The following is an excerpt from a eulogy.

Jacob David George, born in 1982. Talented, patriotic, athletic, gifted, musical, Arkansas storyteller, son, older brother, colleague, friend, inspiration. He served three tours of duty in Afghanistan by the time he was 23 years old. He took action to free himself of the horrors that dogged him. He cycled thousands of miles in order to speak out about his experiences. He wrote songs and played his banjo. He threw back his medals at a NATO protest in Chicago. He was using every modality he could think of to try and heal himself, but he wasn’t able to hold down a job, or sustain an intimate relationship. Jacob helped to found Afghanistan Veterans Against the War, a co-branch of Iraq veterans against the war. He kept traveling, kept telling his story, and joining with other veterans who understood the true costs of war. He was trying to find his way back and help others to find their own paths to healing along the way.

He was living his life, and he was trying to heal as well as share what it was like to be a soldier in Afghanistan. On September 17th, at the age of 32, a week after President Obama announced the start of yet another endless and senseless war, he took his own life.

Click here to watch the video below, as the music embedded on my page will interfere with your viewing and listening. http://vimeo.com/66857895

I wrote this song this morning to honor his message and short life. May he find the peace he sought so desperately to have, but couldn’t find here on earth.

A lonely vagrant

I can hear the war drums beating

there’s a blood moon on the rise,

I know the smell of copper

And the look in dead mens eyes.

Old men conjured up new battles

in their avarice and greed,

They fed me propaganda,

an assassin’s murderous creed.

Three tours of duty left me broken

before the age of twenty-four,

I came home to a hero’s welcome,

bent low from a cruel war.

My brother hardly knew me

I no longer fit my skin,

I rode three thousand miles

to leave behind my sin.

Arkansas, I loved your lowlands

the misty delta where I roamed,

I’m now a lonely vagrant

without a sweetheart or a home.

The medals they awarded me

were only worthless tin,

A grim reminder of our deeds

in a war we couldn’t win.

I took the medals that they gave me

and tossed them to a bloodied sky,

Reaching out for mercy,

for the horror and the lies.

My soldiers heart was shattered

my soul beyond repair,

the nights were long and endless

where I lived in dark despair.

Now the war machines are gearing up

the battle lines are drawn,

Tonight’s my final day on earth

who will miss me when I’m gone?

Arkansas, I loved your lowlands

the misty delta where I roamed

I’m now a lonely vagrant

without a sweetheart or a home

Sonia Dubinsky (Chichina)