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thedrifter
12-04-05, 05:28 AM
Many good men: Listening to NH's Marines
The Union Leader

IF YOU BELIEVE the anti-war crowd, no American service member goes to Iraq willingly because, of course, no one wants to "die for oil." The deranged President sends them all kicking and screaming, but they have no choice because their contracts have made them slaves of the state, nothing more than cannon fodder.

If you believe the anti-war crowd, you might want to talk to some of the U.S. Marines who have volunteered for duty in Iraq, often multiple times.

The Londonderry-based Bravo Company, a Marine reserve unit, has just been activated for duty in Iraq. These men are nothing if not ready — and willing — to go.

"I wanted to be activated," Lance Cpl. Nick Koutalakis, 22, of Nashua, said last week.

Major Dave Mayhan of Bedford is an active duty Marine serving with Bravo Company. He told a New Hampshire Union Leader reporter last week that people sometimes come to him and say they're sorry he is being deployed to Iraq.

"People shouldn't feel sorry for us," said the father of three. "We have an opportunity to make a difference and do what we signed up for."

More than 100 of the 180 members of Bravo Company signed up for a second deployment.

These Marines, like their counterparts in the other branches of our armed forces, know they are fighting to defeat America's enemies, who also are Iraq's enemies. That's the job they volunteered to do, and they want to do it.

Their courage and selflessness are amazing to behold. Americans should remember that before belittling these patriots by dismissing their work as colonialism, profiteering or a grand waste. They are achieving great things in Iraq, and we should never lose sight of that because their accomplishments carry a high price.

Ellie