Reflecting on the war.

Tags: HeroStories

I thought I'd share how I feel about the HeroBracelets I ordered - and wear - in the hope that some of it may rub off on others.

First off, I have a 22-year-old nephew who is a Marine serving on Embassy Detail - first in Pakistan, now in Peru. My Dad was in General Patton's Armored Army (743rd Tank Battalion) and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day+1. My first year of college was served at USMA.

But, to put it mildly, I have a real big problem with the war in Iraq. Only those who have been touched in some way by the terrible destructive power of war can begin to respect and favor limiting its use as a national policy prerogative. For those who see it as a video game played out using someone else's sons and daughters - but who make decisions to use war unwisely in spite of its effects - I have no use. Unfortunately, those are the folks who made the decision to get into this mistake.

After seeing the efforts of herobracelets.org, I got on board, bought 3 bracelets, and have found that not a day goes by where one of them isn't on my right wrist. Living in Florida but having grown up in New Jersey, I was lucky to have received a Hero Bracelet with a New Jersey soldier (Sgt Humberto Timoteo from Newark), a Florida soldier (Pfc Brandon Sapp from up the road in Lake Worth) and one from a Louisiana soldier (Pfc David Burridge, from nearby our other lost war - New Orleans - in Lafayette). I find I wear Pfc Sapp's bracelet more than the other two, but they all find their way into my thoughts on a regular basis.

I do one other thing almost religiously every day: I survey the "Names of the Dead" published in each day's New York Times. I find it keeps a part of my mind focused not only on ways I can help end this disaster, but also on the human toll on a younger generation that may never recover from its losses. The new reports of over 40% of Iraq and Afghanistan combat vets coming home with mental disorders only confirms this belief.

While many in Washington have said that Iraq is the most critical battle of this century, they refuse to make it a cause that forces all Americans to share equally in the sacrifice. For those families who have given more - much more - there may be sacrifice, surely, but no answers to go along with their loss. I lived through Vietnam and shudder at the parallels. I also pray that the current total of 3,500 KIA never becomes the scores of thousands we lost back then.

Moreover, I have found a power in these simple black bracelets; a power to focus, to reflect, to act. Keep up your efforts to get the word out. I promise to do the same.

Peter Staley

Boca Raton,