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shit this HTML is a big pain in the ass, dammit!
Posted on 05/01/2004 7:17:15 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
When Spc. Michael Merila was killed in Iraq in February, relatives and friends of Stryker brigade soldiers grieved online. One message in particular stood out.
"During the long few months he's been deployed, I've already experienced 2 near misses and it never gets any easier trying to relax," wrote a young woman who called herself JakesKatie.
She went on to offer heartfelt condolences to those who weren't so fortunate:
"Although we cannot physically hold them in our arms, they will forever be held in our hearts. They are resting, out of harms way. May peace be with your souls, and the remembrance of happier times, dry your tears."
A little more than two months later, JakesKatie would grieve for her own loss - after breaking the news of it to her network of online friends.
The death Wednesday of Spc. Jacob Herring of Kirkland hit the people harder than the rest. They wrote their condolences for the other 10 Stryker soldiers to die since the brigade left Fort Lewis last November.
But Herring, 21, was the first one whose loved ones were regular participants on the site. He died a day after he was wounded in a hand grenade attack near Tall Afar, brigade spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Piek said.
"Yesterday was the worst day of this deployment. We feel each others' pain," Sue Shocklee wrote in an e-mail Friday to The News Tribune. Schocklee, of St. Louis, has a son in the brigade and has posted more than 180 messages on the Strykernews.com bulletin board.
Herring's mother, Susan Sutter, is among her online friends.
Strykernews.com was created by Todd Sweet, an analyst at a Seattle investment banking firm. A captain in the brigade is a good friend, and when he was deployed, Sweet started posting stories about the unit on his personal Web log.
Word spread quickly. Now a few users help scour the Internet for news stories and press releases about the brigade.
Mike Oreo of Portland is one of Sweet's contributors. He has a son in the brigade.
The site, he said, "has turned out to be something more than I ever imagined."
There's a gallery of photos that soldiers send home to their families. But by far the most popular feature is the bulletin board, with more than 600 registered users.
The writers share tips about care packages, pass along funny or inspiring Net traffic, and cheer each other up when a soldier's R&R is postponed.
They generally stay clear of politics. Opinions about the war vary, but on the site, users stick to supporting one another. They share frustrations at the lack of news out of northern Iraq, where the brigade is stationed.
"I know without a doubt that if I want or need anything (answers, compassion, humor, cyberhugs, etc.), I go right to the site," wrote Schocklee, who is living through her son's first deployment. "It always seems like they are 'speaking' directly to me.
"We honestly have become a family."
Another regular, Michelle Bannister of Fort Lewis, is on her husband's third overseas deployment.
"It certainly makes it more comfortable to post there when you know that everyone else understands your thoughts and feelings about what is going on," Bannister wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper.
And when there is word of an accident or attack, they hold their breath together.
That's what they were doing Wednesday evening when news of Herring's death arrived.
Just before midnight, Herring's "guardian angel" posted one more time.
"This officially will be my last post. I want to thank everyone that I've talked to, everyone that helped me with information, and everyone that sympathized with me when I was down," JakesKatie wrote. "I'll still be a supporter of our Stryker men and women, but it's too hard to interact on the forum anymore.
"Please - everyone - tell your soldiers that you love them at every opportunity, hug them when they're home and pray for them while they are away."
After more positive words, it ends: "Thanks again to everyone. You all were my sanity the past 5 1/2 months."
Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921 mike.gilbert@mail.tribnet.com
shit
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shit this HTML is a big pain in the ass, dammit!
There has not been a lot of news about 3/2 lately. They lose people in HMMWV's and trucks, they lost a Stryker earlier this month, but the news coverage has been sparse and what there has been hasn't told us much. I will continue to post Stryker threads on vehicle-specific, tactics, and After Action report - type stories as I come across them
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