The news of another soldier from South Portland
dying in Iraq two weeks after the city's first casualty rolled through
town fast.

    It was widely reported well before the Pentagon or the governor had an opportunity to confirm it.

    The news that soldiers were killed precedes the
disclosure of who those soldiers were and for good reason. That
soldiers were killed is news. Who those soldiers were is a personal
tragedy. We read in the paper about "five marines killed in Al Anbar
Province" and shake our heads. Few of us outside a soldier's circle of
friends and family wonder, "was it Angel?" Or Jason? Decency and
dignity demand that those left behind learn the news from a real
person, not a talking head on a television screen.

    Both Angel Rosa and Jason Swiger had something in
common, probably not something that would have been said by those who
knew them in high school. At South Portland High School, one was a jock
and one was a "punk." One was a proud Puerto Rican, one was a
read-headed Anglo.

    But in Iraq they had quite a bit in common. Both
were combat soldiers attached to units who are trained to be among the
first in the line of fire. Marines by sea and the 82nd by air, they
represented the sharp end of the spear and embodied the pride we have
in our fighting men and women.

    It was a rare example of unity that the South
Portland City Council chose to honor the two men with flags and yellow
ribbons. The gesture is all the more striking when one looks back and
sees some of those same councilors voting against similar measures in
the past. What is different? The current gesture has been stripped of
the politics and been replaced by the very real tragedy of two very
real young men who are no more.        
    –Ward Peck