The Unknown Soldier - Thank You For Your Service
By: Matthew Alper
May 30, 2006 - Yesterday in central Baghdad a car bomb explosion killed four people and severely wounded CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier. Dozier and her team were embedded with 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. They were reporting on a story covering American troops in Baghdad on Memorial Day.
This story appeared as the top news story on virtually every American news
site and presumably will be a front page headline on virtually every American
Newspaper. Cameraman Paul Douglas and sound man James Brolan were killed in the
attack along with an un-named American soldier and an un-named Iraqi
interpreter. Why is it that we will probably never see, the name of the American
soldier who died while protecting the CBS crew?
Every article I saw this morning remembered that ABC News co-anchor Bob
Woodruff and his cameraman were severely injured in a bombing in late January of
this year. It seems ironic that on this day after Memorial Day the headline news
stories remember the fallen journalists in the Iraq war, but do not mention
names of any of the 2000 plus soldiers who have died.
Maybe it is because we see the television journalists in our living rooms
every day and we feel like they are our friends. Maybe we feel that television
journalists are “more important” than ordinary soldiers. I do not know the
answer, but I do know that we will continue to hear stories on Kimberly Dozier
and her crew for the next several days.
Our thoughts and prayers should go out to Kimberly Dozier, Paul Douglas and
James Brolan. Our thoughts and prayers should also go out to their families.
But, let’s not forget the un-named soldier or the 2000 other un-named soldiers
who have died in this war.
One way to pay tribute to those who have fallen is to honor all of our
troops. The next time you see someone in uniform take the time to thank them for
their service.
Matt Alper is Co-Owner of CopShoes.com, TacBoots.com, and
CapsNMore.com