News & Politics - AOL News: "My Family Can't Bear It"

Becca Joan · 04-12-2004, 04:49 PM

AOL News: My Family Can't Bear It"

I don't know how big of a news story this is, but I wanted to share this story because it has to do w/ close family/friends of a friend of mine. My sister's roomate in college (Chicago) grew up with this girl who was killed; they were like family. My sister might have even met them when she went w/ Kristin home to Wisconsin over Thanksgiving break. It's so amazing and sad because I was in Chicago visting my sister and her roomate Kristin, and she (Kristin) was telling my sister and I that the sisters were all in the Reserves, and they were due to come home very soon. It makes me mad that people in the Reserves, most of whom are doing it to pay for school (Cuz they only have to do 2 weeks of duty) are sent to the front while people who actively want to be in the Armed Forces are sent to other bases in the US...I think it should be the other way around.

Katis · 04-12-2004, 05:40 PM

Becca, would you please copy and paste the story into your post? You need an AOL account to get into the article and not all posters have one (myself included), thanks [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

ceilirose · 04-12-2004, 07:26 PM

I saw this on the news this evening..here's a link from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast....ap/index.html

Quote:

Family of slain soldier pleads for sisters
Monday, April 12, 2004 Posted: 7:32 PM EDT (2332 GMT)

NEW BERLIN, Wisconsin (AP) -- With three daughters serving in Iraq, John and Lori Witmer had a family Web site with photos from Baghdad, notes to home and messages of encouragement.

"Keep praying! They're almost home!" a recent entry says.

But the top notice, dated Sunday, carried grim news: "We regret to inform you that Michelle Witmer was killed in action April 9th. ..."

The 20-year-old private died when her Humvee was ambushed in Baghdad, making her the first woman in the Wisconsin National Guard to die in combat.

Her family is asking the military to stop her sisters from being sent back to Iraq after this week's funeral.

"I can't live another year like I've lived this one," John Witmer told The Associated Press. "The sacrifice that this family's made can never be understood by someone who hasn't gone through it... It's a burden I can't bear. My family can't bear it."

Michelle's 24-year-old sister, Rachel, served in the same unit, the 32nd Military Police Company, which was expected to leave Iraq shortly but just had its duty extended 120 days.

Charity Witmer, Michelle's twin, was sent to Iraq late last year as a medic with Company B of the Wisconsin Guard's 118th Medical Battalion.

The surviving sisters were expected home Monday, two days before Michelle's funeral. The Witmers also have two sons.

The family said state National Guard leaders agreed to take their appeal to the Pentagon on Monday. Relatives also were seeking help from Sen. Russ Feingold, and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.

John Witmer acknowledged the final decision of whether to return will be up to his daughters. But he said they would have to understand "how terribly we need to know they're not going back."

Witmer said he worried about his daughters joining the military but felt at the time that duty with the National Guard would be relatively safe, especially with a military police unit.

"My daughters wanted the freedom of being able to call their shots with their education," he said. "They were using that to go to school."

Jan Pretzel, the sisters' grandmother, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that by February, Michelle had an inkling her unit might soon ship out of Iraq because members were told to tell their families to stop shipping packages.

"This is a REALLY GOOD SIGN!!" she wrote in an e-mail. "The redeployment process (though it may be long) is finally beginning! There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel!"

Sad story..hopefully the two sisters won't have to return. It's hard to imagine what their parents have been going through these last few months.

Elizajoey · 04-15-2004, 01:04 AM

I heard on the news that the two sisters, and I dont know the official wording, but they dont have to go back to Iraq - they've been given special exemption

**TheAngel** · 04-15-2004, 12:53 PM

I fail to understand why people think signing up for the reserves exempts you from going to war. The recruters make it totally clear that you can and probably will be deployed to active duty and can continue to be called to active duty up to eight years after you sign up even if you are no longer in the reserves. While this is a vey sad story, people do die in wars and the soldiers who fight know that. Remember, freedom isn't free.