San Antonio soldier killed in Iraq had a rough childhood

[frogcycle]

Web Posted: 09/06/2007 11:27 PM CDT

Nancy Martinez
and Sig Christenson
Express-News

Army Pfc. Javier Paredes, a 24-year-old San Antonio native who lived most of his childhood in foster care, died in Iraq on Wednesday, his family confirmed.

As a child Paredes, suffered physical abuse, including cigarette wounds to his body, his family said. He and his brothers were removed from his home when Paredes was about 5. Paredes and his four siblings spent most of their childhood at foster homes and group homes all over the state.

Family and friends were still in shock Wednesday night when they gathered at the downtown home of Paredes' aunt, Maria Acevedo. "Javier was a good kid," Acevedo said. "His mother would have been proud of him." His mother died in 1999, she said, and family members weren't sure how she died.
more...

http://www.mysanantonio.com/specials/battlefield/stories/MYSA090607.01A.Paredes.345cb45.html

[babylonsister]

1. His childhood has nothin' on his adulthood.

RIP, Soldier. I wish I believed you made a difference.

[frogcycle]

2. yeah, what adulthood?

every one of them is a story.

The hearings today just may have gotten somewhere. The witnesses could not make a case for what the hell we are doing there. Petraeus would not say that it is making us safer, and Crocker could not even answer Feingold's question about priorities - BECAUSE HE KNEW THE RIGHT ANSWER but also knew he'd be fired if he gave it.

Republican senators were acting tough. Could it possibly be that the long nightmare can be ended before we hit 5000? I want Warner and Hagel to march down Pa. Avenue and tell the sonofabitch off. And then call a press conference in front of the WH and announce that for the good of the country they asked him to step down. Think maybe Kucinich would get more cosponsors then? Think maybe Nancy would be willing to let him set the table?

Ah, pipe dreams. It seems they are all we've got.

[Mabus]

3. It hurts

It hurts to my soul. I'm spending time with my nephew. He's roughly the same age and I see the life in him.

My god, this guy was just a child. What did he know of life? It hurts. It hurts to the soul. It hurts to my soul.

[Ellen Forradalom]

4. Nasty, brutish and short.

He deserved better.

[JackBeck]

5. Just the type of kid Bush and Cheney can take advantage of.

God my heart aches for every one of them.

[babylonsister]

7. Mine, too, and am sad at my honest reaction, but that's where I'm at. nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. I read this earlier

Other than saying how it broke my heart at the injustice of his life, I had no words.

Thank you for posting this. It needed to be seen by more people.