Major Andrew Olmsted, who posted a blog since May 2007, was killed in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2008. Olmsted, who had been based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, began blogging after his unit was sent to Iraq with the mission of helping train the Iraqi Army. A sniper killed Olmsted as he was trying to talk three suspected insurgents into surrendering. A sniper's bullet also cut down Capt. Thomas J. Casey. They were in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.
Olmsted was determined to make a difference in Iraq. "The sooner the Iraqi government doesn't need U.S. support to provide security for its people, the sooner we will probably be asked to leave."
This touched me for so many reasons and in so many ways. While it's hard to read through this soldiers last post, I wish that others would take a moment. It's a great post while at the same time very sad. One thing that I think I find most comforting is that he wrote his final words, he said what many would probably like to say before they leave this life but never get the opportunity to say.
I post this as a dedication to Andrew Olmsted, a man I never knew but a man who made an impact on me with this final posting as well as his fallen comrade, Capt. Thomas J. Casey.
RIP and our thoughts and prayers are with the family.
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