Number 111

UPDATE Below

Kentucky's 111th sacrifice to the insatiable maw of the Permanent Warren Terra is Private First Class Joshua A. Gray, of Van Lear, Kentucky.

21 years old.  He doesn't look a day over 15.

Van Lear is almost off-the-map tiny, even for Eastern Kentucky, where off-the-map tiny is normal.

The closest thing to a hometown newspaper in the Floyd County Times, which publishes so infrequently it has not yet covered the death of a boy probably everybody in the county knows.

That leaves the obituary to the Watertown Daily Times, near Fort Drum in upstate New York:

A Fort Drum soldier, Pfc. Joshua A. Gray, died Monday in a non-combat-related incident at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

The news was released Tuesday afternoon by the Department of Defense. The department, in its news release, said the incident was under investigation.

Pfc. Gray, 21, was a native of Van Lear, Ky., and served as a satellite communications system operator-maintainer in the 10th Mountain Division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion.

He joined the Army in November 2012, and his career included assignments at Fort Jackson, S.C., along with Fort Gordon and Fort Benning, Ga. He arrived at Fort Drum in October.

Pfc. Gray and the division headquarters deployed to Afghanistan in January.

According to Fort Drum, Pfc. Gray’s awards include the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the NATO Medal, the Overseas Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Expert Marksmanship Badge

He is survived by his mother and father.

Continuing the Warren Terra has gone far beyond bullshit, through stupidity all the way to criminal homicide. However he died, Pfc Joshua A. Gray, 21 years old, of Van Lear, Ky., was murdered by every lying motherfucker who claims a universal tactic is an existential threat to this nation.

What's an existential threat to this nation is the inexcusable horror of a permanent war that is extinguishing our economy, brutalizing our politics and devouring our young.

UPDATE: Article from the Ashland, KY, Daily Independent.