital? If they confirm this woman gave birth, do they really think she's going to sneak someone else's baby into the country and leave her own stranded in Iraq? Or here's a crazy thought - how about State Department officials work FOR an American citizen instead of against one? They have the means to travel within the country with military protection. How about they travel to the Alshemmari's family's home in Najaf, where the baby is currently living, and confirm his existence and his resemblance to his mother. If they so wish, they can pluck a few hairs and send them off for DNA testing to confirm this baby is REALLY the child of an American citizen.

A part of me can't help but wonder, is Grace, the American citizen, being penalized for being married to an Iraqi?

Image: Yahoo (1 - Grace and Amir. 2. Grace and Raad Alshemmari's elder child, Karina, holds a picture of baby brother Amir)

Dad Finds Daughter Abducted During Bosnian War

JeanneSager — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:01:00 GMT

It's been sixteen years since Muhamed Becirovic saw his family, abducted by Serbian soldiers at the start of the Bosnian war. But the Bosnian Muslim - now living in Germany - never gave up hope.

Now Red Cross workers, using DNA samples, have reconnected the father with one of his two little girls, now living with a foster family in Serbia. Senida was nine months when last seen by her father; she's now sixteen and goes by the name Mila.

She's also a Serbian. And a Christian.

She's known nothing of her father for the past sixteen years, nothing of his life or her heritage. Now she faces the biggest question of all - should she stay with what she knows? Or join her biological father in another country, taking on a new life?

It's the kind of story that tears at a parents' guts. Becirovic has rebuilt his life since losing his wife and two daughters after fighting broke out while he was working out-of-town, and ethnic Serbs took control of his hometown. By the time he finally got to his home, the building was demolished, his family gone. He's spent more than a decade and a half trying to find them, even if that meant discovering they were among the bodies dumped in the mass graves created during the Bosnian war. He's also since become a permanent resident of Germany, remarrying a German woman and fathering another daughter.

But a third daughter can't possibly replace his elder two. Finding Senida would seem like a dream come true.

But what of Senida? She's no longer a baby, and she says she doesn't want to move to Germany. “Of course I am very happy to have found my family and my roots. But at the moment it is all too much for me," she told the Sunday Times.

Is it fair for a child to be uprooted from everything that she knows? With the long history of the region, pitting Serbs against Bosnians and Christians against Muslims, it's hard to say how much of this child's biological heritage can really take hold over what she has been raised to believe. It's akin to a child raised evangelical Christian in America suddenly learning she's an Orthodox Jew - and her biological parents believe nothing of the born again, Jesus loving faith she's been raised to hold so dear. Doesn't nurture trump nature in this case?

By the time kids reach a certain age, biology can hold only so much sway in their lives. Heritage is more environmental and less what one is born with at sixteen. Not to mention the utter lack of relatable moments between father and daughter in this situation because of such a large chunk of their lives spent apart.

For the Becirovics, what should be one of the happiest days of their lives is fraught with confusion. Unfortunately, they're still a family torn apart by war.

Image: USIP

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Two Pictures Of Kids In Gaza

Brett Singer — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Warning: These shots will probably make you want to hug your kids immediately.

For me, the hardest part of any war/conflict/disaster is the human side. Now that I'm a parent, if that human face belongs to a child, it's that much harder to see.

This photo was on the front page of the New York Times today. Here's the caption: "A Palestinian boy with Russian citizenship was among the foreigners whom Israel allowed to leave Gaza on Friday." (source)

Here's another shot of kids leaving Gaza. (source)

MSNBC is reporting that Israeli ground troops are crossing the Gaza border (source, breaking news). Regardless of how you feel about the situation, seeing these photos of kids caught up in the whole thing should make you wish for a speedy resolution to it all. Or at least one that lets the kids get out while they still can. I never really understood the idea of "women and children first", something that I remember hearing a lot on old cartoons and disaster movies (and cartoons that were parodies of disaster movies). These pictures definitely drive that point home.

Photos: New York Times

China Detains Dad of Baby Sickened by Tainted Milk

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Most Tasteless Tree Ornament Ever

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:00:00 GMT

"Protect our troops - from the womb to the war. What if the fetus you were going to abort would grow up to be a soldier bringing democracy to a godless dictatorship?"

