[antimedia] antimedia: Sometimes the people who serve....

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Posted by antimedia:
Sometimes the people who serve....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1151377584.shtml


   ....remind us of [1]why America is such a great country.

     Technically, you could say I only knew Huan for about three months.
     I arrived on April Fools day, and he left in the middle of June,
     and except for a few emails upon me receiving orders, we were
     strangers. But I feel that I have known him for most of my life.
     You get that when you run into those people whom you can call "old
     souls". You see, Huan is the embodiment of someone called to duty
     in service of his country.
     As you can guess, Huan (Nguyen - ed) wasn't born in the US. He was
     born in Vietnam, back in a time when that didn't have the nicest of
     connotations. While we share the same rank, he continues to serve
     in the reserves at 45 years old. As an early teenager he was
     beaten, tortured and part of his family were murdered. He escaped
     the hell he was living in and emigrated to the US, to live with his
     extended family. As many immigrant stories go, he learned english
     from sesame street, and studied hard, eventually going to college,
     earning a degree or two and becoming a productive member of
     society. But that wasn't enough.
     While most of us look to college and jobs as stepping stones, Huan
     looked at them as gifts that needed to be repaid. He joined the
     Naval Reserves in some small effort to pay back his debt for
     America allowing him to become a citizen. Then the war came. August
     would have made two years that he had been away from his family.
     August of 2004, Huan was sent to Japan for six months to help push
     papers for an organization that had a need since one of it's own
     had been called to the front. Following that hitch, he volunteered
     to come to Iraq.
     Huan more or less singlehandedly built an organization from the
     ground up, that one day people will say turned the tide of this
     conflict. Not only was he recognized by his command, but by
     practically every other Army organization in the theater that had
     worked with him. People would call here - not asking for someone
     familiar with CREW systems, but asking for Huan.
     Keep in mind, that while most of us over here count days till our
     return, Huan actually almost fought to stay here and help wherever
     he could. Not that he didn't miss his family. Nor was he an
     opportunist looking to build a career out of military contacts - he
     holds patents with his "real" job at General Motors - they even
     supplemented his income with what he was "losing" by going on
     active duty. He just felt that at this time in his life, he could
     save people in the battlefield, help defend his country, and pay
     back the nation that had offered him hope and prosperity.

   You see, Huan has something that many Americans seem to have lost --
   perspective.
   You might think about that the next time you're tempted to complain
   about America and her politicians -- or the next time you complain
   about the money we spend on OIF and the lives that we've lost.

References

   1. http://landlockedbubblehead.blogspot.com/2006/06/fair-winds-and-following-seas-to.html