Nineteen-year-old Aaron Nemelka was at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, preparing to deploy to the Middle East, when he and 12 others were shot and killed. It wasn’t long before Utahns realized that the tragedy had a direct impact on some of their own8212;Nemelka was from West Jordan. He planned to enroll at the U after his tour of duty.
Nemelka’s story isn’t a phenomenon. It’s a microcosm in a country buffered from its own combats by an ocean, until its ramifications8212;accidents, casualties, depression, stress8212;come home.
The military is an idea, until it’s a lifestyle. Soldiers are uniformed images on a television, until they are sons and daughters. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are stories, until they are tragedies.
This week, The Daily Utah Chronicle puts a face to the U’s uniforms.
Michael McFall