It was jaw-dropping news: “Lance Cpl. Chase Comley, 21, is returning to Lexington in a flag-draped coffin. Friends and family are stunned at the loss. Comley, killed by a suicide bomber Saturday, is the 28th recorded servicemember with a Kentucky hometown to have died in the Iraq war.”
War fatalities had always happened to other people, from other families. Not anymore. I knew Chase and his family very well. His grandfather, Victor Comley, I’ve known for over 25 years. His father, Mark, used to sell our store Kentucky tee-shirts.
Years later Mark would bring his wife, Cathy, and the rest of the family, Clinton, Laine and Cammie, to Friday’s where Mark would do magic tricks. 12-year old Chase would join me at the bar to play trivia. He joyfully and fearlessly answered the most difficult questions, that big smile and thick flock of hair waving triumphantly with every right answer.
Chase had an unquenchable optimism and a boundless spirit. So it was with that same smile and “can’t wait to get to it” drive that he told me of his decision to enlist and serve his country. I had not heard anything till I saw his mother over Memorial Day at the Lexington Cemetery, where our families’ plots lay next to each other.
Cathy was so proud, and not just a little worried. Chase had matured so much, she told me. And while he relished his role as a Marine, he was so looking forward to coming home.
How foolish my words of comfort to her seem now. They came much too easily and with that “he’ll be home for the holidays” certainty that comes only from a safe distance. Try as I might, it is just impossible to imagine the horrid reality of what our soldiers face.
Yesterday was visitation. The long, winding line took nearly an hour to get through, such were the huge number of people, young and old, who Chase had touched during his short life. A fully decorated Marine guarded his flag-draped coffin. His family stood nearby, serenely receiving us with unusual composure and class.
Such conflicting emotions flooded my head and heart. I have been an outspoken opponent of this war long before we began it. And wrong though they are the pro-warriors have painted this opposition as being targeted against the troops as well. How, I wondered, would Chase see this? Is it inconsistent to honor him—and all our soldiers—while opposing this war?
Absolutely not. I wholly support our military while opposing unjust, unnecessary and counterproductive wars. The military’s duty is to be ready when the civilian leadership calls it to action. They MUST be well-oiled and gung ho. All soldiers are worthy of our utmost respect and honor and care both during their service AND in retirement. .
Yet the military does not will itself into battle—our elected leaders do. In essence the military is one big GUN, and as the NRA argument goes, “guns don’t kill people, people do.” The proper use of a gun is to defend an attack. The law recognizes this right to the extent that such use will absolve a shooter from any liability providing that was the only course available to protecting their life. But the law will convict for life—even DEATH—those who shoot and kill without proper cause. The gun is not prosecuted—the SHOOTER is.
Our nation's military, properly and justly employed, performs the same defensive mission on a big scale. So it is, in effect, a GUN. Yet the shooter of that gun is the nation's elected LEADERSHIP, chief among them President Bush. Yes, they are certainly accountable for their wrongful use of the world’s biggest gun, the United States military.
Would Chase believe likewise? I just don’t know, but regardless I must always stay true to my light, leaving it ever open to new and better information. Coincidentally his aunt, Missy Comley Beattie, wrote an article in yesterday’s Lexington Herald-Leader http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/12364399.htm, that gave me a clue as to how Chase would feel.
A brief excerpt: “As I write, Chase is being flown to Dover Air Force Base. His 6-foot-4 body is in a coffin draped with the American flag. He loved his family, his country, his Sayre classmates and his life, but we don't think he loved his mission in Iraq.
“When he was recruited, he told us he would be deployed to Japan. He called every week when he wasn't in the field to tell us he was counting the days until his return. He tried to sound upbeat, probably for our benefit, but his father could detect in Chase's voice more than a hint of futility and will never say, "my son died doing what he loved."
“For those of you who still trust the Bush administration -- and your percentage diminishes every day -- let me tell you that my nephew Chase Johnson Comley did not die to preserve your freedoms. He was not presented flowers by grateful Iraqis, welcoming him as their liberator. He died fighting a senseless war for oil and contracts, ensuring the increased wealth of President Bush and his administration's friends.”
I’ll often sit in Friday’s and remember a Chase so full of glee. And of that, no doubt, his fellow Angels will certainly agree.
Richard F. Dawahare 8/13/05
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