Sgt. Campbell's Sister | A Soldier's Last Request

Sgt. Campbell's Sister A Soldier's Last Request:
"To Whom it May Concern
By Brooke M. Campbell
t r u t h o u t Letter

Friday 03 September 2004
Sgt. Campbell requested that, if something happened to him, his family place this photo on his coffin.

To Whom it May Concern,

I found out that my brother, Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell, was dead during a graduate seminar at Emory University on April 29, 2004. Immediately after a uniformed officer knocked at my mother's door to deliver the message that broke her heart, she called me on my cell phone. She could say nothing but 'He's gone.' I could say nothing but 'No.' Over and over again we chanted this refrain to each other over the phone as I made my way across the country to hold her as she wept.

I had made the very same trip in February, cutting classes to spend my brother's two weeks' leave from Baghdad with him. Little did I know then that the next time I saw him would be at Arlington National Cemetery. During those days in February, my brother shared with me his fear, his disillusionment, and his anger. 'We had all been led to believe that Iraq posed a serious threat to America as well as its surrounding nations,' he said. 'We invaded expecting to find weapons of mass destruction and a much more prepared and well-trained Republican Guard waiting for us. It is now a year later, and alas, no weapons of mass destruction or any other real threat, for that matter.'

Ryan was scheduled to complete his one-year assignment to Iraq on April 25. But on April 11, he emailed me to let me know not to expect him in Atlanta for a May visit, because his tour of duty had been involuntarily extended.

'Just do me one big favor, ok?' he wrote. 'Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you.' "