Army Pfc. George Geer, 27, of Cortez, fell to a suicide bomber in Ar Ramadi on Jan. 17, 2005. He loved the mountains and could name the elevation of every peak in southwestern Colorado. He also loved muscle cars. He had restored and raced an orange 1967 Plymouth Barracuda and a green 1968 Dodge Charger.
His father, Harold Geer, honors his son’s memory by continuing to work on and race George’s cars. His mother, Lois Geer, is active in a military family service organization called Blue Star Moms.
Harold Geer said he sympathizes with, but doesn’t respect Sheehan.
“I feel sorry for her, but I think she’s being used. To me she’s dishonoring her son’s service.”
Since his son’s death, Geer said some days are better than others – you either “deal with it or go blow your brains out” – and he has made a conscious decision to carry on.
“I can just hear my son say, ‘Get on with life.’ But I’m having more trouble now than a few months ago.”
Army Capt. Russell Rippetoe, 27, of Arvada, died in a suicide bombing at an Iraqi checkpoint on April 3, 2003. His father, Lt. Col. Joe Rippetoe was an Army Ranger like his son and served two tours of duty in Vietnam.
He and his wife, Rita, have flown a flag at their home every day since their son’s death. Lt. Col. Rippetoe also hands out dog tags inscribed as his son’s tags were with Joshua 1:9: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
They said they understand Sheehan’s pain, but have a different attitude towards military duty.
“Keep in mind, I’m 100 percent military,” Lt. Col Rippetoe said. “When the boss (the president) makes a decision, you get on board and support that decision. And there is no one – no country – who can better the American soldier. My son was the best of the best.”
“As a mother, I empathize with her pain. All mothers can,” said Rita Rippetoe. “I think there is a distinct pain a mother feels. I’m not saying it’s more. It’s different.”
Pfc. Chance Phelps, 19, of Clifton , died while battling insurgents in Al Anbar Province.
Phelps grew up in Dubois, Wyo., and his father, John Phelps, still lives there. John Phelps, a Vietnam veteran and a painter and sculptor, honored his son by painting his portrait for the “Faces of the Fallen” exhibit in Washington, D.C. A VFW banquet hall in Dubois has been named for his son.
John Phelps said he knows how Sheehan is feeling, “but her feelings have been exploited by liberal wackos.”
Army Staff Sgt. Justin L. Vasquez, 26, of Manzanola, died June 5, 2005, while on patrol in Baghdad. He loved to rock climb and was a bundle of energy. His mother, Vicki Bosley, said he was very serious about his job in the Army. He was the commander of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Bosley has started a blog about her son that’s currently being featured on MSNBC’s “What’s Your Story” site. And she has honored her son closer to home.
“You should see my house. It’s a shrine. But it always has been – for all my kids,” she said.
She said she cannot relate to Sheehan.
“She’s a crazy woman. My son would roll over in his grave if I did what she’s doing.” She laughed as she added, “He would have knocked me out cold for causing a scene.”
“What gives me comfort is this: Justin wanted to do what he was doing. Everybody risks their life in this world. Justin had a purpose.”
Marine Sgt. Douglas Bascom, 25, of Colorado Springs, died Oct. 20, 2004 when a makeshift bomb exploded in Al Anbar Province. His mother, Debra Bascom, wishes Sheehan would take up a new mission and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. She said Sheehan’s campaign gives fodder to the terrorists.
“It’s not the way to honor them,” Bascom said. “To be quite frank, it’s probably endangering the rest of them – the ones that are already out there. She’s just giving fuel to all of our enemies who say: ‘Look, here’s a woman who is supporting our cause.”‘
Debra Bascom honors here son by putting together a memory book so her grandchildren will know their uncle. Her son’s photograph, uniform and medals adorn the walls of a conference room dedicated to him at Schriever Air Force Base.
“It’s been hard,” she said. “I don’t know that there are any words. Sometimes it’s like walking down a beautiful street with sunlight and flowers and all you feel is dark inside because there is so much emptiness because he is gone.”
