Eclectic Amateur

Twelve years ago, I was watching the live television feed from NYC from the burning North Tower of the World Trade Center. At the time, as far as I knew, this might still have been a horrible accident.

Then, I saw a second airliner enter the picture and bank in order to hit the South Tower.  And I knew:

That was no accident.  An enemy is doing this.  We are at war.

That was Realization #1.  Unfortunately, it was followed almost immediately by Realization #2:

Somebody is going to get bombed. I hope it’s the actual perpetrators.

I am sometimes told that I am cynical. Well, there you have it. The Twin Towers hadn’t fallen yet, and my second reaction is to wonder what bloody wars of Empire we would get dragged in to by our “leaders” in Washington who no doubt were salivating already over having a slam-dunk reason to pursue every crazy military action and nation-building scheme they’d already dreamed up.

Twelve years have not given me any reason to be more confident.

Do I despair? Of our political class, yes. “Put not your trust in princes.” Of life? Hardly. I fully expect hard times ahead as the consequences of national folly unfold. That only means there’s a lot of work to do.  It will be “interesting times” and no one should have an excuse to be bored.

I just need to remember in the middle of it all that “Living well is the best revenge.”

24 Hour News 8 talks to relatives of Michigan native soldier killed in Iraq

Two U.S. Marines were killed Wednesday when their helicopter crashed near Ramadi, Iraq. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed Thursday to have shot down the chopper. The military said the helicopter was flying in support of ground operations in the area.

One of those two Marines, 39-year-old Major Gerald Bloomfield II, was a native from the east side of Michigan.

CNN and Reuters have the story too, but without mentioning the Marines by name. The DoD press release is here.

Local news has more about him, his family, and how he felt about the whole affair over there:

He leaves behind a son, Ryan, 13; wife, Julie Bloomfield of White Pigeon; two sisters, Paula Wallace of Howell and Katy Kerch of Brighton; brother, Tom Bloomfield of Chelsea; mother Shirley Spears of Howell; and stepmother Judy Bloomfield of Ypsilanti. (Lansing State Journal)

He told his parents not to worry, because he believed in his comrades and in their training, his father said.

“He strongly believed in what he was doing,” Judy Bloomfield said. “He wasn’t afraid. He wanted to fight for his country.” (Ann Arbor News)

At Eastern Michigan University he earned double degrees in math and physics. Before graduating in ’89, he joined the Marines. Becoming and officer and eventually a pilot. Years later, married and with a son, he was a career military man who believed in the job he was doing in Iraq.

Paula: “By being there, he was protecting us and everything we have here.”

And he also believed in the freedom and the future of the country he was fighting in. He wrote about it in email sent home.

Kate: “It’s not a 3rd world country. I believe it has hope. He wanted them to experience some of the same freedoms we have here.”

And it’s his sisters wish that people who knew her brother in Fowlerville understand this, as well as the people of Iraq and in the country he was so proud to defend. Major Bloomfield will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. (WLNS)

Why highlight one fallen soldier out of over 2,000? Because, while I never met Jerry Bloomfield in life, we know some of the extended Bloomfield family through the local homeschooling community, and therefore mourn his loss with them.

God bless you, Major. And thank you.