I have been sitting and gestating this experience for a couple weeks.  On Wednesday, May 28th I attended a gathering at the Janesville, Wisconsin National Guard Armory.  It was intended as a courtesy for employers and/or anyone interested in the pending deployment of some 3,400 Wisconsin National Guard.  They will most likely end up in Iraq and/or Afghanistan or in support of those military operations in 2009.  Janesville's unit is Company A of the 132 Support Battalion.

    The deployment is poetic because in case no one has noticed, by 2009 will are suppose to have a new President.  None-the-less, the  gathering was helped to be put on by the volunteer group Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR).  Janesville's unit is Company A of the 132 Support Battalion.  One of their many tasks is to transport fuel. 

    What is stunning to me about the event is basically, no one besides the presenters showed up.  Oh, Janesville's city councilmen William Truman showed up, and a couple reporters from the Gazette and WCLO were there.  And yes, Cool Dadio was there.  All the layers of command were there and a couple members of the support group were on hand.  Everyone was very helpful and polite.

    I felt bad for the hosts.  The usual tired media, a city councilmen, and an eccentric overseas writer (that would be me) must have pushed their spirit to the precipice.  I fear this is indicative of the mood of the nation in general.  Seen any new yellow ribbons on cars lately?  It would appear the public's war attention span is about five years.  The public I fear, is back to their old business - the business of themselves.  

                                  Wisconsin military service person of the week

    Army Specialist Eugene A. Uhl III, 21, of Amherst was killed when two 101st Airborne Division UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collided over Mosul, Iraq, on Saturday, November 15, 2003. Uhl was with Battery C, the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Uhl was his family's only son, the youngest of four children, and the Journal Sentinel quoted his mother as saying he would have been the last male family member likely to pass on the Uhl name. He was scheduled to be married in June of 2004. Uhl had been stationed in Iraq region since February of 2003. He entered the regular Army in June 2002 after first joining the Army National Guard in 1999. This was the same crash that killed Army Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, 36 who was last week's Daily Dadio honored Wisconsin military service person. Specialist Eugine Uhl III was Wisconsin's seventh military service person to die in Iraq.

                                            As of this blog entry's posting date:

    84,099 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    8,301 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,085 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    505 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    312 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    306 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    30,143 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1,992 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    90 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.