Rural America bears scars from Iraq war

Associated Press ^ | 8:14 p.m. CT Feb 19, 2007 | Associated Press

[Tulsa Ramjet]

Nearly half of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq came from a small town

MCKEESPORT, Pa. - Edward "Willie" Carman wanted a ticket out of town, and the Army provided it.

Raised in the projects by a single mother in this blighted, old industrial steel town outside Pittsburgh, the 18-year-old saw the U.S. military as an opportunity.

"I'm not doing it to you, I'm doing it for me," he told his mother, Joanna Hawthorne, after coming home from high school one day and surprising her with the news.

When Carman died in Iraq three years ago at age 27, he had money saved for college, a fiancee and two kids -- including a baby son he'd never met. Neighbors in Hawthorne's mobile home park collected $400 and left it in an envelope in her door.

For a year after his death, Hawthorne took a chair to the cemetery nearly every day, sat next to his grave and talked quietly. Her vigil continues even now; the visits have slowed to once a week, but the pain sticks.

Across the nation, small towns are quietly bearing a disproportionate burden of war. Nearly half of the more than 3,100 U.S. military fatalities in Iraq have come from towns like McKeesport, where fewer than 25,000 people live, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. One in five hailed from hometowns of less than 5,000.

[Tulsa Ramjet]

Headline should have read: "American Heroes Born In Rural America"....but that would not have been a talking point for those wishing to be one of the thousand cuts, and wanting rural america to question their patriotism. But then again, according to Kerry, we are all stupid.

[Eclectica]

I saw a map indicating the hometowns of our Iraq War's Fallen Heroes. There was a huge cluster around New York City.

Can't imagine why. :-\

[caveat emptor]

Oh bollocks.

My sons live in Northern Virginia in towns of under 15000 which are located in Loudoun County and are part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Nice places to live, but not rural.

Places I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area (pop ~ 5 million)include:
Mill Valley - 13000.
El Cerrito - 23000

[Beckwith]

Bet the writer doesn't personally know a single member of the military.

[Lurker]

I'll bet the writer can define 'rural'.

L

[Wonder Warthog]

"Raised in the projects by a single mother in this blighted, old industrial steel town ..."

There are no "projects" in rural America. Whoever wrote this tripe is an ignorant twit who doesn't know what "rural" is.

[VoyagerXII]

"Nearly half of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq came from a small town"

How about " Less than 50% of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq came from a small town"

I wonder what that renegade 5th dentist thinks?

[T-Bird45]

Rural is inversely proportional to the distance to the nearest Starbucks?

[ClaireSolt]

So tell me something new. The last civilization to cram people into cities and provide them with bread and circuses declined and fell. Citizen soldiers gave way to urban rabble. But we will be OK, because we have global warming to worry about and they did not.

[BohDaThone]

Actually, when casualties are mapped, it fairly closely resembles the general population distribution. compare this map

http://icasualties.org/oif/US_CITY.aspx

with a general population map (or the classic map of light sources of the US at night, taken by NASA from space).

Also, the list of all deaths in Iraq, by state and city, given here:

http://icasualties.org/oif/Statecity.aspx

Shows about 50 from New York City (not exact because some city names are given as neighborhoods, and I may have missed one or two that are in NYC.)

A quick and dirty count of deaths relative to population shows the highest number by state are: Vermont, South Dakota, Montana, Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota and Nebraska; The least are DC, NJ, Conn, Mass, Utah, Fla, NY, NC, RI, Minn and W Va. But the spread from State # 6 to number 45 is only about 2-1, and it is easy for small states to be at the top or bottom by randomness.

If you look at total casualties by state, it is about 55-45 red states over blue, so no one should get snarky about it. There are brave heroes in every location and milieu.

[ishabibble]

This is the lead story on the MSN homepage. It is four pages in length, entitled, "UNDUE BURDEN". It is unmitigated anti-war BS.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
NO BYLINE

This isn't just some sidebar piece, this is the Leftie brainwashing in action.