Comment of the day: An Army officer credits Shadid with saving the lives of his soldiers and of Iraqi civilians as well

I just noticed this comment, posted the other day by "Hunter." I believe Anthony Shadid‘s ashes were scattered on Wednesday around his ancestral home in southern Lebanon:

Every night as we prepped for mobilization and deployment I read from Night Draws Near to my CO CDRs, 1SGs, and Staff. I have the dog-eared copy in my lap as I type right now.

His moving account was in no small part responsible for making it clear to my soldiers that the Iraqis are people too, just like you and I. Caught in the middle of something they really wanted no part of.

Nearly three million truck miles in Iraq over nine months with only 9 rounds fired in 5 escalation of force incidents … but no one was ever hurt, coalition or Iraqi. 60 IEDs for our predecessors became 2 IEDs for us. No one was hurt on our watch….thanks in part to Anthony. RIP."

Hunter also gets off a good line in the discussion of Lt. Col. Danny Davis: "If you are going to bring the pain, you best have your ducks in a row."