Where Do They Get Young Men Like This?
Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marine battalion,
was talking with 4 young Marines near his foxhole this morning live on CNN.
He had been telling the story of how well the Marines had been looking out
for and taking care of him since the war started.
He went on to tell about the many hardships the Marines had endured
since the war began and how they all look after one another.
He turned to the four and said he had cleared it with their commanders
and they could use his video phone to call home.
The 19 year old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow
his platoon sergeant to use his telephone to call his pregnant wife back home
whom he had not been able to talk to in three months.
A stunned Savidge who was visibly moved by the request
shook his head and the young Marine ran off to get the sergeant.
Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back
to the three young Marines still sitting with him and asked
which one of them would like to call home first.
The Marine closest to him responded with out a moments hesitation
"Sir, if is all the same to you we would like to call the parents
of a buddy of ours, Lance Cpl Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida
who was killed on 3-23-03 near Nasiriya to see how they are doing".
At that Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak.
All he could get out before signing off was
"Where do they get young men like this?".