I think it says something about the general state of the anti-abortion movement and who they have let speak for them that when I saw this unborn soldier ornament, I was fully prepared to believe that it was in fact being offered by a pro-life group in all earnestness.

In fact, as the site kindly explains in a "note to confused": "This is a real product, from a real site. The product is a satire, but it is also a real product - FOR SALE." Roger that. Ixnay on the free unborn soldier ornaments. And satire. Right. Of course.

Not a statement for the parental set to make though, I figure. Try explaining to your kid why this particular bit of satire is hanging on your tree between the snowflakes and little drummer boys . . . Ouch.

The only question is whether anyone who misses the satire is buying them in earnest. I guess they wouldn't likely be shopping at MissPoppy.com, purveyor of "the finest alternative Christian products to the saved and unsaved alike," including buttons that say "Jesus was so gay!" holy family rubber duckies, and bible tracts disguised as dropped wallets with cash sticking out.

(hat tip: Boing Boing, via Mind Pollution).

More by this author:

Afghan Parents Keeping Girls Home from School

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:18:00 GMT

Seven years after the U.S. “liberated” Afghanistan from the brutal Taliban regime, many parents have decided to keep their daughters at home instead of sending them to school. They feel, understandably and tragically, that education is not worth the risk of physical violence.

After acid was thrown on a group of girls walking to school last month, school enrollments have declined sharply. In the province of Ghazni, where the acid attack occurred, 50 schools have closed and 15,000 students—mainly girls—have stopped going to school so far this year.

It’s heartbreaking that even though girls are now officially allowed to attend school for the first time in more than a decade, the Taliban and other militant groups remain so active that official policy is almost meaningless.

Photo: AP

After the War Zone, the Baby Zone

Kate Tuttle — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:01:00 GMT

According to an article in the New York Times, the army base at Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is experiencing a baby boom of unprecedented scope. The base is home to the 82nd airborne, division, some 22,000 troops who were deployed en masse in the Iraq "surge" -- nine months after the soldiers began returning to their families, the surge was on at the local maternity ward. It's not just the 82nd; another nearly 30,000 soldiers also contributed to a flood of pregnancies that's swamping not only the hospital but also local businesses -- apparently Target is selling out of cribs and the embroidery kiosk at the mall is all backed up doing camouflage diaper bags. Earlier this month, a mass baby shower was held to honor 1,000 soon-to-be moms at the base.

It's hard to imagine a more joyful, positive response to returning from the dangers and deprivations of warfare, and I wish all those babies and their families much joy. Still, for many of these newborns, especially those with both parents in the military, life might not be as rosy as we'd wish. New mothers only get six months off the deployment list after giving birth (this was recently increased from three months), after which they can be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan. Fathers can be sent at any time. For the parents and the children, such separation can be heartbreaking, the damage felt long after a parent returns home (and felt always, of course, if a parent does not come home).

A little birthday wish, then, from the non-military among us: may those new Ft. Bragg babies, born into two wars, come of age in a time of peace.

American Widow Project Offers a Place to Grieve and Heal

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

In honor of this particularly meaningful Veteran's Day, several news outlets have called attention to a very important resource for military widows. The American Widow Project was created by 21-year-old Taryn Davis (pictured), whose husband Michael was killed in Iraq last year.

In the months after her husband's death, Taryn discovered a woeful dearth of resources for dealing with her pain and connecting with other military widows. All that she received from the military upon learning that Michael had been killed were a few small black boxes with Michael's personal belongings and an informative binder. Taryn described the sense of increased isolation and despair she felt as she opened these boxes. "What's foremost in your head is the clothes, because you cannot wait to smell him," she said, "and you open [the black boxes] and it smells like Tide. Everything is sanitized, everything is wiped down." The binder was equally inadequate in helping Taryn deal with this tragedy, offering information on how to arrange a funeral and little else.

So Taryn decided to reach out to other men and women in her position. She made a documentary and created an impressive Web site in which widows and widowers can share their stories and find advice on how to navigate the difficult time ahead, including articles like "Things I Learned to Laugh About Along the Way," "So You're Ready to Date," and moving personal stories of what widows have done with their husband's remaining personal belongings.

