Five years of war in Iraq
Today marks five years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- longer than World War II. Soon another Rubicon will be crossed and the 4,000th American soldier will lose her or his life there. Friday at PCC, as part of Art Night, students and others floated 4,000 origami boats in memoriam on the reflection pool at the front of the campus, as seen in the photo above.
During a tour of the construction going on on her campus, PCC President Paulette Perfumo told me Tuesday that the ceremony Friday night was quite beautiful. Then she told me that her own son, now on a brief R&R in Thailand, is a soldier about to start his fourth tour of duty in Iraq. He turned 21 fighting in the desert; he's now 24. "I'm about as patriotic a mom as you're going to find," Perfumo told me. "But four tours? When is it going to stop?"
I think we all wish we could tell every Blue Star Mom in the country just when that might be.