The news of another soldier from South Portland dying in Iraq two weeks after the city's first casualty rolled through town fast.
    It was widely reported well before the Pentagon or the governor had an opportunity to confirm it.
    The news that soldiers were killed precedes the disclosure of who those soldiers were and for good reason. That soldiers were killed is news. Who those soldiers were is a personal tragedy. We read in the paper about "five marines killed in Al Anbar Province" and shake our heads. Few of us outside a soldier's circle of friends and family wonder, "was it Angel?" Or Jason? Decency and dignity demand that those left behind learn the news from a real person, not a talking head on a television screen.
    Both Angel Rosa and Jason Swiger had something in common, probably not something that would have been said by those who knew them in high school. At South Portland High School, one was a jock and one was a "punk." One was a proud Puerto Rican, one was a read-headed Anglo.
    But in Iraq they had quite a bit in common. Both were combat soldiers attached to units who are trained to be among the first in the line of fire. Marines by sea and the 82nd by air, they represented the sharp end of the spear and embodied the pride we have in our fighting men and women.
    It was a rare example of unity that the South Portland City Council chose to honor the two men with flags and yellow ribbons. The gesture is all the more striking when one looks back and sees some of those same councilors voting against similar measures in the past. What is different? The current gesture has been stripped of the politics and been replaced by the very real tragedy of two very real young men who are no more.             –Ward Peck