I highly recommend this site not only to military families, but to anyone dealing with grief.

Photo: American Widow Project

Dudes for Palin: Vote for the Hot Chick!

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:30:00 GMT

It may not surprise you to learn that, according to the New York Times, “dudes” constitute Sarah Palin’s most vocal supporters. But it may disturb you to learn what these men have to say about her.

Although Palin was ostensibly chosen for her anticipated appeal to women, the former beauty contestant has (gasp!) won over far more men than women, with her initial approval ratings at 44 percent among men and 36 percent among women. (Those numbers have since dropped considerably, down to 31 percent among men.)

Even as many conservatives fault Palin for being, to put it nicely, not “serious” enough, Joe Sixpacks can’t get enough of her. One of Palin's female supporters acknowledged that Palin rallies are about “70-30, maybe 65-35, men to women.” Among the shout-outs that Palin routinely receives at her rallies are cries of, “You tell ‘em babe!” and “You rock me out, Sarah!” Some men sport “Proud to vote for a hot chick” buttons, while others carry “Dudes for Palin” signs.

Palin apparently loves the testosterone-charged rock concert atmosphere of her rallies. After entering a rally to the heading-banging tunes of AC/DC, she told the crowd, “That was kinda cool.” She has also introduced her husband as “Alaska’s First Dude.”

At least one Palin supporter interviewed by the Times admitted that he came to a Palin rally “just to look at her.” He wisely chose to remain anonymous. Let’s hope he realizes that, just as it’s embarrassing to admit to supporting a political candidate simply because of her appearance, actually voting an inexperienced, scandal-plagued woman into the White House simply because she’s “beautiful” at a time in which our country is engaged in two wars, is widely hated throughout the world, and is in the early stages of widespread economic collapse, would be an unforgivably inane decision.

Dudes, if you want to stare at hot chicks, watch Desperate Housewives.

Photo: New York Times

"A Last Desperate Refuge:" Trailer Park for Iraqi Widows

Shannon LC Cate — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:00:00 GMT

According to NPR, there are over 1 million Iraqi women left widowed by the war. Often abandoned by the rest of their families and with very little government support, such women are forced into begging and sex work to support themselves and their children. To help these women, the government has established a trailer park in which to house such women, but not only is it much too small to support all of those in need, the conditions are terrible:

It wasn't supposed to be this way, says Murtada Idan, the guard who protects this place.

"The contractor who built this compound took the money and did nothing," Idan says. "There are 120 widows and their families who live here but they suffer from the terrible conditions."

Without running water or electricity, under metal roofed trailers in a treeless dirt lot, these women are barely better off than they'd be on the streets. I don't know where the supposed surplus of the Iraqi government is going, but it obviously isn't going to support the most vulnerable members of society.

If the U.S. wants to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary Iraqi people, these women and their children look like great candidates. The story at NPR didn't mention any organizations offering assistance to such people. Do you know of anyone who might be doing that kind of work?

Image

60 Children Killed In Afghan Airstrikes

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:00:00 GMT

As much as I dislike being a major downer, some depressing news just has to be shared. In a harsh reminder that the war against militants in Afghanistan is far from over and far from under control, recent airstrikes in Western Afghanistan killed 90 civilians, including 60 children—that is, according to a U.N. investigation and President Hamid Karzai’s government.

The U.S. coalition—whose troops conducted the airstrikes in conjunction with Afghan forces—claims that the strikes resulted in the deaths of 25 militants and five civilians. A coalition commander has ordered an investigation into the killings.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that the Defense Department believes it was a “good strike.” According to U.S. officials, every effort is made to avoid civilian casualties, but the militants purposefully put innocent people at risk by hiding in civilian areas.

Karzai is not convinced. He issued a statement urging international forces to respect international law in their pursuit of militants.

Photo: regimentalmom.ca

Does Childbirth Cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:48:00 GMT

“I call childbirth my very own Vietnam. You weren’t there, maaaan.” So writes a playful Jezebel reader. But the study that she’s responding to is no joke: the Wall Street Journal reports that 9 percent of women suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) caused by childbirth.

