Death on Facebook:“Rest in Peace 1Lt Joe Theinert"

July 2, 2010, 3:12 pm
Death on Facebook
By MARK LARSON
They say war isn’t real until you’re getting shot at or shooting at someone, but the true reality of war doesn’t hit until you lose one of your own. This terrible knowledge is shared amongst the comrades, family and friends of some 5,517 Americans who have lost their lives fighting for their country in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years. For the first time since the war began, I now regrettably count myself amongst those who personally know the terrible cost of war. A friend, First Lt. Joe Theinert of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was killed in an ambush in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on 4 June.

I found out about this sad loss on Facebook when I noticed on my newsfeed that several of my Army friends had joined a group called “Rest in Peace 1Lt Joe Theinert, a True Hero!” I was taken aback at first, so unexpected was the news, when suddenly it struck me: I actually had heard about his death shortly after it happened when a colleague of mine mentioned that a lieutenant from 1st Battalion 71 Cavalry Regiment – one of our sister units in 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division – had died in the south. He asked me if I knew him, but not knowing any information about who had died or what had happened, I said I didn’t, said a quick prayer for the deceased, and returned to work.

The sad reality is that soldiers die every day in Afghanistan and most of these deaths pass unnoticed within the vast majority of the Army’s ranks. Very few of us search out casualty reports to see if we may have known the deceased. I’m no different, and after hearing the news it quickly passed out of my mind. Only when I came across it on Facebook did I realize I had lost a friend.
read more here
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/death-on-facebook/

linked from ICasualties.org