I went to school with a kid named Jesse. We never were super great friends or anything, but we were classmates that got along pretty well. He was the same age as me, and went to my school from 2nd grade onwards, into junior high and high school. He was a smart, funny guy. Once a week throughout 6th grade, he, Andrea and I would get to skip out of class to go to PD, which was basically some gifted program thing where we got to do extra work I guess; stuff we wouldn't otherwise do in our grade level. He was so well-known and liked that when he announced in 9th grade that his family was moving away, I came up with the idea to secretly collect farewell letters from pretty all of our classmates that wanted to send him one, then code it into a big TI-83 program that would display them all (since making video games on my calculator was pretty much all I did in junior high/high school.) Some people wrote pretty lengthy letters. I gave it to him during our last Health class, and though my memory's kind of foggy, I'm pretty sure he really appreciated it. He moved away that freshman year, and I never saw him again.

Jesse was killed last Saturday when his helicopter crashed in Afghanistan. I know they say most people are personally affected by the fighting in the Middle East--my own uncle spent two or three deployments over in Qatar around a decade ago. But I'm fairly sure Jesse was the first person that I was actually acquainted with to die as a result of the fighting over there, and thus I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences.

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Sorry to hear that, Jaron. A guy that graduated a few years in front me, but I didn't know him. I don't know anyone personally to be killed, but a ton of my friends are active military, a few are retired. One kid I went to high school with lost his leg to an IED. That's all I can think of, no deaths, thank God.

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Awesome sig made by Goten!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your friend passing.
I haven't been affected by the fighting. But my heart goes out to the family and friends of those we lost.

How are you doing bud?

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I am sorry that you lost your friend, i had a friend that died in Iraq from a roadside bomb about 5 years ago. (i can always remember his dad catching him smoking when he was about 15, and he used to sneak off to have a smoke all the time)

During my youth i was in Army cadets and came close to joining the Army myself but i moved to London instead, a few of my friends from the cadets joined up and also served out in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Nobody I knew personally has gone to the Middle-East that I know of. One of my coworkers in the Army Reserve was supposed to ship out in December, but was Honorably Discharged instead. So I came out lucky with an avoidance.

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Goten is dead!

President Obama should seriously consider pulling out the entire US troops from the middle east, the United States had spend billions towards warfare in the Middle east, what was gain during this period of warfare??

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Guy I ran track/cross country with was injured in October. Lost both legs, massive core damage. He is still on a vent, fighting for his life every day.

He'll be lucky to be back in Ohio by the end of 2012......

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My heart goes out too all the soldiers =/ & R.I.P too your mate.

Personally I have family over there, and have lost a few indirectly from the war. I had an uncle who was a translator for the U.S. Embassy, and cause of his participation with the U.S.; some local terrorists didn't take it well, and with that one morning whilst taking his taxi to the Embassy, he was pulled over and shot in the head.

I have three friends currently over there deployed (Australian) and thankfully they are safe and sound, though been a few close calls.

Mainly family though; It's torn the country apart. . . A lot of civilians have died. . Besides the one mentioned above, had one killed in the line of duty ( enrolled with the U.S. Army) and another M.I.A. for a few years now, presumably dead. . .

A guy I knew in high school went off to serve the army right after he graduated. I'm sorry about your friend passing, Jaron. I hope all goes well for you.

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There's a Libyan guy on my course at university, and he scares the out of me..Keeps saying he's going to commence genocide on Americans. And he's got a lot of guns and ...Guy needs to off and I'm generally tolerant of people from abroad...

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And your university allows this? Mine would've started an investigation the moment he had a serious claim he could easily back up and probably execute (no matter what his nationality was).

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.Legendary themed months are back! Maybe.

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That is pretty scary... can't you tell the dean of students about what this guy is saying/claiming?

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I live in San Diego and half of my friends have joined up the army and shipped out, there's a few that will never make it back.

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Well I'm in England so that stuff isn't taken as seriously, but if you've seen the news lately about the 2 British students who wern't allowed into American for saying they were going to "destroy America" (Meaning to party). This guy stands no chance...He's a weirdo, keeps posting a ton of beheaded people, people covered in blood and hitler quotes on Facebook..He assumes it's alright, not fun.

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Simon, just report him to the authority... Police, the dean, etc etc.

And also, I have had a few friends lose family members in the war(s?). However, I have never personally lost a family member in war and I sure as hell hope I don't. It sucks about your friend, Jaron. :/

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Kikori wrote:

Topsummoner wrote:

Riptide wrote:

I used to get you and J@n mixed up. Except your funnier. And nicer. Happy 21st bro!

Oh man Jan, you just got zinged by Riptide. How much does THAT suck?

Well, statistically speaking, slightly more than a giant suckusaur. A dire one.

PenguinGuy wrote:

Lets see if I remember how to play...

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Right?

Either he's a genuine nutter or just full of . Either way, reporting him to the authorities is the correct course of action as far as I'm concerned. If he's doing it purely for shock value, he deserves what he'll get.

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I've actually had a lot of losses in this war. My uncle, who was married into the family, originated from Iraq and because of that, we have had many family deaths in that region over the course of these ten or so years.

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Uh yea report that guy to the main office. Serious or not, it's not funny.
People like that usually need help in some way.


I've known 2 Marines that went to Iraq, 2 others in the Army not sure if/where they went, one in the Guard who did supply/transportation. Not sure who else I've known who went overseas. I haven't had anyone I know die on deployment at least.

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I haven't been affected, really, but my grandmother is a missionary who just got back from a trip to the middle east. She's been to Russia close to 30 times, China, Iraq three times, Israel, etc....she just got back from Jordan.

Every time she goes to the middle east it makes me a tad bit nervous...she's always got to get right in the middle of things.
When she went to Iraq for the first time a few years ago (right after Saddam was ousted), she came back with a picture of her sitting in Saddam's massive golden throne in his main palace. It's a really cool picture, but in the back of my mind I was all, "ugh....she just haaasss to be in the thick of things...".

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Sorry for your loss. I think I remember reading something about a Helicopter crashing voer there killing a few people. The sooner that wars over the better because theres no purpose for being in the Stan. Just try not to think about it thats how i dealt with everything over there. But People handle traumatic situations differently so do what you feel would help you

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