While I am all for airing any form of emotional trauma so that the sufferers can be treated and healed, I am partly sympathetic to Jezebel’s skeptical take on this new study by Childbirth Connection (a nonprofit organization). Something about applying the term PTSD to childbirth irks me. Post traumatic stress disorder is most commonly associated with war veterans and victims of extreme violence; applying it to new mothers makes maternity seem like a pathology. Plus, Jezebel writer Jessica points out that the incidence of PTSD in postpartum women, according to this new study, is the same as the incidence of PTSD-like anxiety experienced by the general population.

On the other hand, there’s no denying the fact that some births are so riddled with problems that “traumatic” is the only way to describe them. Take the case of Liv Lane, who, after 29 hours in labor, gave birth to an infant with a collapsed lung. Her baby was immediately taken away from her with no explanation, and her requests for more pain medication were ignored. At her postpartum checkup, she told the nurse practitioner that she was suicidal and couldn’t stop crying. The nurse suggested that she read some parenting magazines and sent her home.

Perhaps this study reflects not the inherent trauma of childbirth, but the trauma of inadequate medical care in highly stressful situations.

Any mothers out there who have suffered from traumatic birth experiences? Do you think that even births that go smoothly could cause PTSD in some women?

Photo: National Library of Medecine

The Human Element of War

Brett Singer — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:00:00 GMT

No matter what you think of the Iraq War (or any war for that matter) I think it's important to remember the human side of things. The soldiers aren't only fighters, they're people.

Some of them are even parents. In her terrific Personal Essay titled "Return to the Home Front", Korinthia Klein tells us what it was like when her husband Ian came home from "over there." It's all worth reading, but here are a couple of highlights:

"By the time I got my arms around Ian, all I could do was sob."

"Ian marveled at the quiet as we went to sleep, because he'd lived so long with mortar fire and the constant whine of generators and military jets. I kept forgetting that he didn't know where things belonged and that he still had to be introduced to some of the people and places the kids and I know best."

"The children adjusted remarkably well. It's hard to believe Quinn's daddy was a stranger to him only a few weeks ago."

Look – support the war, don't support the war. But no matter what, always support the troops.

Children as "Booty of War:" Tragedy in Half-Tones

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:03:00 GMT

Richard Cohen had a great piece in the NYT Opinion pages today, a story about rescuing twin boys more than 20 years ago from the hands of Argentina's military junta. The practice during this late-70s-early-80s was to keep pregnant women alive until they gave birth, and then the kids were given to military and police officials who wanted them while the moms were murdered, or "disappeared."

Cohen tells the story of tracking down twins who went to live with a police captain after their mom gave birth in a prison and was later murdered. The police captain was later convicted of kidnapping, while DNA tests proved the twins were actually from a different mom than once suspected. Yet, 30 years later, they still cling to the police captain's wife.

It's a confusing, heart-breaking story with shades of gray that I know I am not doing justice to, but it still got me thinking about what happens to children in war and what happened then and what, before our very eyes, is probably happening now.

WTF of the Week: the Unborn Fetus-Soldier Ornament

Karen Murphy — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:07:00 GMT

This can't be real, can it? You'd be surprised...

"Protect our troops -- from the womb to the war. What if the fetus you were going to abort would grow up to be a soldier bringing democracy to a godless dictatorship? Show that you support the 'culture of life' by buying and proudly displaying one of these patriotic unborn Americans." - Christmas ornament, $14.95.

Oh, do follow the link to Miss Poppy (we're talking an actual store here, this is a real item for sale!) where you might want to pick up some gum ("every time you masturbate God kills a kitten").

[via Fussy and Jezebel]

Photo: Miss Poppy

Moms at War Face Adjustment at Home

Amy Kuras — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:07:00 GMT

Whatever you think about the war in Iraq, the fact remains that thousands of families have one parent – sometimes even both – serving there. These families face all kinds of hardships that come from having one parent on the other side of the world for a year, or longer, while trying to keep life as normal as possible for the kids at home.

