Hey, Mom. Things don’t always work out exactly as planned, and I certainly didn’t think I’d have to be dictating a letter through an Ouija board. Originally, I just wanted to do my service in the Army and go on to other things, but we know how that worked out. Anyway, I have a few things to say, but I don’t want you to take them the wrong way. A lot of people have been saying the nastiest things about you, but I know they’re not true.
First off, I’m sorry. I made you cry – a lot – and I didn’t want that. Now you and Dad have split up, and you can’t tell me that isn’t my fault. Plus, I hear you’re not speaking with a lot of the family because they supported Bush and the war. There has always been political differences in the family, but I know this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone off to Iraq and gotten killed. I never meant for all this to happen, and I’m feeling guilty.
But here’s the thing, I chose to go to Iraq. I re-enlisted in 2004, when all the arguments against the war there are now were already out there. I also volunteered for that mission in which I got killed. I was a grown man, and I made my choices. Maybe they were stupid choices and I got duped into this whole thing – I certainly didn’t mean to die – but they were my decisions and I thought what I was doing was right.
Now, I know we never saw eye to eye on the war, but you had always supported me. You and Dad even visited me while I was training in California. I really appreciated it; pretty much no other families did that. The thing is, I’d still like some of that support now.
You know how back when I was a kid you used to spit on napkin and wipe my face in front of my friends and I’d get all embarrassed? Well, this whole “Camp Casey” thing is like that times a million. I know you don’t mean it that way, but you make it sound like I was some dumb kid led by the pied piper to Iraq. I knew exactly what I was doing, though, and I wasn’t a kid. Now, through your camp, my name is associated with all this people I wouldn’t want anything to do with – people I don’t think are your real friends either. Then the media has all these statements from you and everyone is trying to make it sound like you’re some nut when I know you’re just trying your best to do right by me.
Now that you’re heading away from Crawford and the hurricane has gotten the media attention away from you, maybe it’s time to take a rest. I’m not going to argue politics with you, and, if you want to argue against the war, keep doing so… but maybe more low key. Still, I know you want to blame Bush for me dying, but, to be honest, then you have to blame me some too. It wasn’t just his decisions that put we out there.
Anyway, I met this Iraqi kid the other day; he was gassed by Saddam. When he found what I was killed doing, he gave me a hug and said, “Thank you.” That’s what I really want. I understand if you’re not up to it now, but, maybe sometime in the future, you could go to my grave and say thanks to me… thanks for trying to do what I thought was right, at least, even if we didn’t agree on it. That’s all.
I love you, Mom.
Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on Palm Sunday, April 4th, 2004, after volunteering for a rescue mission of fellow soldiers. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for valor.
i plain to join the army or navy whin i com of age,and i think rhe meadea should stop disceriging the war,its like saying that are boys are dieing for nothing,but they are they fare fighting for freedom not ours but someon ealses and thats important
best of luck on your plan to join up, we need more like you.
also, you may want to brush up on your spelling, just a bit.
Yo- Josh – You need to go to school, man – you’re either hardly literate, or dead drunk at 11:41am.
Either way- I have a piece of advice for you my friend:
It is better to remain silent and have people think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
In regards to this “letter” – it makes me want to puke. You should be ashamed of yourself for desecrating a dead persons memory for your own purposes. Perhaps someone should defile one of your dead relatives in public.
You Republicans are the Christian version of the Taliban – you make the whole world hate us all.
I wish there were some way that you could GUARANTEE that Screamin’ Sheehan would read this. She really needs to.
Pomoze Bog.
Tsar Lazar
Hey, Elliot.
So, our volunteer army are fools, now?
Oh, and by the way… We aren’t why the world hates America; it is traitors like you who distort what a great Nation we truly are.
“Desecrating” Casey’s memory would be having him call his mother a mean name posthumously; your self-righteous anger at what was an honest interpretation of how a person might respond to a clearly disturbed family member is pathetic.
Grow up, and quit trolling in places where there are people who are smarter than you.
Elliot, there is no reason you should insult a child such as Josh for having honorable dreams of serving his country in the military. Perhaps you should pick on someone with similar intelligence to yours, such as a kindergartner.
Elliot, you missed your bus. Screamin’ Sheehan pulled out and left you in the ditch along with the used condoms, broken Birkenstocks, and roach-ends.
Pomoze Bog.
Tsar Lazar
HA! That’s ironic, isn’t it?
But, Elliot, you didn’t even think of the irony when you wrote that, now did you?
Elliott, What about the disgrace that screeching Sheenan did by posting other dead soldiers names on crosses.
That was a desecration of HUNDREDS of soldiers.
ELLIOTT, YOU’RE AN ASS.
Elliott, What about the disgrace that screeching Sheenan did by posting other dead soldiers names on crosses.
That was a desecration of HUNDREDS of soldiers.
ELLIOTT, YOU’RE AN ASS.
Agreed. Elliot’s comment is completely irrevelant. My boyfriend is in Iraq and he volunteers for missions very similar to the one Casey Sheenan volunteered for. It worries me for his safety, and when I see or hear people make comments like the one Elliot made, it makes me worried for the future of America if people actually have these ideas.
And my note to Josh- I have great respect for you. More kids should put their country in the top three on their list like you do. God, Country, Family!
Best of Luck to you and my prayers are with you and all of the troops!
This was an excellent editorial.
Sheehan isn’t the first crazy mother who thought that her disagreements with her child should supercede the true memory of their loved one, but the coverage she recieves is significant. You were able, with this “editorial,” to both point out what it is that Sheehan and her handlers are doing to the memory of her son, and to do it with a compassion that I did not share, but could now.
EXCELLENT piece.