How many more deaths of men like this will continue to eat at the morale of the troops serving in this guerrilla war? What of their lonely famiiies back home as they anxiously wait on pins and needles each day and night for news of their loved ones stuck in this ongoing conflict? What is the ultimate price paid by our nation for this war fostered upon the American people by lying leaders that planned it a decade before and exploited the 9/11 attacks to make it happen?



A young, gung-ho soldier is slain in Iraq: How he lived, how he died

Andrea Stone and Deborah Sharp USA TODAY

BAGHDAD -- Army Spc. Jeffrey Wershow never let his guard down. His buddies nicknamed him ''The General'' because he strode about with a sense of purpose and confidence.

Wershow, 22, was a stickler for rules and regulations. He always stood at attention when addressing officers, when most other soldiers sweltering in the heat here would take a more casual attitude.

So it was a shock on July 6 when the aspiring politician from Gainesville, Fla., was gunned down on the campus of Baghdad University after buying a 7Up. If this gung-ho soldier who wanted another stint in Iraq (news - web sites) could be killed in such a brazen way in a crowded place, his buddies figured it could happen to them, too.

For the men of ''Charlie'' Company, 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment of the Florida National Guard, Wershow's death occurred when most thought they would already be home. They have seen major combat turn into guerrilla war. ''You can never let your guard down. You can never truly relax. And that wears on you,'' says Spc. Thomas Stanley Sr., 27, of Melbourne, Fla., who is in Wershow's unit.

It didn't help that these Guardsmen left their families and jobs -- or, in Wershow's case, his college campus -- a day after Christmas. Or that they never received praise for their exploits in Iraq's western desert, a corner of the war still shrouded in secrecy. Or that they felt overshadowed by regular Army units. And now, like the other 146,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq, Charlie Company finds itself in a continuing battle with no end in sight...





______________________________________________________________