The Westboro Baptist Church, Wayne Sapp, Terry Jones, and the Guardians of Freedom

SSG Jesperson is married, and has been for six years. Unfortunately, in those six years of marriage, he has had three one year tours and one fifteen month tour in Iraq. In the small amount of time he spent home, he went to two six-month schools, and spent four additional months at various training centers preparing to deploy again. When you ask him if he has kids, his reply is "well, you have to be home to do that." SFC Hanover is on his fifth tour, if you count Desert Storm in 1991. He is retirement eligible, but chose to deploy again because he wanted to make sure all of the Soldiers under him made it back alive. He was successful in the volatile Diyala Province in 2006, where the Squadron battled daily with insurgents. Overall, the Squadron lost 19 Soldiers in that 15 month tour, but because of his diligence, none of them were SFC Hanover's. MAJ Clark deployed to Iraq during the 2003 invasion, again in 2005 as a part of a training unit that did more fighting than training, again in 2007 as a combat advisor, and in 2010 he deployed to Afghanistan as an Operations Officer for a Cavalry Squadron. During an ambush in Afghanistan, two Soldiers in his small element were killed, and MAJ Clark was significantly wounded. The Squadron Sergeant Major was severely injured in May of 2005 in the Zafaraniya neighborhood in Baghdad when a suicide car bomb exploded, killing four children and severely wounding him. He lost his thumbs, and if you laid out all of his scars on his body, they would measure something ridiculous like 18 feet. He could have chosen medical retirement and gone to the house, but he continues to serve. MAJ Miller is on his fourth tour as well. In 2003 his unit took what is now known as the Baghdad International Airport as a part of the 3d Infantry Division. He was likely a candidate for Traumatic Brain Injury from the RPG that hit his vehicle in 2005, but he never sought treatment. He speaks almost fondly of Cigar Night on FOB Falcon, where they stargazed on the roofs, smoked cigars, and watched the Katusha rockets come in. They, and about a million others just like them, are the guardians of freedom. Wayne Sapp, Terry Jones, and the Westboro idiots can say what they want because of the guys like those listed above-- Call it a by-product of Freedom. But having freedom doesn't mean freedom from consequences. These nutjobs truly give us a bad name and it's a shame we can't beat them for being stupid. The blood of those killed in Afghanistan is on their hands. I wish there were a legal way to hold them legally accountable. Sorry this update was a long time in coming. Was going to write about Libya, but maybe later. Regards, Ron