Blogger Dies in Iraq
The crew at PoliGazette want to offer their heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, relatives, colleagues and co-bloggers of Andrew Olmsted. Hilzoy published a post today at Obsidian Wings, announcing that Olmsted has died in combat in Iraq (both Major and blogger).
Please take the time to read the post and, if you want, to leave a comment at OW. You truly have to read the post - if you’ve got a strong heart, because it’s heartbreaking - because Hilzoy published a post that the Major had written before he went to Iraq, knowing that he could die. He wrote the post to thank people, and to - basically - say goodbye.
Lets honor his request, not to use his death for political purposes. A brave man has died, his family now has to go on without him.
I cried when I read about it this afternoon
I knew him through the postings on OW, we even had some very nice exchanges.
Great guy. Horrible loss.
I knew him not at all. I made it through his post without crying, barely, but the comments section did me in. Just realizing that these were people who considered him a friend, finding out he was dead in real time. It makes it so real, so tangible…
I used to post comments on his blog regularly. He was smart, disciplined, and reasonable- and had an array of interests beyond politics and the military- including baseball and science fiction. He shut down his blog when he discovered he was violating military regulation by expressing political opinions. After learning of his pending deployment, I figured he’d do his duty and returned unharmed, as most do. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen. A tragic loss in a sea of tragic losses.
Kreiz, he re-surfaced as a commenter on ObWi as "G’Kar," and I had several good discussions with him on fandom and other things and we swapped a few emails. He will be sorely missed.
I read that at OW today, Tully- I had no idea he had returned to OW as a commenter (I never got the whole Babylon 5 thing- I’ve never seen it). I do recall a time when he bowed out of OW as a guest blogger because of the pervasive BDS of OW commenters. I’m not surprised that you found him engaging- I always looked forward to his lengthy and incisive posts. He had enormous integrity. Still can’t believe that this was his fate.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls…
As he said himself, he died doing what he loved. I should be so lucky, though like him I hope not to get lucky anytime soon. I never met him and knew him only from those few contacts and his comments and blogging, but he seemed a real class act. My best to his friends and family, who already know how respected and liked he was, and should know that if they need they have only to ask.
I will miss my friend a great deal. Thank you for posting this and please pray for the family. I will eventually make it through the rest of his last post.
Yet another example, this one getting much attention because of the tragedy attached, of how wrong Kerry and the libs were, how wrong Charlie Rangel is, when they insist that our military is staffed with poor underachieving wretches from the ghetto because it is their only way out.
For me, even though I had not heard of AO until I read his final post, he is representative of our military in every way. Sound mind, sound body, clever, funny, well read and well spoken, utterly dedicated to keeping his word, principled and strong, the very very best this nation can produce. God help us if we ever run out of AO’s.
And it isn’t too much to hope that when men like him return and become a little older, that they run for office and displace our present day glut of disgustingly mediocre and self-obsessed politicians of both parties.