Friday, August 05, 2005

More on the 505th

Here is my column from today which the staff talked me into running on the front page.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The article about the 505th really touched me. I had pushed them out of my mind until you forced me to look at real people who are hurting. Their sacrifice is for all of us. Tears of shame stung my eyes as I read about your taking your two young sons to see something unforgettable. I would not leave my cool comfort much less take along young children! You did a good job in every way that day. God bless the 505th especially and you and your family, too.

Skip Foster said...

Wow, those are incredibly kind words. Thanks so much. I know you would agree that taking children to a sendoff pales in comparison to the sacrifice of the men and women of the 505th and the countless others in harm's way. The aim of my column was to draw attention to those heroes, not to myself.

Again, thanks so much for those very kind words.

Anonymous said...

Skip...what a moving column. Thank you for putting all of us in touch with something we'd rather soon push to the back of our minds. Very inspirational.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Foster,
I am a soldier in the 505th Eng Bn from Kings Mtn NC and I am one of the soldiers stationed in Iraq. I noticed the article entitled "505th arrives in war zone near Baghdad'" dated 29 Oct 2005. There is picture of the young soldier holding a child at our going away ceremony in the article. Specifically I am this soldiers platoon sergeant, or more acurately his former platoon sergeant. Your paper had no way of knowing this information that I am about to tell you but I just thought the article should be as accurate as possible.
This particular soldier is no longer with our unit and never even left the United States. This soldier never even completed the training the unit went through at our mobilization site.
The training period at our mobilization station proved to be too stressful for some of our soldiers or should I say "people", and they are currently at home safe and sound in the United States.

SFC PJ CAPOTOSTA
and all of the Horizontal PLT
currently serving in Iraq.
505th Eng Cmbt Bn
LSA Anaconda,
Balad, Iraq
Thank You so very much for all the support and help from the Shelby Star.