STRENGTHS OF EDNA AND EDIE

Strengths of Edna and Edie

Strengths of Edna and Edie

Strengths of Edna

This is for Dan. Not because he's a fine upstanding soldier who sees life in a whole new perspective. Au contrair. Dan doesn't know how to play in the sandbox - and I do not mean the one where everyone in a man-dress takes chai breaks in between life-and-death firefights. I mean the one where everyone is supposed to share and play nicely together, with respect, because we're all in the same fight! hear that, dan? we're on the same side. (Weideman 2001: 336)Dan likes writing really ugly, offensive, disrespectful, sarcastic and wrong comments on a post about an incident at Callahan that 1SG Mitchell asked me to post, back in April 2008. You remember Mitchell .... the one who sent more soldiers to me in Landstuhl than either of us care to remember? Well, Dan seems to think it's all a made-up story. Click here and see for yourself

Dan thinks I live in a dream. Dan wasn't there as the casualties came in twice a day, every day for the 18 months I lived at Landstuhl. Dan wasn't there as I got email after email from Mitchell, asking for us to please be with his soldier who got hit by SAF, or blown up, or both. Dan wasn't there in the ICU all night, many nights, while I held a soldier's hand as he cried, not for himself, but for the ones who didn't make it out. Dan wasn't there as I laughed at a soldier's jokes, to distract him so that he wouldn't look down and see the strips of flesh and shattered bones that used to be his fine, strong legs. Dan wasn't there as I rubbed a soldier's arm to soothe his leg pain, only because there was no leg left and the rest of him was swathed in bandages. Dan missed the day that I gave my best Belgian chocolate to a soldier, who had such a huge hole in his back that no one thought he'd ever walk again. Dan wasn't there to see any of my friends ... Mitchell's soldiers. (Fenton 2003: 146)Dan also wasn't there when I helped bury my commander at Arlington; then hug his battle buddies in Iraq when I got there. Dan didn't see it when the daily rockets came in, twice close enough ...