In Memory Of My Friend The Soldier

On Friday, July 14, 2006, while I was sitting in a newsroom pecking away at a keyboard, my friend Brooke Wood was dying.

Brooke and I were good friends through all of our high school days. He was in R.O.T.C., and talked about becoming a soldier all the time. I was in journalism, and talked about becoming a professional writer all the time. We were on two very different paths, but that never stopped us from being friends. Even when we had fights over girls, it was just water under the bridge.

I remember my graduation night like it was just yesterday. Brooke and I practically walked the stage together, given both our last names start with the same letter. He told me after we sat back down, having turned our tassels, that he had joined up. That night, he said, would be his last in town, at least for a few years.

After the ceremony, Brooke and I went to his church, just down the street. We were both living in a rather small town, so even though I did not frequent this particular house of worship, pretty much everyone there knew me anyway. They were having a going away party for him. While he was social with all the well-wishers, I just sat quietly in the back of the sanctuary, wondering what other radical changes were coming down the pipeline. We drank Red Bull and stayed out all night, putzing around. We had a good time, and then I said goodbye.

I never saw him again.

He joined the Army and became a demolitions expert. If it could explode, Brooke wanted to play with it. It was just in his nature, I guess. He worked with all kinds of various munitions; even Depleted Uranium. Especially Depleted Uranium. What with the Army dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into new DU bombs, and refusing to research the long-term effects of DU poisoning, maybe Brooke was in over his head.

Fact of the matter is, Depleted Uranium is more deadly than Agent Orange. Millions of people have been exposed, and a vast majority suffers because of it. Many die. It causes tumors, birth defects, infections, nervous system disorders and brain damage, to name a few. Some who are poisoned do not know it, and pass on mutated, irradiated DNA to their children who are born terrifying effigies of nature run afoul. But, it is the best of the best. A single DU-tipped bullet can cut through tank armor like butter. It is one of the most powerful weapons in the Army