The War Comes Home

[PCM]

Keith was a huge Toby Keith fan, and for the final song they played American Soldier.

KX4 did a nice story on Keith Smette's funeral and you could hear American Soldier playing in the background. The most touching part was how moved the Guardsmen were. It was the same at Ken's funeral, as noted in the Tribune story.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

KX4 did a nice story on Keith Smette's funeral and you could hear American Soldier playing in the background. The most touching part was how moved the Guardsmen were. It was the same at Ken's funeral, as noted in the Tribune story.

Glad to hear...they both sound like great people.

A SALUTE to Ken and Keith...Thank you both.

[PCM]

Oops. I noticed in the post above, I had the wrong link to the Bismarck Tribune story on Ken Hendrickson's funeral. This one works.

Here's the Tribune's article about Keith Smette's funeral on Tuesday.

If you want a good example of a politician shamelessly exploiting the death of an American soldier in combat, check out Sen. Tom Daschle's Web site.

[NorthDakotaHockey]

Amazing. More proof that Daschle is a self-centered, and largely out-of-touch, Dasch-Hole.

God rest and keep the souls of Keith and Ken, and of all our our men and women who fall in the name of freedom.

Why can't we ever get a crowd at an REA game to drown out the guest singer of the National Anthem? That would be way cool.

[Hansel]

NDSU honors soldier: Senate awards former student posthumous degree

[PCM]

On Friday, Feb. 13, at 11:35 a.m., Scott Hennen will devote the last 20 minutes of his Hot Talk radio show (WDAY 970AM) to a tribute to Ken Hendrickson, one of two ND National Guardsmen killed in Iraq on Jan. 24. A group of Ken's friends, relatives and professional colleagues will talk about his life. You can listen to the show via the Internet by going to the WDAY Web site and scrolling down to the "Listen to Hot Talk" link.

A National Public Radio story that included an interview with Ken's relatives was broadcast last week.

Finally, I have added a tribute to Ken on my Web site at grandforker.com. It covers the 14 years I knew him as a war gamer in Bismarck.

[sioux fan in phoenix]

Pat,

I thought that was a very touching, well-written tribute to a close friend. Hopefully putting those thoughts to paper helps you come to terms with his loss & improves the memories you shared with him. I'm amazed sometimes how journalizing my feelings, experiences & goals helps me to understand them more clearly. It sounds like Ken would have been a fun person to know, for the simple reason he was himself & other reasons which only you know in the time spent with him. It's difficult to assign words to a friendship because their value to our lives transcends mere words--but you did a great job!

[PCM]

Former Democratic lieutenant governor Lloyd Omdahl wrote this column in Monday's Grand Forks Herald.

This is my response to Lloyd Omdahl's column.

[CoteauRinkRat]

Former Democratic lieutenant governor Lloyd Omdahl wrote this column in Monday's Grand Forks Herald.

This is my response to Lloyd Omdahl's column.

Great response PCM.

When I read Omdahl's column in the paper, it really irritated me.

[southpaw]

Just thought I'd give everyone an update on the situation with the 957 (the unit Keith and Ken were in).

They returned to the U.S. on Monday of this week and are in Missouri going through out-processing. They were lucky and spent the past month or so in Kuwait away from all of the fighting.

It's definitely great that they are back and safe and we can never forget the 3 brave North Dakotans who lost their lives fighting for our freedom.

[SiouxMeNow]

"our freedom" I don't want to start anything and I seriously respect the memories of our fallen friends but you have to ask...what did they die for? They didn't die for our freedom...they died because some *ss in Washington decided to send some proxies to defend his "his daddies honor" - WHAT A WASTE! ND sent more servicemen and women to Iraq PER CAPITA than any other state and for what -- so you could have cheap gas??? I'll just ask if you've gassed up the family vehicle lately and what did you pay??? (1.85 a gallon in GF as of today). Please don't misunderstand....i don't fault the guys who felt they were just doing their duty...god bless them and their familes...just ask who's profiting from this war and it's aftermath...THE OIL COMPANIES!! and guess who has HIS hand in their backpocket while he's telling us on national tv WE* have to "sacrifice" for the greater good of humanity...WHAT A JOKE!!

* "WE" includes all hard working americans but will exclude the upper class and all relatives of high US officials...

okay...i'm off my soapbox....except maybe Jenna and her sister should enlist in the military so they can prove they can do more than get drunk and trash a place in Chicago and get away with it...

OKAY...now i'm really off my soapbox...

[PCM]

"our freedom" I don't want to start anything and I seriously respect the memories of our fallen friends but you have to ask...what did they die for?

You just did start something. If you don't know what three members of the 957th died for, it's because you're ill-informed or haven't been paying attention.

Perhaps you're not aware of the war on terror started by Bush after 9/11. That's the war that Osama bin Laden declared on us and we chose to ignore until he got our attention by killing 3,000 innocent Americans on US soil.

Perhaps you've forgotten that the war on terror is aimed at nations that support terrorism and harbor terrorists. Iraq is one of those nations. If you don't know that, your head is either in the sand or somewhere else that the sun doesn't shine.

Perhaps you believe that a leader who invades his neighbors, attacks Israel, pays the parents of Palestinians to have their children serve as suicide bombers, uses chemical weapons on his own people, gives safe haven to some of the world's most wanted terrorists, fills mass graves with the bodies of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, imprisons children, uses torture, rape and murder to retain power and feeds live people into plastic shredders is worth keeping around.

