Things that are in my head.

He's off to war and doesn't fear death
Bucks County Courier Times

Bob Dembowski, 18, soberly assessed his prospects this way. If he's killed fighting in Iraq, death probably will come quickly.

With luck, it'll be painless.

"Death doesn't bother me," he said. "It's better to go over there with that kind of mentality. If you are constantly worried about being killed, you're just going to get others hurt and probably get yourself killed for sure."

At peace with the idea of dying young, he sat in his house in Northampton and chatted amiably about the future.

He graduates tonight from Council Rock High School-North. He has signed up for a four-year stint with the Marines. He has chosen the infantry.

His friends don't want him to go.

"They're afraid I won't come back or I'll be injured," he said.

His parents are supportive but concerned.

"It's not what I would choose for him to do," said his mother, Fran. "I am very proud that one of my [four] children would serve his country. But the danger. It's the infantry."

All warriors know they risk death when they enter the battlefield. Bob Dembowski knows it, too.

"It's why I have such a great respect for everyone who has ever fought for this country," he said.

He feels a bond with them.

Military service is his destiny. He's wanted to be in the military service since he was a kid.

He has studied the history of America's wars and is confident Iraq will be free, not a quagmire.

"Guys like me want to be there. We failed for two reasons in Vietnam. The media and the draft. The draft was the biggest contributor to the failure in Vietnam because you had people there who didn't want to be there. Talk to any recruiter. They don't like drafts for that reason," he said.
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Iraq, too, is a noble cause.

"I believe we're doing the right thing in Iraq," he said. "I understand our government may have not been entirely truthful with us about why we went there, and I don't like that. But I still think we did a good thing getting Saddam out."

Free people are obligated to help those living in nations enslaved by tyrants, even if it means risking death to do it, he said.

"On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, most people just see it as a day off. Nothing wrong with a day off. But I'm always thinking that someone else gave their life so I can have my car, live in this house, have all the freedoms I have," he said.

"And don't get me wrong. There are things I don't like about this country, but there's no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest country in the world. And I want other people in other parts of the world to at least begin to taste the freedoms that we take for granted.

"Even myself, I take things for granted. Roads, for instance. We have paved roads, not dirt roads. We have streetlights. We have libraries and schools and supermarkets. Some countries don't have any of that. It doesn't seem right.

"Since I have these things, and I am able to help other people get it, that's what I feel I should do."

He enters boot camp on Monday.

He sets out on his first patrol in Iraq by fall.


by J.D Mullane June 14, 2005 4:59 AM