Bring the kids home
Some soldiers are too young to fight in Iraq
COMMENTARY
Monique Bhimani

It seems wherever you look there are miniature American flags and yellow ribbons popping up. From car antennas to schools to malls, everybody seems to be saying the same thing: Support our troops in Iraq.

Yet I doubt many people know exactly who is fighting out there, supposedly for “freedom.” Many of these soldiers on the front lines came straight out of high school and just recently finished basic training. While it’s easy to imagine that those who are risking their lives are seasoned veterans with years of experience, the truth is the majority of the troops are no older than we are.

Just think about it: Here we are complaining about finals when these troops, about 18 or 19 years old, wonder if they are going to live to see tomorrow.

On April 1, Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old POW, was rescued from a hospital under Iraqi control. She was not sent to Iraq to fight; she was a supply clerk in a maintenance division.

The other POWs in the hospital with her, however, were not so lucky.

Interviews with soldiers in Iraq have been broadcast on talk shows, with family members conversing with the troops via the live feed, expressing hope that their soldier will come home.

In many cases, though, these troops are not old enough to have spouses or children of their own. They are the children, grandchildren and siblings of America. They have aunts, uncles and cousins that pray for their safety. Yet if these soldiers do not return home, they will have no offspring to carry on the family name, no children to remember why they were killed in action.

If I were older, I would say the government is simply sending out babies to fight this political war, a war that will not produce any real freedom for the Iraqi people. The price of this war, both financially and figuratively, is just too high for Americans to pay.

So the next time you go to class, go to sleep or even take a shower, just remember these are privileges that our troops do not have. For some fighting in that hostile desert thousands of miles away, these luxuries will never be seen again.

Copy Desk Chief Monique Bhimani is a sophomore international communication and news-editorial journalism major from San Antonio.