proud to be an american, within reason

as you may have guessed by now, i spend most of my "working" hours reading the Times online. this is a moderately manipulative article from today's paper, that discusses "the war" by telling the stories of a bunch of fallen soldiers and the families they left behind.

Bob Krieger, 53, a corporate pilot from near Grand Rapids, Mich., said that during two tours in Iraq, his son had seen a friend shot dead, retrieved the bodies of fellow marines blown to pieces by roadside bombs and endured close calls of his own, including having a rocket-propelled grenade shot through his pant leg.

that is a close call. it's like, last night, i dropped one of the parts of my 99-cent corkscrew into the sink drain and had to fish it out of the disposal with a serving spoon and a fork. i almost lost a hand!