The Vietnam War seared the issue of MIAs into America's culture. Writing for Time Magazine's Battleland blog, Marine Captain Bingham Jamison asks us not to forget about the newest MIAs.
Jamison described his feelings when he was assigned to track down two missing Marines during one of his tours in Iraq, a mission that ended with grim "success":
Common to all of these tragedies was a prevailing sense of disgust, horror, anguish, and frustration amongst those of us who searched for the MIAs. We let ourselves maintain enough hope during the recovery operations to help us press on, but not enough to expect a miracle. For as Nietzsche said, “Hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.”
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ahmed Kousay Altaie is the last American missing in action in Iraq. Jamison tells his story.
Please read the whole thing.