# posted by josh @ 10/13/2007 12:10:00 PM
Jason Lantieri's story is the turnaround kind, one that starts with a childhood of troubles that get overcome on the way to a solid life. But Lantieri's story ended suddenly this week in an Iraqi town called Iskandariyah, leaving family and friends shaken.
The young Army sergeant, part of a transportation unit working south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, was in an accident Tuesday and died Wednesday. He was apparently pinned between vehicles, but the incident is still being investigated.
In the disjointed hours since men in Army uniforms showed up at the front door of Jon and Kathy Miller in Clinton on Wednesday morning, the family has struggled to comprehend the death of their foster son, whom they had raised as a member of their family. The news didn't fit into Lantieri's story - one that seemed on its way to a happy ending.
He was a child adrift in the foster care system when the Millers, who were longtime residents of Killingworth, took him in. "We just decided to go and ask if he could become part of our family," Kathy Miller said Thursday, sitting in front of a pile of pictures of Lantieri.
"He called us mom and dad," Jon Miller said.
He may have been a clown, a guy whose energy sometimes had to be reined in, but he started finding ways to get good grades in high school. , where Lantieri graduated in 2000, said he had the high-energy kid in his social studies class. He watched the once-troubled boy start getting involved with everything, with the Millers' help.
Lantieri was on the student council and played soccer, basketball and baseball.
His high school basketball coach and English teacher, Paul McCormick, said Thursday, "He was a hard-nosed competitor in athletics. He was a tough kid who would get in the middle of things."
David Miller, Lantieri's older brother, actually helped McCormick coach the team then. He used the same words about his little brother: tough, hard-nosed, and added "mischievous." But in his off-the-court life, Lantieri wasn't somebody who judged people. He "gave everybody a chance."
Lantieri's story was about growth and progress, Jon Miller said. This military chapter was only one segment, coming just after his college business degree. When the parents see his military photos, with Lantieri's stern face, they don't seem quite right.
Kathy: "I hardly recognize that person." She added, "That's just a little piece of Jason. It's not the whole picture of who he is."
They remember the laughing. They remember him playing with their grandkids. They remember how others were drawn to him.
Kathy: "He was a gift to us -"
Jon: "And he taught us a lot."
Kathy: "We taught him a little, and he taught us a lot."
Though he didn't come from a military family, Lantieri joined the Army three years ago, stationed in the Alaska-based 725th Brigade Support Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division.
Kathy: "It was a way to go on an adventure and see the world."
Jon: "He decided this is what he wanted to do."
The 25-year-old had been in Iraq for a while. He sent e-mail regularly, but he had been able to call home only once. His parents missed the call, but the message has remained since on the answering machine.
Then came the knock on the door.
Kathy: "Earth-shattering. Every mother's nightmare."
Since then, she's listened again to that message on the answering machine, a reminder of Jason's lost voice.
They don't have many details about what happened yet. The Department of Defense news release, in its typical brevity, lists his name, his hometown and that he died "of injuries suffered during a vehicle accident." Another release from his unit in Alaska said he was killed during "late-night vehicle maneuvers."
Kathy: "I don't know how much that matters."
It doesn't change the outcome. The Millers are planning for a burial in Killingworth, where Lantieri grew up and the family lived until recently.
The Connecticut casualties of the war have been sad to see over the years, but "it hits even harder when it finally comes to your doorstep."
It typically takes about a week for the Army to transport a body from Iraq and through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where all of those killed in Iraq are prepared for return to their families. In the meantime, Army casualty assistance officials from the state's National Guard work out the details with the family. Until the funeral, the governor has called for the flags of Connecticut to fly at half-staff.
As Gov. M. Jodi Rell calls for the state "to honor the sacrifice that Sgt. Lantieri has made on our behalf," it's hard to square that idea with the goofy-faced photos of Lantieri graduating high school or playing with children.
"Jason lived life in the moment," Kathy Miller said.
