A year or so ago, I ran into a song by Mike Doughty, called "Fort Hood." Interesting guy, Doughty. Son of a Vietnam vet, he grew up on military bases. Later on, he became the lead singer & moving force behind Soul Coughing, the great stream-of-consciousness-poetry-dada jazz band of the 90's. He was also a heroin addict during those years.

A few years back, he went solo, kicked heroin and began doing different stuff. Very different.

Like "Fort Hood."

I loved this song as soon as I heard it. He took the chorus from the 1969 song "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In," and dragged it dancing & singing - and still bubbling with hope - into the middle of a song about PTSD. He named the song Fort Hood because that base, those families, had suffered the most losses in the recent wars.

I'm not sure I can bear the argument coming, about why this happened. The endless expert argument about these wars, and them foreigners, and what happens to soldiers and why, and who hated who & who was at fault. 

As for how they died at Fort Hood today, and why.... Well, the experts & the screamers are gonna have to sort that out without me.

Because today, all I can think of is how those who died, especially the young ones, should still be living. And that now, they're gonna miss the joys of their young adulthood. That's the loss Mike Doughty sang about, and that's a loss we can all understand.

So let's sing along. Sing along with Mike. For all the kids that got lost.

And let the sunshine in.

* Update * Some of the kids...

- Jason Hunt, 22, Frederick Oklahoma, voted "most Quiet" in his Senior class

- Michael Pearson, 21, Bolingbrook Illinois, trained to deactivate bombs

- Francheska Velez, 21, Chicago Illinois, 3 months pregnant

- Amy Krueger, 29, Kiel Wisconsin, enlisted the day after 9/11

- Russell Seager, 51, Racine Wisconsin, worked with vets with PTSD, Doctorate in Alt Medicine

- Aaron Nemelka, 19, West Jordan Utah, engaged

- Kham Xiong, 23, St Paul Minnesota, father of 3

- Juanita Warman, 55, Independence Missouri, PhD

- John Gaffaney, 56, Serra Mesa California

- Michael Cahill, 65, just returned to work after heart attack