Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy Laid to Rest

Rest in Peace

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy was killed by an IED, just one month shy of the end of his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was laid to rest yesterday in his hometown of Clovis.

I first became aware of the story driving down to Fresno, when I started hearing about Sgt. Piercy's funeral on a local Fresno station. Sgt. Piercy was the ninth soldier from the small town of Clovis, California to give his life in either Iraq or Afghanistan. From Buchanan High School, where he graduated, three of his classmate from the class of 2001 suffered a similar fate. Seven in all from the same school.

From the Fresno Bee:

A soldier from Clovis who was within a month of completing his Army service was killed in Afghanistan on Monday, his brother said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy, 27, was killed during a foot patrol north of Kandahar when an improvised explosive device detonated, said his brother, David Piercy.

The Clovis solider, a 2001 Buchanan High School graduate, would have completed his second tour of Afghanistan in about 30 days and was planning to move back to California from North Carolina with his wife, Christina,

Fresno and Clovis are what some might consider "flyover country" between Sacramento and L.A. What is it about small towns in flyover country that instills a sense of honor and duty among its citizens?

"He believed in the values of the Army and in the mission of what he was doing in Afghanistan," -David Piercy, 35

A hushed silence filled Peoples Church on Friday as the montage of photographs traced Brian Piercy's life -- on Christmas Day, at the piano, with his brothers, in his Buchanan High School letterman's jacket, on his wedding day, in the military.

At each step in his short life, Piercy won friends and influenced people, those closest to him recounted.

A loyal friend and gifted musician who grew into a leader, Piercy was laid to rest in a quiet spot along an American flag-lined drive at the back of the Clovis Cemetery following his funeral at Peoples Church.

Piercy, a 27-year-old Army staff sergeant who served in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, died July 19 of injuries from an improvised explosive device set off in Afghanistan's Arghandab River Valley

And not to take away from the ultimate sacrifice that Brian Piercy made, but I learned another thing from the Fresno radio coverage: July set a record for the most US casualties in a single month, breaking the previous record that was set...last month. Let me ask you, those who look to the MSM for their news coverage: Did you know that June had set a record for the number of US casualties in Afghanistan? Neither did I. Look for equal coverage of the new record set back to back with the old one. To NPR's credit, they did post this:

In a summer of suffering, America's military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

Six more Americans were reported killed in fighting in the south — three Thursday and three Friday — pushing the U.S. death toll for July to a record 66 and surpassing June as the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly nine-year war.

But, has this message permeated the MSM, or do you have to go searching for it to ferret it out?

What a difference two years makes! A couple of years ago, every casualty in Iraq was front page news. Tallies of casualties could be seen on the front pages of newspapers, commentators would slowly recite the names of the fallen, even Doonesbury would print a list in the Sunday comics. It was Bush's war then, and people needed to see just how heartless he was wasting the precious lives of our service men and women over there!

Where is Code Pink? Where are the Cindy Sheehans of the Left? Why is no one camped out on the road to Martha's Vineyard, or his Hawaiian vacation villa, or the many golf courses he frequents? Is it that there are just too many of them? Or was it never really about the deaths of soldiers for the Left? Was it all just a crass excuse to try to gain and retain political power for themselves and their cronies by playing on our sympathies?

Take a moment today to remember Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy and his family. They deserve the honor, the respect and the thanks of our country. And then, take a moment to ask yourself, if George Bush were still in the White House, do you think that record numbers of our soldiers dying in Afghanistan might have commanded a bit more attention than the subject is garnering under Barack H. Obama?

Wonder why that is?

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything, Lady Cincinnatus