Mr. Stokely,

The following is from an e-mail that I sent to Mr. Robert Stokely, father of fallen Georgia National Guardsman, Mike Stokely. I can't speak for Mr. Stokely. But, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with this father and speak out with him. I have forwarded my e-mail to The Washington Post. I expect no reply.These are my own feelings, my own words.

Mr. Stokely,

I was very angry at the Post for not giving you the time of day. I understand that they can't always print opposing points of view. But, that isn't what I see here. I see you, trying to speak for both yourself and your son. I see the Post choosing the content of their newspaper. After all, they need to cater to their readership and expound their point of view through whatever means necessary. I see the Post using Mr. Schroeder, like many liberals and anti-war people use Cindy Sheehan, to promote their own agenda. I don't wish to denigrate or dishonor Mr. Schroeder or his son.

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I am a Ranger's father. He believes, among other things, that he is fighting for the right of others to criticize what he does. I have thought long, often and hard on how I would respond to his death and to how others might comment, exploit or denigrate his service to his country. He is often trying to convince me to ignore people who criticize the miltary. I cannot. Woe be unto he who says the first wrong thing, should my son die in combat.

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I would like to think that I would show the dignity and restraint that you have shown. I don't know that I could. But, I would hope that I could be as good a father as you have been with this situation regarding the Post. I hope that you believe that I feel some of what you must have felt and are still feeling. My son has been in the Army for X years now. Going on X years with the Rangers. More than two years total, of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have died a thousand deaths, every time I've heard of of some helicopter going down or an IED exploding or anyone of the things that I might think would bring that dreaded knock on the door. I have gone over what I would say, how I would feel, how I would respond to well-wishers and critics. It has been so real to me at times, that I cry. I, too, have thought of injuring my own son to keep him out of harm's way. I have felt relief, when the name in the news was not my son's and overwhelming guilt, all in the same second. The same breath. I knew that some other father was going to get the news. I cry for you, as I would have cried for myself.

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That was a long way of explaining how angry I get with the term 'waste of life.' I celebrate my son's life. I take immense pride in my son. He once said that he thought that I loved him for the fact that he was a Ranger. I told him that he was wrong. I loved him for the man that he had become. He believes in what he does. If he dies in the service of his country, it will not be a waste. He will have died for his Country, his friends and family, for the ideals that make this country great, for his comrades-in-arms and because, he doesn't want someone else to have to do it.

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That's the man that he has become. That is what I love him for. The people at the Post need to understand that these men, your son and mine, our kids, are not numbers to be used in some sort of political game. They are not to be used to sell newspapers. If a parent has anything to say-it should be printed! Politics be damned! This isn't about who is right or wrong, regarding America's foreign policy. It is about giving you the right to say what you feel about your son. He fought for that right. It is a question of honor.

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That is a subject that the people at the Post apparently know nothing about. You do.

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I would be honored to post your e-mail (it was a copy of an email that Mr. Stokely had sent to the Post and can be read below) to my blog. It is the very least that I can do for you.

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I apologize, if I rambled or said anything out of line. Please, feel free to forward this to whomever you wish. I will forward a copy to a second e-mail address, so that I may send it to the Post myself.

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With my very deepest regards and sympathy,