Silva's Dispatches From Iraq: A Fallen Comrade

Copter4 helicopter pilot Mike Silva, who flew a helicopter in Vietnam for the U.S. Army, came out of retirement with the Colorado Army National Guard and volunteered to serve in Iraq. Silva, 57, passed the physical tests early in 2007 and is now serving a 400 day tour overseas. The following is one of his dispatches he filed on his blog on Oct. 6, 2007.

It was a concelebration of Roman Catholic, Fr. Tim Hirten, Eastern Orthodox, Padre Florin Mihalcea, Protestant, Chaplin Maj. Charles Wallace and a gathering of Rumanian soldiers to give tribute to their fallen soldier. I attended the memorial service for this 34 year old Rumanian soldier who was killed by an al Qaida IED (improvised explosive devise).

The road side bomb detonated as the armor vehicle he was driving passed the explosive. He was trapped inside the cab. Five of his comrades managed to escape the burning hulk but they sustained moderate to severe injuries.

My contemporary CW2 Rich Clark was the lead medevac on the mission. Richard stated, and I paraphrase, Mike, this is the first time that the reality of this war and the inherent dangers we face came to light.

His name is Ioan Grosaru. John was born in the province of Bucovina in the Northern part of Romania. His friends say he was a soldier poet. His passion was to write about what he saw; to write about what he felt and to write about what he believed. He published two books of poetry, Call from Unknown and The Clipper from the Storm.

I bring this to your attention because first, this was the first mission our unit has responded to where a soldier actually died and second, to bring to your attention that Coalition Forces are also subject to the same inherent dangers and tragedies as the US Forces. I sit with the Rumanian soldiers, men and women, every day at meals. They are the most polite and gracious people you would want to meet.

As of this writing, at least 3,793 members of the U.S. military have lost their lives in Iraq since the beginning of the war; this according to the Associated Press. At least 3,095 died as a result of hostile actions. Today the news is out that both civilian and military deaths are down showing the lowest tolls since July 2006.

In fact the number of Iraqi civilian deaths reached an all time reduction rate of more then 50%.

…but with life we never know,
We live we love. We forgive and never give up,
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love...
-- Superchick