Comments on: Marine Lance Cpl. Cody Stanley, KIA, Returns Home to Lockhart

By: Billy Seidel

Billy Seidel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:00:24 +0000

Thank you for posting the picture of the truck. Again I want to thank you for what you do. It was beyond anything I was expecting. My dad is 80 years and he too was blown away. He is a veteran of the Korean war. This community is gieving over Cody.

By: Robbie Cooper

Robbie Cooper — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:22:58 +0000

Sheila,

Riding past the high school was heart breaking and inspiring at the same time. Thank you and the Smithville HS for doing the right thing today and having the entirety of the school out of class and outside waiting for their former classmate to pass.

I remember the same scene three years ago for the funeral of PFC Tina Priest. Just as emotional and just as difficult.

By: Robbie Cooper

Robbie Cooper — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:14:53 +0000

Billy, it was a remarkable day. I was blown away by the support of Smithville, Rosanky, String Prairie, and McMahan. I'll have a new post up this evening or tomorrow with my thoughts and some pictures of the ceremony. Here's one of Cody's truck with his casket at the cemetery:

By: Sheila Del'Homme

Sheila Del'Homme — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:46:35 +0000

As one of the teachers at Smithville High School standing watching the procession go by the high school, I was deeply touched by his flag-draped coffin in the back of his beloved pick-up truck and the freedom riders, followed by 10 minutes of family and friends. Thank you and the other riders for what you do.

By: Billy Seidel

Billy Seidel — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:33:18 +0000

I have to report that Cody’s funeral procession was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. There where 5 Highway Patrol and County cars leading the procession with their lights on. After the hearse and family where the patroit riders. I take my hat off to you guys. Looks like there was a 100 of them. After that 250 to 300 cars following them. Highway 304 had flags and signs all along it for Cody. In Rosanky the small town he was from, there where flags placed every 20 feet along both sides of the road. The school children of the Rosanky Baptist school were standing by the road with their hands over their hearts and flags in their hands.
Really choked you up. It was hard to describe the emotions. There tractors and hay bales stacked by the roads with flags and Memorials.
It left me speechless.

By: No2Liberals

No2Liberals — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:20:05 +0000

Hey Billy. Go to the top thread. Just click here.

By: No2Liberals

No2Liberals — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:57 +0000

I’m a vet, have many friends who are vets, and know many who are active duty. I have a son-in-law who served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq as a forward combat air controller. He is now FBI, and his office is now involved in the Ft. Hood investigation. He can’t tell me anything, and I never ask, we have a good relationship.
I also occasionally get classified info from friends still on active duty, which I can never post on, but some of the info would simply astound you, and make your pucker factor go to ten of ten.
My heart goes out to our brothers and sisters in the Army today, not Ft. Hood only, as this wound cuts deep.

By: Billy Seidel

Billy Seidel — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:13:22 +0000

No2Liberals that was me on the previous post. I was posting from a different computer

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:10:41 +0000

No2Liberals, you seem to have a really good understanding of these wars. Are you in the military?
The tradegy that happened at Fort Hood yesterday really disturbs me. I have been out on that base before
and was awe struck by it. The memorials and the museums are humbling. I deal with an organiztion that helps kids of military families adjust to their moves and special circumstances they are in sometimes. To think of those soldiers and parents being gunned down like that is beyond description. I am trying really hard not to let my bias get the best of me right now. I remeber the first time I went into a restaurant in Killeen and looked around and everybody had on uniforms, it really got away with me. I asked the person I was with if that was the 1st Cav soldiers that had just came back from Iraq. They were and they had just been in the war zone the week before. Kind of left me speechless.
They said the shooter was yelling god is great in arabic as he was shooting. I have a lot of comments on this but will leave them off of the board. guess will see what reaction this has on the public. I know it has had one on me.

By: No2Liberals

No2Liberals — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:08:31 +0000

I wish I could be as certain of a surge in Afghanistan. This president has a history of inaction, and voting present.
The events in Afghanistan have only changed in the past few years, after the mujis lost in Iraq. The original mission was to remove the Taliban, and rid the country of AQ. That was accomplished, and AQ scattered to the winds, and the Taliban melted away into Pakistan. Had Pakistan taken a harder stance in their lawless regions, we could have had a coordinated operation to isolate and destroy them. Only now is Pakistan actively attacking the Taliban.
I agree that, once you make a decision to go to war there should be a total commitment to it, and that the commanders should be given all they need to accomplish their mission. If a president selects a commanding General, based on his abilities, the president should follow his advice, or at least give that General a sound reason as to why he won’t. Keeping this on hold, for whatever reason, puts our troops in a tenuous position.
Come back and chat anytime, Billy, there are new threads up at this blog everyday.