I’m always happy when I see a fellow Postie turn up on the offered opportunities listing, so I was glad to get the chance to write about Charlotte, who blogs at http://armymomnj.name/. I like writing about people more than products, and Charlotte has got a great blog! When I saw her site title I was expecting to hear about her son, but it’s her daughter who is in Iraq, until October 2007.

Charlotte’s sidebar is a little cluttered, but it’s manipulated with a nifty pop-open menu for many of the sections. Like most smart bloggers, she uses WordPress, and she writes about a variety of topics. Her best entries are the ones about her children and grandchildren, and she’s helping her grandkids communicate with their mom during the deployment.

I have to really respect Charlotte for what she must be going through. I’m not sure how long her daughter’s been in the military, but I can’t imagine what it must be like to have your child overseas fighting a war. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that Andi comes home safely.

So it’s pretty much common knowledge now that there’s a video circulating of a Marine shooting an Iraqi in Fallujah. I saw the clip on TV last night, and I have no problem with the Marine making the decision himself. Not all of the details are known, of course, but for the most part I’m fine with his following his gut reaction. Those of us sitting over here on our asses have no fucking idea what was going through that Marine’s head. We cannot put ourselves in his shoes; we simply do not know his situation. So what right do we have to judge him?

I’ve heard rumors about what happened: supposedly the Marine was shot in the face the day before, or maybe he’d watched a buddy die a few hours prior to the incident; and I’ve heard rumors about why: the Iraqi was reaching for a detonator on his belt, or maybe he’d pulled a gun. But we don’t know. I regret the potentially unnecessary loss of life, I regret the investigation that the Marine is going to be forced through, I agree that it was a tragedy…but we should not judge this Marine.

Disclaimer: I am well aware that this post could be controversial; that’s part of why I published it: to get people thinking and spark discussion. It’s just a thought that came to me and I wrote about it quickly. I have not thought out the whole argument, and my mind can be changed.

The Sorry Everybody site is quite popular. There’s been a response site created recently: Apologies Accepted. My favorite so far from that site is here, but I find this one rather incomprehensible.