Editors

It’s the worst news a military family could ever receive but often has nightmares about: the terrifying message that a loved one has been lost half a world away due to a violent act of some nationalist group. Thursday, Oct. 12 at about 12 p.m., a terrorist attack on the USS Cole would send that news home to the families of 17 sailors killed by a bomb. A small rubber boat pulled up to the side of the warship to aid in bringing in lines while the ship pulled into port in Aden, Yemen, for refueling. The boat had two men in it, and when it came alongside the large steel warship a bomb went off near main machinery spaces, also known as AUX spaces, and the mess hall, where many sailors were about to gather for lunch. The location of the detonation seems to be a clear indication that the terrorists knew what they were doing. The bomb blew a 40-by-40-foot hole in the side of the hull of the USS Cole, but more importantly, it killed 17 sailors and injured 39 more. The average age of the lost men and women was 19 to 20, about the age of most Virginia Wesleyan students.

The memorial service for the men and women was held Wednesday, October 18, at 11 a.m. President Bill Clinton was the main speaker and he sent out this warning to the terrorists: "you will not find a safe harbor." Our question for President Clinton is this: what are we going to do about this? The two men who carried out the act will never be caught because it was a suicide mission. Will we ever find out why they did this? Who knows? Two arrests were made last week, but what the American public needs to do is try to help those families who are grieving for their lost loved ones. We also need to remember those sailors as Chief of Naval Operations, Vern Clarke said: "They died for their country, but they also lived for their country." Sens. John W. Warner, Charles S. Robb and Edward M. Kennedy also attended the memorial service. Attorney General Janet Reno, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry H. Shelton and the Secretary of Navy Richard Danzig were present. Shelton cited an inscription found at Arlington National Cemetery during his speech at the service: "Not for fame or reward. Not lured by ambition or goaded by necessity. But in simple obedience to duty as they understood it, these men suffered all, sacrificed all, and died."

The memorial service was also attended by 36 of the 39 injured sailors who could be sent home. Seven of the 36 attended while still lying on their gurneys, wearing dress white uniforms that had to be made for them the previous evening, to remember their shipmates. The rest remain in Ramstein, Germany, until they can be sent home. The tragedy of the USS Cole seems so far away from the small campus of Virginia Wesleyan, but an e-mail from Lt. Christopher P. Landry, a sailor aboard the USS Hawes, a ship working to aid the Cole after this tragedy, might help put it into perspective. He wrote, "It wasn’t until a few days ago that we started doing something that I feel may be the first thing I’ve seen in my short naval career that has truly made a difference. I know what you all have seen on CNN, because we have seen it too. I just want you all to know that what you see doesn’t even scratch the surface." He describes the Cole as "hell on earth." The sailors aboard that ship are afraid to eat food from local vendors. They are also working and living in 90-degree heat without air conditioning, trying to keep their ship afloat. All the while they must keep in the back of their minds and on the surface of their hearts that they have lost 17 of their shipmates and that they too could have been casualties.

Landry went on to say, "Whatever you imagine as the worst, multiply it by 10 and you might get there. I wish I had to power to relay to you all what I have seen, but words just won’t do it. I do want to tell you the first thing that jumped out at me -- the Stars and Stripes flying." Although the attack was far away from us, it remains in the memory and hearts of many students at Virginia Wesleyan who are directly related to the US military. Some of us have relatives acting as peace-keeping forces in Bosnia, and many more of us have loved ones in other parts of the world serving in the military. With those people that we love off in other countries protecting us from harm, we feel helpless that we are not there to protect them. And to thosestudents at Virginia Wesleyan who served in the U.S. military, we are glad that you were able to return home safely.

Those of us who choose not to join the military and fight for our country might sometimes forget the danger these men and women are surrounded by every time they leave American ports. We may realize that in some parts of the world there is no peace, but we forget that our own sailors are in those countries fulfilling a duty to America. Even if you don’t agree with the policies, the military or anything involved with or around the government, remember those families who will always be afraid that they will get that piece of news that their son, daughter, husband, wife, father or mother has died while serving to uphold the values and service of the U.S. Armed forces. As stated by Rear Admiral Black, "Freedom is not free," and it wasn’t in the case of those on the USS Cole.

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