Sgt. Scott Stream, of Mattoon, Illinois was killed in Afghanistan last Tuesday. He left behind a moving letter that explains the mission from the eyes of a Soldier on the ground. Here is a photo of him and the letter is below.

Scott Stream

Sgt. Scott Stream
Sgt. Scott Stream, of Mattoon, Ill., second from left, is one of 2 members of the Illinois Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team who were killed by an improvised explosive device Feb. 24, 2009, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Family photo / February 26, 2009)

Scott Stream was 39 years old and a Sergeant with the Illinois National Guard when he was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan on February 24, 2009. He had written a powerful letter to a friend on New Year’s Eve. His mother passed the letter on to the Chicago Tribune. The paper printed the letter and a copy of it is here for you to read below. The words are powerful and moving.

On a personal level, its been hard for me to write about the more personal side of the Global War on Terrorism. Since my son left Iraq after a 15 month deployment, its like my mind hasn’t been ready to go back to the boots on the ground level of discussing the war. But stories like this one cry out to be told. They are about why they fight, why we need them there fighting.

In the letter, Scott spoke of wanting to get home and lie on his back in a tube and float down a lazy river. When my son was in Iraq and talked about what he wanted do when he got home, it was the same thing. He declared on more than one occasion that doing that was the first thing he wanted to do when he got back to the States. Reading this made me wonder how many American boys have that same fantasy when they are on the other side of the world, fighting a hate filled enemy in a strange and alien land. Lying on your back, floating down a lazy river, looking up at the huge American sky is such an American thing to do.

I have to resist the urge to inject politics into this. I want to discuss my feelings about Obama’s apparently lack of respect for what our military, about his dismissal and refusal to acknowledge the progress that has been hard won in Iraq and his, what I view to be, ill-advised move to put more troops into Afghanistan. Enough more troops to be dangerous, but not enough to win a war there. I have to resist the urge to discuss how our Soldiers are being politicized for the benefit of politicians and their lives and sacrifices are of no meaning to the people who are sending them into harms way. They are just numbers and useful for political purposes. But this isn’t about politics.

Its about love for our country, the sacrifice of the fineness we have, and the fact that so few have stepped up to serve during our country’s time of need. It makes me sad that the numbers are dwindling of young Americans who seem to feel the call to duty when our country is attacked. So many seem to never think of it at all.

Sgt. Scott Stream was obviously one of those who stood and delivered in our time of need. He was obviously one who felt the responsibility of our freedoms were the responsibility of each citizen, including himself, not the illusive ’someone else’.

Read his letter below.

Sgt. Scott Stream Letter

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 9:30am

A strange thing…

When I think about what surrounds me, the institutional corruption, the random violence, the fear and desperation. I feel the reasons why I am here more and more sharply. As we grow in our soldiers skills, surviving by finding the hidden dangers, seeing the secret motives and the shifting politics… we grow a set of skills that is unique and powerful in this situation.

We also see what you cannot see in the States, you are surrounded by the love of Christ and faith in freedom and humanity, like a fish you think water is ‘a puff of air’ because it is always there, you do not notice it… we who are out of the water look back and see the world we love surrounded by enemies, poison and envy that wants to fall on you like a storm of ruin.

We who joined with vague notions of protecting our country see how desperate the peril, how hungry the enemy and how frail the security we have is. So the more I love you all the more I feel I must keep fighting for you. The more I love and long for home the more right I feel here on the front line standing between you and the seething madness that wants to suck the life and love out of our land.

Does that mean I cannot go home? I hope not, because I want this just to be the postponement of the joy of life, not the sacrifice of mine. If it costs me my life to protect our land and people then that is a small thing, I just hope that fate lets me return to the promise land and remind people just how great our land is.

War is a young mans game, and I am getting an old mans head… it is a strange thing. I just hope that I am not changed so that I cannot take joy in the land inside the wire when I make it home. I want to be with you all again and let my gun sit in the rack and float on my back in a tube down a lazy river…