Marine Lance Cpl. Chad Maynard, 19, of Montrose, died June 15 near Ramadi after the Humvee he was driving was bombed. Maynard had been so eager to join the Marines that he hurried through his high school classes and entered boot camp in what would have been his last semester of school. He proudly wore his dress blues at his high school graduation. His wife, Becky, gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Lanae, six weeks ago.
His father, Gene Maynard, a Vietnam veteran and truck driver from Lake Havasu City, Ariz., said he has created a table-top shrine to his son in his home. Chad’s photographs, medals and other memorabilia are displayed there. A plaque in Chad’s honor is going to be placed on a flag pole at the Montrose street corner where Chad used to demonstrate in support of the troops in Iraq.
Gene Maynard and Chad’s two brothers, Jeremiah and Jacob, are solidly against Sheehan’s protest.
“What she is doing is totally wrong. As a father of a fallen hero it’s just beyond me. My son was there because he believed in it,” Gene Maynard said.
Maynard said the father of one of the four other Marines killed in the Humvee with Chad went to Sheehan’s camp and hugged her, but told her what she was doing was wrong.
“I feel bad for her loss. I understand how she feels. But this is not the way to honor them,” he said.
“Life has changed. My thoughts always go to him. He was my best friend. I still crack up,” Maynard said as he sobbed while sitting in his truck in southern California.
Lance Cpl. Evenor Cristopher Herrera, 22, of Avon, was killed by shrapnel Aug. 10, two weeks before he was scheduled for leave. Herrera, whose parents came from Honduras, posthumously was awarded his U.S. citizenship several weeks later.
His stepfather David Stibbs, said he and his wife, Blanca, plan to buy a crystal box to hold Evenor’s medals, photographs and citizenship papers.
“It will be a showcase for our son,” Stibbs said. “He loved this country.”
Stibbs said he feels anger towards Sheehan and wishes she would stay out of Colorado.”to get the hell out.”
“It hurts me that I lost my son, but we are soldiers and we must do what we are told to do – no questions asked,” said Stibbs, who served 15 years in the Army and Air Force.
He said he does not understand people like Sheehan who he thinks do not show any love for their country.
“There are people who die to come to this country,” he said.
Sgt 1st Class Randall “Randy” Rehn, 36, was killed by friendly fire in April, 2003. He had deployed to Iraq from Lawton, Okla., where he left behind a 2-week-old daughter. His mother, JoAnn Rehn of Longmont, disagrees with Sheehan.
“If anyone should be angry it should be me, because my son was killed by friendly fire. I don’t believe in them pulling out right now, otherwise Randy will have died for nothing and that’s the way she should feel about her son,” Rehn said.
“I wouldn’t mind meeting her (Sheehan) myself. I would have a few things to say to her. She has to face up to the facts. She doesn’t speak for me or a lot of people I’ve talked to,” Rehn said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Riedel, 19, of Northglenn, was killed by a car bomb in Oct. 2004.
His mother Sherri Busch said Sheehan is “dishonoring her son as well as mine and every other son or daughter who has died over there.”
Busch had some motherly advice for Sheehan: “She needs to realize that she needs to grieve for her son. I think she thinks she’s serving some greater cause by attacking the president, doing what she’s doing. But she’s putting others’ children over there in danger by doing exactly what the insurgents want her to do. She needs to go home and take care of herself.”
Marine Lance Cpl. Greg Rund, 21, Of Littleton was killed in an ambush in December, 2004 during his second tour of duty in Iraq. He had survived the Columbine High School shootings as a freshman.
His mother Jane Rund said she honors her son in her thoughts – by thinking of him all day long, every day, and trying to retain every memory of him.
“My son has taught me so much and I feel like I need to take some direction in my life and fulfill his commitment to patriotism and love of America,” Rund said.
She does not agree with the direction Sheehan has taken. “I think she is a conduit for anti-war propaganda that can be used to fuel terrorism. I think it’s an insult to my son that she has his name on a cross in an anti-war demonstration because my son was supportive of our president and supportive of the job he is doing,” Rund said.
