Reddawg6
12-15-2008, 09:47 PM
Here is an email I got today. RD6
Deanna R. Pennington
107 Punohu Ln. #2
Lahaina, HI 96761
December 12, 2008
President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
Washington, D.C. 20500-0003
Dear President Bush;
You sent our boys to protect your girls. They were successful. Your daughters are still alive. They protected your mom and dad and wife, too. Your family lives.
Many of the boys' friends do not. My son watched his best friend, Erick carried out of a Fallujah courtyard in a poncho because there wasn't enough left of his body for a stretcher. This boy turned 21 on November 9, 2004, the day before his gruesome death in the midst of a bloody battle that you commanded. He was my son's roommate and best friend and called me, "Mom". I was proud of him and proud of that title. He was the first of 9 friends that Rob lost during his 2nd tour, but two times in hell wasn't enough. You sent him back for a 3rd tour. On that tour, you sent him to do a mission-less job, taking censuses and looking for bad guys. More like sending him on a daily suicide mission as their area of operations required them to travel the same IED-pitted road every day where they were sitting ducks. It was like you painted a target on their backs.
Your daughters were able to finish college, playing and having fun while my son (who could have been in college) slept in the mud or on a concrete slab in a deserted schoolroom learning to spoon with the others to stay alive because there weren't enough blankets to go around. Eating the food that parents sent in care packages because there wasn't enough food provided by the military to fill a 19 year-old carrying 60 pounds of pack and sapi plates while running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Wearing the socks and carrying the hand warmers we sent because we would do anything to keep our hero-boys as comfortable as possible so they would return safely to us.
My son once said, "Mom, I'm doing this so they don't come here. I'm protecting you." I thought," Wait, that's my job.
I am only one of the mothers of the Pendleton 8, but I know what happened to every boy that was a part of that fated team. Do you? Larry sits in Leavenworth while his baby daughter grows up without him. He's unable to participate in her life because you sent him back to a war for which you 3 years previously declared, "Mission Accomplished”. They had no mission from you in their 3rd tour. In 2004 it was predicted there would be an 85% casualty rate when our boys were sent into Fallujah. You are surprised that these boys figured out what they needed to do to survive a 2nd or 3rd time in the same Al Anbar region?
The kangaroo court that the Marines held made Larry the scapegoat for a situation that was beyond understanding. There was no parity in the sentences at the different trials because I don't think anyone believed they really did anything that should have been punished. They were at war where our boys were held to fighting standards that the other side did not have. We know there were orders. We know they did what they had to do to come back home alive.
Our sons became the poster children for Murtha's anti-military agenda to get the United States out of Iraq. Instead of being judged for their actions, they were immediately thrown in shackles and thrown in jail so that America could show the rest of the world that we knew how to be just. They didn't have a chance at justice. It was over before they knew what happened.
I ask you as a parent to consider our sons' lives and give them an opportunity to heal and put themselves back together.
Our son is a convicted federal felon for his part in your agenda. As their Commander in Chief, do you stand behind our boys? You got them into this mess and now you have the power to get them out. Please do. Set Larry free. Let Larry, Rob, Jerry, John, Marshall, Trent and Tyler get on with the healing so they can go to college and get decent jobs. Please don't let Iraq define the rest of their lives. Give them back their freedom.
Sincerely,
Deanna Pennington
Proud Marine Mom of
Pvt. Robert Pennington
Deanna R. Pennington
107 Punohu Ln. #2
Lahaina, HI 96761
December 12, 2008
President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
Washington, D.C. 20500-0003
Dear President Bush;
You sent our boys to protect your girls. They were successful. Your daughters are still alive. They protected your mom and dad and wife, too. Your family lives.
Many of the boys' friends do not. My son watched his best friend, Erick carried out of a Fallujah courtyard in a poncho because there wasn't enough left of his body for a stretcher. This boy turned 21 on November 9, 2004, the day before his gruesome death in the midst of a bloody battle that you commanded. He was my son's roommate and best friend and called me, "Mom". I was proud of him and proud of that title. He was the first of 9 friends that Rob lost during his 2nd tour, but two times in hell wasn't enough. You sent him back for a 3rd tour. On that tour, you sent him to do a mission-less job, taking censuses and looking for bad guys. More like sending him on a daily suicide mission as their area of operations required them to travel the same IED-pitted road every day where they were sitting ducks. It was like you painted a target on their backs.
Your daughters were able to finish college, playing and having fun while my son (who could have been in college) slept in the mud or on a concrete slab in a deserted schoolroom learning to spoon with the others to stay alive because there weren't enough blankets to go around. Eating the food that parents sent in care packages because there wasn't enough food provided by the military to fill a 19 year-old carrying 60 pounds of pack and sapi plates while running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Wearing the socks and carrying the hand warmers we sent because we would do anything to keep our hero-boys as comfortable as possible so they would return safely to us.
My son once said, "Mom, I'm doing this so they don't come here. I'm protecting you." I thought," Wait, that's my job.
I am only one of the mothers of the Pendleton 8, but I know what happened to every boy that was a part of that fated team. Do you? Larry sits in Leavenworth while his baby daughter grows up without him. He's unable to participate in her life because you sent him back to a war for which you 3 years previously declared, "Mission Accomplished”. They had no mission from you in their 3rd tour. In 2004 it was predicted there would be an 85% casualty rate when our boys were sent into Fallujah. You are surprised that these boys figured out what they needed to do to survive a 2nd or 3rd time in the same Al Anbar region?
The kangaroo court that the Marines held made Larry the scapegoat for a situation that was beyond understanding. There was no parity in the sentences at the different trials because I don't think anyone believed they really did anything that should have been punished. They were at war where our boys were held to fighting standards that the other side did not have. We know there were orders. We know they did what they had to do to come back home alive.
Our sons became the poster children for Murtha's anti-military agenda to get the United States out of Iraq. Instead of being judged for their actions, they were immediately thrown in shackles and thrown in jail so that America could show the rest of the world that we knew how to be just. They didn't have a chance at justice. It was over before they knew what happened.
I ask you as a parent to consider our sons' lives and give them an opportunity to heal and put themselves back together.
Our son is a convicted federal felon for his part in your agenda. As their Commander in Chief, do you stand behind our boys? You got them into this mess and now you have the power to get them out. Please do. Set Larry free. Let Larry, Rob, Jerry, John, Marshall, Trent and Tyler get on with the healing so they can go to college and get decent jobs. Please don't let Iraq define the rest of their lives. Give them back their freedom.
Sincerely,
Deanna Pennington
Proud Marine Mom of
Pvt. Robert Pennington