thedrifter
01-23-06, 10:36 AM
Monday, January 23, 2006
C.T. Revere: Anti-anti-war families take to the streets
Two fathers proud of families' military service
C.T. REVERE
ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com
The cost of war in Iraq is indelibly stamped on the hearts of Michael Lucero and Robert Zurheide.
Each man carries the endless pain of having buried his eldest son as a result of the nearly 3-year-old conflict.
But every Wednesday morning, they stand together in front of the Marine Corps recruiting office on East Speedway Boulevard to make certain others know they'd sacrifice even more for the country they love.
And their children, committed already to the military life, stand by their side.
"We've been going out there now about six months," said Lucero, whose 19-year-old son, Joshua, died in Al Anbar province in November 2004. "The anti-war people get there between 9 and 10, and we get there before them and we don't leave until they're gone. We want to make sure we're the first thing people see and the last thing they see."
Lucero and Zurheide, a former Marine, arrive each Wednesday carrying American flags and handmade signs expressing their commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lucero is accompanied by his wife, Tina, and sons Samuel, 16, and Robert, 15; Zurheide by his 17-year-old son, Courtney, and daughters Esther Moreno, 20, and Rachel Moreno, 22.
Samuel Lucero will soon attend the Marines' Devil Pup program, a boot camp for teens who plan to join the Corps. His sister, 18-year-old Antoinette, will graduate from Parris Island boot camp next month.
Courtney Zurheide will enter the Marines following his high school graduation.
Robert Zurheide Jr., 20, died in April 2004 while fighting with fellow Marines near Fallujah. He was the first Tucsonan to die in combat in Iraq.
Lucero said he's "very proud" that his children are following the family's military tradition.
"I think every American at one time in their life should support the military by enlisting in one of the branches, even if it's just for two years," he said.
Having more children in peril is part of the commitment, Lucero said.
"I'm scared every single day of my life. But I'm scared that they could walk out onto the street and get hit by a stray bullet, or struck by a drunk driver," he said. "At least if they fall in military service, I know they've done it for their country."
Lucero is proud that supporters of the war have pretty much overtaken what began as a weekly protest of recruiting young men and women into the Marine Corps.
"We cover their signs up with our flags," he said. "We don't think people should have to be subjected to their opinions."
Quashing free speech in defense of freedom seems a bit incongruous, but Lucero says he's worried about the goals of the anti-war effort.
"We don't want this to become another Vietnam and they want it to become that," he said. "In my parents' generation, they sat on their hands and let happen what happened in response to the war."
The deaths of more than 57,000 U.S. service people and public opposition to the Vietnam war ultimately led to troop withdrawals and spelled the end of U.S. involvement. More than 200 have died in Operation Enduring Freedom in and around Afghanistan; as of Friday, 2,225 had been killed in Iraq.
Lucero fears the war protesters' goal is to impede recruitment of an all-volunteer military and bring back the draft, creating widespread opposition to the military.
"I tell them that's never going to happen," he said.
Pat Birnie, who protests the war as a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, said she'd like to understand.
"I would welcome a chance to understand how they can continue to want to support a policy that has been imposed on the people," said Birnie, a 76-year-old who also is a member of The Raging Grannies, an anti-war group. "Those who have lost members of their family in the war in particular, I would suspect would want to question this policy. To blindly support a policy that would lead to more deaths is counterproductive."
We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Zurheides and the Luceros and more than two centuries of American military families who precede them.
We don't all have to agree that this war - or any other - is just and worth the sacrifices they make on its behalf.
That, above all else, is the cause for which they fight and die.
C.T. Revere can be reached at 573-4594 and ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com. Address letters to P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ, 85726-6767. His columns run Mondays and Thursdays.
Ellie
C.T. Revere: Anti-anti-war families take to the streets
Two fathers proud of families' military service
C.T. REVERE
ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com
The cost of war in Iraq is indelibly stamped on the hearts of Michael Lucero and Robert Zurheide.
Each man carries the endless pain of having buried his eldest son as a result of the nearly 3-year-old conflict.
But every Wednesday morning, they stand together in front of the Marine Corps recruiting office on East Speedway Boulevard to make certain others know they'd sacrifice even more for the country they love.
And their children, committed already to the military life, stand by their side.
"We've been going out there now about six months," said Lucero, whose 19-year-old son, Joshua, died in Al Anbar province in November 2004. "The anti-war people get there between 9 and 10, and we get there before them and we don't leave until they're gone. We want to make sure we're the first thing people see and the last thing they see."
Lucero and Zurheide, a former Marine, arrive each Wednesday carrying American flags and handmade signs expressing their commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lucero is accompanied by his wife, Tina, and sons Samuel, 16, and Robert, 15; Zurheide by his 17-year-old son, Courtney, and daughters Esther Moreno, 20, and Rachel Moreno, 22.
Samuel Lucero will soon attend the Marines' Devil Pup program, a boot camp for teens who plan to join the Corps. His sister, 18-year-old Antoinette, will graduate from Parris Island boot camp next month.
Courtney Zurheide will enter the Marines following his high school graduation.
Robert Zurheide Jr., 20, died in April 2004 while fighting with fellow Marines near Fallujah. He was the first Tucsonan to die in combat in Iraq.
Lucero said he's "very proud" that his children are following the family's military tradition.
"I think every American at one time in their life should support the military by enlisting in one of the branches, even if it's just for two years," he said.
Having more children in peril is part of the commitment, Lucero said.
"I'm scared every single day of my life. But I'm scared that they could walk out onto the street and get hit by a stray bullet, or struck by a drunk driver," he said. "At least if they fall in military service, I know they've done it for their country."
Lucero is proud that supporters of the war have pretty much overtaken what began as a weekly protest of recruiting young men and women into the Marine Corps.
"We cover their signs up with our flags," he said. "We don't think people should have to be subjected to their opinions."
Quashing free speech in defense of freedom seems a bit incongruous, but Lucero says he's worried about the goals of the anti-war effort.
"We don't want this to become another Vietnam and they want it to become that," he said. "In my parents' generation, they sat on their hands and let happen what happened in response to the war."
The deaths of more than 57,000 U.S. service people and public opposition to the Vietnam war ultimately led to troop withdrawals and spelled the end of U.S. involvement. More than 200 have died in Operation Enduring Freedom in and around Afghanistan; as of Friday, 2,225 had been killed in Iraq.
Lucero fears the war protesters' goal is to impede recruitment of an all-volunteer military and bring back the draft, creating widespread opposition to the military.
"I tell them that's never going to happen," he said.
Pat Birnie, who protests the war as a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, said she'd like to understand.
"I would welcome a chance to understand how they can continue to want to support a policy that has been imposed on the people," said Birnie, a 76-year-old who also is a member of The Raging Grannies, an anti-war group. "Those who have lost members of their family in the war in particular, I would suspect would want to question this policy. To blindly support a policy that would lead to more deaths is counterproductive."
We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Zurheides and the Luceros and more than two centuries of American military families who precede them.
We don't all have to agree that this war - or any other - is just and worth the sacrifices they make on its behalf.
That, above all else, is the cause for which they fight and die.
C.T. Revere can be reached at 573-4594 and ctrevere@tucsoncitizen.com. Address letters to P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ, 85726-6767. His columns run Mondays and Thursdays.
Ellie