An infantry marine talks back to the NYTimes’ Frank Rich (published in yesterday’s NYTimes letters section):

To the Editor:

I am an infantry marine with 12 years of service, and I am presently stationed in Falluja, Iraq. I am also a New Orleans native and my parents live in Mandeville, which is on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. They have lost everything.

I take issue with “Falluja Floods the Superdome,” by Frank Rich. Falluja is doing quite well. I know because my marines are out on the streets every day. We’ve been here for almost seven months, and the difference is night and day since we got here.

Secondly, I have 20 other marines in my battalion who are from Louisiana, and not one of us considers himself a “have-not.” In fact, every marine in this battalion is proud of what we have accomplished, and we are proud to be marines. Military service was a choice, not a last resort for us.

(Staff Sgt.) Jeff Harilson
Falluja, Iraq, Sept. 5, 2005