I was out and about on May Day, doing my first of the month grocery shopping at the 32nd Street Naval Station’s Commissary — the benefits of being a Naval retiree.

Stopping to get something to eat at the food court, I picked up a hard copy of the San Diego Union-Tribune, and while eating a soft taco I read about the death of Sgt. 1st Class David McDowell, and Army Ranger. One line in the obituary stood out to me:

…McDowell is the sixth person with personal ties to San Diego County who has been killed in Afghanistan since the war there began in 2001. He died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked using small-arms fire, the Pentagon announced yesterday. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Lewis, Wash.

McDowell had been deployed seven times in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Army Special Operations Command. His honors included two Bronze Stars with valor devices and a Purple Heart…

Seven tours. That’s right — seven. I’ve been thinking about that obituary ever since eating that meal on base.

And, other than the relatively short Persian Gulf War of the early nineties, this is the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan are the first wars we have not had a draft to raise up a inexpensive army to fight our wars. Between the Civil War and the Vietnam War, all of the wars were fought in large part by conscripted soldiers.

I guess my point is one that’s been made many times during this war — the American public has not been asked to sacrifice at all for this war. We’ve left the battles to volunteer soldiers, sailors, and airman like Sgt. McDowell. His life was sacrificed during his seventh tourin theater for the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. We aren’t paying as we go for these wars; we’re going to have to tax the public in large amounts, at some point, to pay for these three trillion dollar wars. And more importantly, we’ve lost over 4,000 lives in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, with over 30,000 having been wounded in these wars as well.

Meanwhile…

Sgt. 1st Class David McDowell, 30, is remembered by his family and friends as a man who followed his father into the Army and made himself an elite, decorated soldier…

…And he died while serving his seventh tour in theater for these wars.

“Down to the last bone in his body, the guy believed in what he did,” said Jesse Carlson, 29, of Carlsbad, who went to high school with McDowell and played football with him.

“It’s very unique to find someone with that kind of conviction,” Carlson said. “You can’t help but respect the guy and feel about as proud as you possibly can that he’s your friend.”

As a citizen of the country for which Sgt. McDowell served, I believe we, as a country, asked too much of him to serve seven tours in theater for these wars. If the citizens of our country don’t want to share the financial and personal sacrifices more evenly throughout our society than we are distributing these sacrifices now, then we definitely shouldn’t be continuing to fight these wars.

Seven tours? Sgt. McDowell served about five or six too many tours — even if these were popular wars; even if he believed in these wars down to the last bone in his body. My country asked too much of this man.

~~~~~
Further reading:
* Five Years, Two Words, No Letup
* April was Iraq’s deadliest since August