Although this will not be the last vignette in this book, it is the last one I will actually write while compiling the stories. I did not always write them chronologically; instead I wrote them as the memories came to me and placed them in order later. Perhaps it is poetic that this one is actually, the last one.
The "new-norm," low-paid, benefitless, late-night-shift, job I have as I pen these vignettes, has me handling bundles of paper all night. One quirky serendipity of the task is that at one point during a particular production, the front page of a local newspaper comes out the printing press machines with the bottom of the paper facing me. There, on that particular product sits..., the obituaries.
I have noticed and heard of for the first time, countless neighbors, several old classmates, and even an uncle of mine, that have..., died.
One such fellow recently was an older classmate of mine. Having been in the Combat Engineers in the Army, and then later worked on an ambulance and in the health care trades for 10 years, one sets up a sort of gallows humor to make it through the toils of such work. But this fellow fell into another category of realization on my part.
He was a bit older, a fellow student of mine, lived down the street in the old days, went to the same church as I did, and attended countless same events. He also has a brother my own age. This one was a little more close to home so to speak. As the paper came out, I kept my usual snarky comments about the dead to myself that night.
The fellow in question, I had run into while I was going to college as an old guy. He too had gone back to the same college as an old guy and was then working there. It had been thirty years since I had seen him.
When I started at the University, I still had some loose ends to tie up back at the technical college. One loose end was to obtain a brief internship some where for a computer diploma course I had taken along side my regular degree program.
One day I was walking past the old classmate's office that was back in one of the many computer departments; it was in an area adjacent to the campus library.
Without much thought to it, I popped in his office, reintroduced myself after all those years, and asked if he might be able to take me on as an intern for a few hours to satisfy my little degree program back at the tech school.
"No," he said quietly.
But he did scribble down two or three names of guys who ran or worked at a couple of the other computer departments on campus and handed the scrap of paper to me.
"Fuck. I ain't got time to hunt these dudes down," I thought to myself. Then we both politely took our leave of one and other. I never saw him again during my time on campus.
The day after I saw his obituary, I dug around in a shoe box where I keep some long ago unused stuff, mostly of which should be thrown away. In my old wallet and crammed in a long forgotten cluster of expired credit cards and business cards, was the scrap of paper with the names still legible.
Of course, I had never acted on his thoughtful tips.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army National Guard Sergeant Earl Delmer Werner, 38, Mondovi, Wisconsin, died on Friday, August 28, 2009, in Rashid Iraq. He was one of two soldiers killed when insurgents attacked their vehicle with an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, an armor-piercing explosive that turns into a projectile when detonated. Sergeant Werner was attached to Company B, 41st Special Troops Battalion, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, with the Oregon Army National Guard out of the Portland area. Werner was driving a vehicle in a convoy security mission in eastern Baghdad. Private Taylor D. Marks was also killed in the attack.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Sergeant Werner had ties to Wisconsin. At the time of his death, Werner was living in Amboy, Washington. The military still listed Mondovi, Wisconsin as Werner's home of record. Mondovi is in Buffalo County in western Wisconsin, about 25 miles southwest of Eau Claire. Sergeant Werner was on his third deployment with the Oregon National Guard. His first deployment was part of the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry in 2004. Later he deployed with the 234th Engineer Company in 2007. On a previous tour of duty in Iraq, Werner was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. And, during his Guard service he received two Army Commendation Medals and the Combat Action Badge.
The Web site militarytimes.com using information from the Associated Press notes that Earl Werner was an animal lover who raised horses and enjoyed fishing. The site indicates Werner was an Idaho native.
An obituary posted on the Web site obits.columbian.com says Earl D. Werner was born on November 9, 1970, in New Plymouth, Idaho. He attended school in New Plymouth and moved to La Center, Washington, and then later to Amboy. He married his wife Casey in May of 2007. He was a truck driver and a heavy equipment operator by trade and worked for Red's Rock in Battleground, Washington, for the two years prior to his death. Werner had two years of prior Army Service before enlisting in the Oregon Army National Guard in September of 2001. The columbian.com Web site went on to note, "Earl had many hobbies: fishing, hunting, horses, riding his Harley as well as four-wheeling, driving his jeep, and, cooking and barbecuing. He loved animals and spending time with his family and friends....He will always be remembered as a gentleman, a family provider and a wonderful, caring person. "
The Web site theoutlookonline.com notes that members of the Oregon National Guard’s 41st Infantry Brigade, known as the Sunset Division, headquartered in Tigard, Oregon (just south of Portland) deployed to Iraq in mid summer 2009 for 10 months to provide convoy security and support services. The 2,700 members of the brigade were part of the largest deployment of Oregon troops since World War II.
At the time of his death he was a resident of Amboy, Washington, and was survived by his wife, Casey; son Justin; sister Barbara Pierce, and, father-in-law Duane Royer. Sergeant Earl Werner was laid to rest at Willamette National Cemetery near Portland, Oregon.
A year after Earl Werner's death, the Web site katu.com published a story regarding the struggles his wife Casey was having on one income, trying to keep the home she and Earl had build several years before his death. At the time of the article, area Oregonian Congressman Brian Baird's office said it was looking into Casey's loan modification problems on her behalf.
Army National Guard Sergeant Earl D. Werner is the 105th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that died in Iraq since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
104,568 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,487 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1865 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
992 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,226 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
15,183 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
151 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention 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; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
