Remembering Sergeant David Kenneth J. Kreuter & the USMC Lima Company

David Krueter is back row far right. I understand that all but one in the above photo died in combat

Death Visits a Marine Unit, Once Called Lucky

Excerpt:

Most of the Marine Reservists from Lima Company were just getting their start in life. But for the young men from Columbus, those lives were changed almost overnight. Their unit was called up in January. In February they were training in California. And by March, the members of Lima Company were part of the 1,000-strong Third Battalion, 25th Marines, Fourth Marine Division - 3/25 in military lingo - and engaged in full-scale war. Their first few weeks in Iraq were so uneventful that the company of about 160 marines took on the name "Lucky Lima."...

Ohio Town Mourns Marines Lost in Iraq

The 14 Marines killed in Iraq Wednesday and the six killed Monday all belonged to the same Ohio-based battalion. The Headquarters & Services Company, 25th Marine Regiment, 3rd battalion is headquartered in Brook Park, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The Wednesday attack, in which a roadside explosive detonated beneath the Marines' amphibious vehicle, is the single most deadly improvised explosive attack on U.S. forces since the war began.

David's Father's words

They all did that, the Men of Lima Company. They carried out their chosen responsibilities to a fuller extent than most men, under conditions that would test any and all to the extreme. They were Marines, they had an incredibly difficult job to do, and they were determined to do it right. I stand in awe of these men, and wonder if I could have done their job so well. ... I think of him every day, many times a day, but seldom with the sharpness this image brings. It represents only a small portion of his years, but the pinnacle of his growth and achievement. Face-to-face, I love him, I miss him, I respect him, I admire him.

More:

• USMC deaths 8/3/2005
• Lima Company Memorial
• Obit page
• Lima Company Facebook page (many photos)

Memorial panel - David Krueter right

Comments: Pause for a bit and read the articles and view the photos. David was the son of two of my high school classmates. I feel their pain and pray for them. My own son has been and will soon again be in harms way.

The link between NAFTA and lost manufacturing jobs

Report: Ohio lost fourth-most jobs under NAFTA

Excerpt:

U.S.-Mexico trade since the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement has displaced 682,900 U.S. jobs, with Ohio losing the fourth most jobs, according to a report from a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

About 34,900 jobs in Ohio were displaced from 1994 to 2010 as a result of trade deficits with Mexico, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which studies the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers.

California posted the largest loss with about 86,500 displaced jobs.

....


The institute said the trade deficit and job displacement occurred as NAFTA made it attractive for foreign investors to pour money into Mexico to gain duty-free access to the U.S. market. Foreign direct investment tripled as a share of Mexico’s gross domestic product and caused companies to outsource jobs and production to Mexico, the report said.

Most of the jobs displaced by trade to Mexico as of 2010 were in manufacturing, with 415,000, or 60.8 percent, of jobs displaced, the report said. Within manufacturing, the hardest hit jobs were in computer and electronic parts, with 150,300 jobs displaced, or 22 percent of the total, and motor vehicles and parts, with 108,000 jobs displaced, or 15.8 percent of the total.

Comment: On the other side of the equation, the cost of goods was reduced.