IN MEMORY OF SERGEANTS KILLED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ON 9/11/2013

With two more sergeants (and not others) killed last week, I repeat here a short poem I wrote honoring all the sergeants killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (December 11, 2011).  I find it strange that there have been far more sergeants killed than corporals or privates (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/12/sergeants-poem.html).  Iraq and Afghanistan have been a different sort of war.

THE SERGEANTS (Poem)

Who are these sergeants, mostly men,

Dying in such numbers in far off lands?

Iraq, Afghanistan.

More than corporals,

More than privates.

Our top heavy military?

Some sergeants in their 50s.

More in their 40s.

Many in their 30s.

They must have been surprised

To be called at such ages

Into a savage war.

You might be interested in seeing: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf or http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol23/2/23-2.pdf.  I am unable to find up to date figures.