A story aired this week on NPR looked at what happens when these mothers get home. After the hyper-alert, constantly frightening atmosphere of life in a war zone, regular old life in the suburbs was what felt strange, the moms told NPR. Kimber Smith, pictured here, said that her son went through puberty while she was gone. She'd left a little boy and come home to a teen.

Marisa Gonzales' youngest daughter was three when she left for a year in Tikrit. The little girl blamed herself for her mother's departure, and wouldn’t let her out of her sight when she came back. For their mother's part, she found herself, until recently, having trouble connecting to her kids.

For both women, making the shift from tough solider back to nurturing mom was difficult. Kimber Smith told NPR, "You know, it took me a while to unplug the warrior. I'm still in that high-adrenaline mode and now I have to be Mom?"

War sucks, and despite what you might think of this one, these moms who are leaving their families and subjecting themselves to great danger face things most of us never could, and deserve our respect.

Oriental Trading Company: It's Worse Than You Think

Patti — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:28:00 GMT

Okay, the name alone tips you off to the fact that it's cheap sweatshop crap even before you open the catalog or enter the website. But Oriental Trading Company is a perennial resource for inexpensive crafts and trinkets for parents and teachers, especially for parties and holidays. It's a treasure trove of luau supplies, jewelry kits, tree ornament supplies, and birthday party goody-bag stuffers, and it costs pennies. I've always seen it as a necessary evil.

Turns out, Oriental Trading Company may be just plain evil. I don't give a flying crap about the "Soldier of God" merchandise this op-ed is ranting about, all that cheap patriotism with theocratic overtones just flies right over my head as I merrily go on being the proudest American liberal pinko I can be. So they're discontinuing this product line but still selling it to anyone who asks, big whoop. People will put the damndest things on the back of their cars, won't they?

But Oriental Trading Company's ownership by the Carlyle Group is pretty gross. An investment firm with a heavy emphasis on defense contractors, Carlyle's employees and investors stand to gain quite a bit from the ongoing wars (ironic, given the "Soldier of God" product line). President Bush once sat on the board of a Carlyle company, and his father is one of several former heads of state or high-ranking officials who has worked with the Carlyle Group in a major capacity. Hmm, you know? I hate goody bags anyway, and we have enough tree ornaments.

WWII-Era Children's Art Discovered

Melissa Summers — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:31:00 GMT

Too bad Geraldo didn't make this find, far more exciting than Al Capone's safe. A retired UC Berkeley Professor Joe Fischer had heard about a collection of children's art stored away in the basement of the Richmond Historical Museum. After digging around a bit, he found 4,000 children's paintings and collages from the World War II era.

The Kaiser Shipyard offered daycare for it's employment, many of them women taking over factory work for men who were fighting in the war. On site federally funded daycare? Are we sure this isn't Canada we're talking about? The centers offered an extensive art program led by Monica Haley where two hours a day were set aside and the children were given free access to all sorts of high quality art supplies.

The pictures are intriguing to view, seeing the war from the eyes of a child on the home front. I'd love to see how these pictures compare to the drawings of children actually living through the war. It reminds me of this heartbreaking collection of children's art from Darfur.

Apparently the artwork was carefully archived and stored when a child told the teacher his mother had wrapped the garbage in his painting and thrown it away. I'm suddenly feeling really guilty about the hundreds of pieces of my kid's art I discard every month.

50 of the paintings can be viewed at Museum of Children's Art in Oakland, California through June 3.

Gulf War May Have Caused Birth Defects in Veterans' Babies

Karen Murphy — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:20:00 GMT

I'm really at a loss to describe this one. At first I read this article, thinking, "There's no way. Why are we JUST NOW hearing about this? Wasn't the Gulf War years ago? Is this news? What is going on here?". I checked and re-checked the source to make sure this was really topical, that it's apparently been hidden so long that it's only coming out now: Babies born to the veterans of 1991's Gulf War are being born with severe birth defects, so severe that they are being compared to the thalidomide defects of the early 1960's.

