Comment of the day: An Army officer credits Shadid with saving the lives of his soldiers and of Iraqi civilians as well

I just noticed this comment, posted
the other day by "Hunter."
I believe Anthony
Shadid's ashes were scattered on Wednesday around his ancestral home in
southern Lebanon:

-- 

Every night as we prepped for
mobilization and deployment I read from Night Draws Near to my CO
CDRs, 1SGs, and Staff. I have the dog-eared copy in my lap as I type right now.

His
moving account was in no small part responsible for making it clear to my
soldiers that the Iraqis are people too, just like you and I. Caught in the
middle of something they really wanted no part of.

Nearly
three million truck miles in Iraq over nine months with only 9 rounds fired in
5 escalation of force incidents ... but no one was ever hurt, coalition or
Iraqi. 60 IEDs for our predecessors became 2 IEDs for us. No one was hurt on
our watch....thanks in part to Anthony. RIP."

-- 

Hunter
also gets off a good line in the discussion of Lt. Col. Danny Davis: "If
you are going to bring the pain, you best have your ducks in a row."