Return Letter
Throughout
Dear Jeremy,
Thank you for
writing to Private Payton Leerman. Your letter arrived today. I feel obligated to return the correspondence
on behalf of PVT Leerman. I am sorry if the graphic and emotional
nature of my letter is inappropriate for you at this age, but I feel compelled
to share Leerman’s entire story at this time. It is my hope that you will retain this story
for many years, and appreciate its content as you mature.
Judging from the
box of letters sent by your school, addressed randomly, I assume you have had
no prior association with Private Leerman.
Private Leerman grew up in the Midwest United States, is only six
years older than you, and only recently finished high school. He married a girl from his class, and
deployed with our unit only a few months after his daughter was born. I seriously doubt that PVT Leerman was able to have any significant interaction with
her during those months, since our unit was preparing around-the-clock for our
pending mission in
I do not have many
details about his wife and their family.
At best, I can offer that she went to the same high school as he, and
had moved back in with her own parents during his year long deployment. A private’s salary in the US Army is barely
enough to support a family, and I assume this move had financial as well as
social advantages.
According to his
platoon-mates, PVT Leerman was well liked. He had recently developed a close friendship
with two other soldiers, a private and a private-first-class. The three had discussed taking a vacation
together after they returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006. They were also currently engaged in a fierce
Nintendo Game CubeTM competition, and
spent much of their free time participating in this activity.
PVT Leerman’s training had made him proficient in the weapons
system mounted atop of the HUMVEE in which he rode. This was a .50cal machine gun, mounted on a
turret that was only minimally protected by a thin sheet-metal armor
plate. Leerman
had successfully completed numerous missions from this perch. He has never however, been directly engaged
by the enemy or returned fire.
Your letter has
unfortunately arrived three days after PVT Leerman’s
last mission. On that final mission, Leerman was appropriately scanning his sector of fire,
while the vehicle patrolled an Iraqi street.
Earlier that day, an individual that will forever be labeled, “An
Insurgent” had walked up to the aluminum style guard-rail that lines both US
and Iraqi highways alike. At that time,
he placed the equivalent of two platter shaped
landmines, vertically behind the rail and obstructed from view by passing
vehicles. Connected electrically to
these mines was a cell phone. A simple
alteration of the internal wiring had rendered the speaker into a trigger to
set off the landmines. Detonation was
just a phone call away.
To activate the
Improvised Explosive Device, the insurgent had to be watching PVT Leerman’s vehicle and its occupants drive by, but he did
not have to be close. Binoculars would
have sufficed.
With unfortunately
precise timing, this insurgent was able to dial and ring the receiving cell phone
as PVT Leerman passed by.
The explosive
force was tremendous. It separated the
steel reinforced vehicle into multiple pieces.
A large portion of the aluminum guard-rail entered Leerman’s
shoulder, chest, and abdomen.
At the hospital,
we made multiple attempts to resuscitate the remaining portions of Leerman’s body, but despite our best efforts, could not
restore his normal life function. He
died as a result of acute hypoxia (no oxygen) and severe blood loss. I seriously doubt that Payton was alert or
aware of any of the proceedings. Despite
any other possibility, I will regard this last statement as true in order to
maintain my own emotion stability. This
is a universal habit of mine concerning all my deceased patients.
The story of
Payton Leerman’s life has now ended. The future plans for his two friends will
require revision. His daughter will now
experience a different childhood. His
wife will benefit only from the passage of time, to convert any emotional
unrest to that of fond, yet sad memories.
And your
letter…Will never be delivered.
Your intended
recipient has died defending his country.
How?, you might ask, was PVT Payton Leerman,
defending his country, thousand of miles from home, without a single unpaid
The answer is
simple, yet easily missed by the causality of American thought.
You see Jeremy…Our
country is defined, not by it geographical boundaries, but by a thought put to
paper hundreds of years ago by some extremely intelligent men. It was the idea that all men are equal and
entitled to freedoms of that equality.
You have most likely been taught these phrases in your elementary school
classes. But this is the true reality of
those ideas.
Payton Chester Leerman, like millions of boys before him, entered a
hostile environment to fight for the freedoms of those who couldn’t. There are little old ladies in black robes
just outside my window. They, nor the children playing beside them have ever
experienced freedom.
But you and Payton
have.
Payton came here
to share that knowledge. Somehow, I am
certain, he has been successful.
You mentioned in
your letter that you did not understand why this war exists, but at least you
asked. By sending your letter, you
unknowingly provided your part in support of Payton and other children older
than you in fighting it. In return, I have
shared the story of Payton’s death as your answer.
Be good, be well,
and be strong…
Captain Daniel
Joseph Green MD
Battalion
Operation Iraqi
Freedom
*************PAUSE
HERE****************
**The preceding story is
fictitious. Its characters do not
exist. The thoughts and emotions that it
references however, do. Everyday,
stories like this one unfold among US troops in various combat
environments. My own Brigade has seen
the loss of numerous men closely related to the above character. I hope in this story’s telling, I have shared
the impact of such events. If you have
been emotional disturbed in any way by its content, then my mission was
accomplished and I apologize.**