I went to kindergarten with two twin boys, who may have been among those affected by the last wave of thalidomide (ironically used to treat morning sickness but also found to cause severe deformities in the limbs). Not only were they twins and identical in appearance, but this appearance extended to their arms, short little stubs on the ends of which were their little hands. From time to time after I lost track of them, having since changed schools, I wondered what happened to these boys, how they were living, how they were faring, and how the hell they managed. Once in junior high I saw one of them riding his bike which had been retrofitted with extra-long handlebars, and I figured they were managing just fine. When I put two and two together about Thalidomide years later, I was glad that it seemed that such senseless disabilities were no longer happening to children on such a large scale.

Which concerns me greatly because if what I read in this article is correct, this current problem is much more prevalent that our government might have us believe. As the parent of a child with special needs, my heart goes out to these children and their parents, battling not only the dreadful still-fully-unknown effects of substances, including pesticides and vaccines for botulism and anthrax, but also the denial-laden bureaucratic morass of the country they sought to defend.

[photo credit: Life]

"This Is The Letter Every Soldier Should Write": A Father's Legacy

Patti — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 01:18:00 GMT

As US troop fatalities in Iraq pass the 3000 mark, the New York Times' Dana Canedy shares a very personal story of one of those lost: her fiancé Charles Monroe King, the father of her infant son Jordan. First Sergeant King was killed in Iraq in October, one month before his tour of duty would have ended. Before he died, King had the chance to complete a journal he'd kept for his son.

He shared the little details Jordan would have learned about his father over the years: favorite foods, favorite football team. He offered the type of wisdom fathers do: treat people with respect, treat women in particular with reverence. Sergeant King, a formally trained artist, drew pictures for his son, including an eerily prescient drawing of an angel who bears an uncanny resemblance to King himself, kneeling with bowed head, looking down through the clouds.

Canedy shares fragments of her fiancé's labor of love, but also allows us to see King as she saw him, and as Jordan would have seen his father. King was a spiritual person, a thoughtful partner, a devoted father. He took responsibility to his men seriously, even as it led him into harm's way.

Reading such stories is brutally painful and particularly if you don't support the war it is easy to simply avoid reading them, change the channel, turn the page. But Charles King's own words perfectly sum up just why such stories must be read: "Things may not always be easy or pleasant for you, that’s life, but always pay your respects for the way people lived and what they stood for. It’s the honorable thing to do."

Strollerderby : war

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The Funkiest Dancing Kid Ever – Part 2

Finish Line - April Fools And More

Madonna Adoption Denied, Appeal Filed

American Newborn's Stuck in Iraqi Red Tape

Dad Finds Daughter Abducted During Bosnian War

U.S. Military Making Virtual Mom and Dad

Kids Around the Globe Weigh in on Obama

Sasha and Malia See Hogwarts with Harry

Dad Finds Daughter Abducted During Bosnian War

Kid Woos Prospective Foster Parents With Letters

Dad Gives Away 500 Lobsters For Cystic Fibrosis Awareness

Teen Has Cancer and Lives in a Car

Parents Must Give Adopted Son Back to Native American Mother

Two Pictures Of Kids In Gaza

Conjoined Twin Surgery: One Lives, One Dies

China Detains Dad of Baby Sickened by Tainted Milk

New Year Morning News

Grieving Chinese Parents Not Allowed To Sue

Boy Saves Brother's Life With Bone Marrow

Infant Twins Safe After Newark Carjacking

Babysitter Made Pornographic Film With 2 Year Old

Most Tasteless Tree Ornament Ever

Afghan Parents Keeping Girls Home from School

After the War Zone, the Baby Zone

American Widow Project Offers a Place to Grieve and Heal

Dudes for Palin: Vote for the Hot Chick!

"A Last Desperate Refuge:" Trailer Park for Iraqi Widows

60 Children Killed In Afghan Airstrikes

Does Childbirth Cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

The Human Element of War

Children as "Booty of War:" Tragedy in Half-Tones

WTF of the Week: the Unborn Fetus-Soldier Ornament

Moms at War Face Adjustment at Home

Oriental Trading Company: It's Worse Than You Think

WWII-Era Children's Art Discovered

Gulf War May Have Caused Birth Defects in Veterans' Babies

"This Is The Letter Every Soldier Should Write": A Father's Legacy