Please, enlighten us as to how the world was a better place with Saddam Hussein and his sons in power. Explain to 25 million Iraqis how they were better off under his barbaric rule.

Perhaps you've conveniently forgotten that the UN ordered Saddam Hussein to provide proof that he'd disposed of his weapons of mass destruction or face dire consequences. He didn't and Bush delivered the dire consequences.

When I went to Bismarck in February to attend the funeral of my friend Staff Sgt. Ken Hendrickson who was killed in Iraq, there was a fool just like you at the funeral home during visitation. While my friend was lying dead in his flag-draped coffin with members of the North Dakota National Guard present in uniform, he felt it necessary to share his uninformed, misguided, moronic views with everyone present, just as you have done here.

You now know what you can do with your soapbox.

[jloos]

just ask who's profiting from this war and it's aftermath...THE OIL COMPANIES!! and guess who has HIS hand in their backpocket while he's telling us on national tv WE* have to "sacrifice" for the greater good of humanity...WHAT A JOKE!!

* "WE" includes all hard working americans but will exclude the upper class and all relatives of high US officials...

....except maybe Jenna and her sister should enlist in the military so they can prove they can do more than get drunk and trash a place in Chicago and get away with it...

OKAY...now i'm really off my soapbox...

Ya Bush selectively finds the 'poor' people in the country and sends them to war because poor people are too stupid to realize what is going on.

The President of the US started a war just to make he and his friends rich, do you realize how stupid you sound?

Umm what do the daughters of the Democrat Attorney General of Minnesota have to do with Bush??

Assuming you are confusing Hatch's daughters with Bush's (it is very obvious you are confused), they could not go into an active war zone, not because of special privileges, because it could compromise the commander in chief's objectivity.

I'm with PCM you can shove your soapbox where the sun doesn't shine, and I'm not talking about Fairbanks in January.

[elmduf]

I am as opposed to this war as anyone, but I would never question the integrity of our armed forces and their struggle in a hostile environment such as Iraq. I know we have our disagreements over this war, but I think this thread is more about honoring them than showing our views on the war.

Agree or disagree about the war, that's fine. But when these soldiers are called up to do their duty and die in the act, we need to remember and honor their sacrifice. It irritates me that either side of this issue needs to be brought up in this thread. Take this argument to another thread.

[PCM]

Take this argument to another thread.

I started this thread out of respect for Ken Hendrickson. If people make arguments here, I will respond to them here.

[elmduf]

I started this thread out of respect for Ken Hendrickson. If people make arguments here, I will respond to them here.

I agree with that and understand you feel a need to respond to that post, I just wish it could be done elsewhere.

[CVCL]

"our freedom" I don't want to start anything and I seriously respect the memories of our fallen friends but you have to ask...what did they die for? They didn't die for our freedom...they died because some *ss in Washington decided to send some proxies to defend his "his daddies honor" - WHAT A WASTE! ND sent more servicemen and women to Iraq PER CAPITA than any other state and for what -- so you could have cheap gas??? I'll just ask if you've gassed up the family vehicle lately and what did you pay??? (1.85 a gallon in GF as of today). Please don't misunderstand....i don't fault the guys who felt they were just doing their duty...god bless them and their familes...just ask who's profiting from this war and it's aftermath...THE OIL COMPANIES!! and guess who has HIS hand in their backpocket while he's telling us on national tv WE* have to "sacrifice" for the greater good of humanity...WHAT A JOKE!!

* "WE" includes all hard working americans but will exclude the upper class and all relatives of high US officials...

okay...i'm off my soapbox....except maybe Jenna and her sister should enlist in the military so they can prove they can do more than get drunk and trash a place in Chicago and get away with it...

OKAY...now i'm really off my soapbox...

Inappropriate on this thread. period.

PCM, you stated;

"I started this thread out of respect for Ken Hendrickson. If people make arguments here, I will respond to them here. "

No response needed.

God bless these men's families.

[SiouxMeNow]

You're absolutely correct this discussion should be moved to another thread...and I'm not going to start it. Pat - you're a nice guy and I like you - but I won't engage in this discussion anymore here out of respect for this website. I snapped with frustration when I read the thread....My thoughts are also with the men from ND who have died but I don't back down from my position and can defend it well (as we're finding out piece by piece every day now)...another time...another place perhaps but for now I lay down my sword...

[U2Bad1]

You're absolutely correct this discussion should be moved to another thread...and I'm not going to start it. Pat - you're a nice guy and I like you - but I won't engage in this discussion anymore here out of respect for this website. I snapped with frustration when I read the thread....My thoughts are also with the men from ND who have died but I don't back down from my position and can defend it well (as we're finding out piece by piece every day now)...another time...another place perhaps but for now I lay down my sword...

You're the one who started everything with your disrespectful comments.

[ndracefan57]

Hi to everyone that had such good things to say about Kenny and Keith. Kenny is my brother and was one awesome guy. He will be greatly missed. The Smette family also lost a very good person. Although I did not know them previosly they are now in my thought and prayers everyday. I cannot express in words what the loss of Kenny means to me. He is in my mind everyday, as well as the families of every other soldier who has lost there life in Iraq. Each one of these individuals is a hero...... Kenny was someone I looked up to in life, and one that I will always call my hero in death. Love Ya and Miss Ya Kenny DuWayne Hendrickson

[PCM]

Thanks for taking the time to post here, DuWayne. I didn't get the chance to meet you, but I saw you at Ken's funeral. You looked and sounded so much like your brother that it was a bit spooky the first time I saw you. Ken was truly a unique person and he will be missed by all who knew him.