A Ripple of Silence

Whenever a soldier dies, in Iraq or anywhere else, a wave of uneasiness — fear, revulsion, guilt, sadness — ripples through the survivors. It could be felt on Monday, even when the fighting was still going on.

That was the quote that my mother read to me this morning when she called to see how we were doing with all the rain. Just raining water here not bullets. We talked further, but I could tell in her voice that this article written in the New York Times had touched her to tears. The soldier was Sgt. Terry Michael Lisk, 26, of Zion, Ill. and he had just died in Ramadi from a mortar shell.

After Terry Lisk's body was place on the helicopter, Col. MacFarland spoke to the troops who stood in silence saluting Terry. The Colonel said:

"I don't know if this war is worth the life of Terry Lisk, or 10 soldiers, or 2,500 soldiers like him," Colonel MacFarland told his forces. "What I do know is that he did not die alone. He was surrounded by friends.

"A Greek philosopher said that only the dead have seen the end of war," the colonel said. "Only Terry Lisk has seen the end of this war."

R.I.P. Sgt. Terry Michael Lisk