Some family news that might be of interest here: My son, Jeff, Age 23, has also seen the elephant. He's a SSG and commands a Bradley fighting vehicle with the 1st Armored Division in Iraq. He's had some contact. A dud roadside bomb got his attention a little while back when a big boom rang through his Bradley. Turned out he had a lucky escape; the makers of the bomb had screwed up and could only blow the det charge. The arty round it was attached to did not go off.
He had a closer call a couple weeks ago, a fierce rpg, automatic weapons attack. His Bradley was hit, but he came out okay.
My oldest daughter, and oldest child, now 26, serves the country in another way. She's now a foreign service officer with the US State Dept, stationed in Nigeria. As you might imagine some of the political appointed positions in Colin Powell's State Department are former Generals. The under secretary that swore Mandy's class into the service was a General and referred to Mandy's class as his "new second lieutenants."