Earlier this year, he had a break from the war, so he went to Europe. He hit several of the big sites. The Louvre in Paris. The Colosseum in Rome. But what he wrote about in the blog on his page on MySpace was hanging out with the people. He wrote, "Europe is a great place to just live for the day and for the moment."
McCormick was having the same hard time as everybody else on Thursday, trying to realize what has happened. "Seems almost incongruous. It doesn't register. The kid had everything going for him."
McCormick said, "He's just a great story."
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
shit news
# posted by josh @ 10/10/2007 06:07:00 PM
for those of you who remember him, jay lantieri was killed in iraq last night
Sad news indeed.
Ya, my dad just emailed me too. Funny when it hits the hometown.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Norwich bike race
# posted by ron @ 10/08/2007 09:51:00 PM
Jesse, did you happen to catch a glimpse of 30 or so spandex clad men tearing by your front door Sunday morning?
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/multimedia/x1667162304Yours truly leading the pack on pic 15.
Dude, you look hot in spandex.
Some of us have to work on the Lord's Day, so we just tried to avoid your damn road closings.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Breaking news
# posted by Brancibeer @ 10/07/2007 07:10:00 PM
Jess Wilcox is engaged. Some navy guy that she met in boot camp. I have mixed feelings, but wish her the best of luck.
wait, i thought she went to law school? she met him in boot camp?
damnit branci. last I checked men didn't wear skirts or have feelings.
yeah, law school then she enlisted in the Navy Jag. She had to go to boot camp for that. So she's basically a lawyer for the Navy.
Not those kinds of feelings ron. I'm just concerned that she is rushing into it. There is pressure because if they get married the military can assign them to the same area...and that deadline is coming up.
Damnit Ron why not use correct formatting and avoid sexism?
oh i gotcha...a buddy of mine worked for the JAG thing during one of his summers
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Is it all about Drugs?
# posted by wyldshaman @ 10/04/2007 09:26:00 PM
Im totally not going to do all the research required for this one.
But i was just thinking, you know connecting the dots. . .
... maybe the documentary on Columbia i just watched helped.
But... let me get this straight, Columbia is the number one producer of cocaine and the US is the number one user and number one supporter of the government there.
Afghanistan is the number one producer of Opium, supplying 90% of the heroin we consume. We took that country over, for what again? Oh ya bad guys are there, and we cant find them all... so i guess we will stay awhile and get high.
Mexico is the number one international supplier of Pot to the USA... and thanks to NAFTA it comes across the border much smother... along with all that cheap labor.
Burma and Iran are currently are drug nemesis, as they produce and supply much of Asia with their kicks. (I totally support the peaceful liberation of the Burmese people, as well as leaving the Iranian people alone.)
Mexico? With all the empty top quality land in Canada, our friends to the North can't produce more pot?
And seriously, I've been thinking that with the US non-action in Darfur and Burma, clearly we don't care about humanitarian issues, and particularly the non-action in Burma should make it obvious to anyone that the US is not concerned with helping people establish democracies. How do you envision a peaceful liberation when the government is willing to beat, abduct, imprison, and kill people sitting and praying.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
bringing down the blogger once again
# posted by ron @ 10/02/2007 10:40:00 PM
So I have to admit that Iraq wasn't what came to mind when I read this headline.
We get a couple thoughtful post from Jesse and Brian here and I thought we should get back to the good old roots of the blogger for just a post.
Jesse, I read that Perkins book and promptly went out and bought the other one. Any more recommendations?
I just picked up this Beastie boys album called "The Mix up". All instrumental. great chill music.
"Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq"
by Stephen Kinzer
Very good American history lesson and fits nicely with Confessions. But from the angle of America's economic battering ram, the U.S. Army.
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said in an interview that the removal of Saddam Hussein had been "essential" to secure world oil supplies, a point he emphasized to the White House in private conversations before the 2003 invasion of Iraq... (and stated)... why removing Hussein was important for the global economy.
The Washington Post, Bob Woodward
I dont need no House to tell me that. I've been pulling out since i was 18 booyyyeeee.
"I'm sorry baby, its the law now".
Monday, October 01, 2007
Faith: the process of non-thinking
