Just discovered that Major Andy Olmstead has been killed in Iraq and wanted to put this up here.
He was the first casualty for 2008 in Iraq. And a small part of Maj. Andrew Olmsted likely would’ve chuckled at that fact. It would be droll and play into his sense of self-deprecation.
But for everyone else, the news would be devastating.
Amanda Wilson, his wife of 10 years, could barely talk Friday. The notifying officers came to her door in Colorado Springs on Thursday to tell her that Olmsted’s unit had been ambushed and that he was dead. Also killed was Cpt. Thomas J. Casey, 32, of Albuquerque.
It was small arms fire, they said. The gaping blackness after that moment seemed to suck away all the words, leaving only soft sobs in their wake.
“I know,” she said quietly when condolences were passed on to her. Her mother, who was flown in Friday to help, was also having trouble with the news. “She’s trying to be brave,” Wilson’s soft voice said.
Olmsted, however, asked everyone to avoid being maudlin. And he asked everyone via a blog, of course. The 38-year-old soldier based out of Fort Carson was a prolific blogger – including one he did steadily for the Rocky Mountain News dating back to his deployment in July.
His final posting where he speaks to us from beyond the grave is at Obsidian Wings.
It’s hard for me NOT to make something of this nature political because I see everything concerning Iraq as political. Andy Olmstead though has asked us all not to do this while observing his death. He is asking us to participate in observing a tradition of excellence that has been lately ignored in the military of this democracy and that is THE ALWAYS APOLITICAL MILITARY OFFICER IN SERVICE TO THIS NATION!