A posthumous posting from a B5 fan/soldier

[raben]

Just thought you might be interested in this:

A soldier named Andy Olmsted died today while serving in Iraq. Apparently, he was a frequently blogger and use the name "Gkar" on the blogs. This fellow asked that a note he had written be posted in the event of his death while serving in Iraq. The note contains many B5 quotes from Franklin, Sheridan, and Delenn. He closes with a Delenn reference with a comment to his wife which will leave you in tears.

JMS has sometimes wondered if his words would echo in the universe, long after the show was over. Well, here's some good proof that it did in this soldier's last notes, 10 years after the conclusion of B5's regular series. Of all the things on his mind to say, B5 was there. I don't know if there is some way to bring this to the attention of JMS but he might find some interest in it.

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/01/andy-olmsted.html

[Lunan]

Just thought you might be interested in this:

A soldier named Andy Olmsted died today while serving in Iraq. Apparently, he was a frequently blogger and use the name "Gkar" on the blogs. This fellow asked that a note he had written be posted in the event of his death while serving in Iraq. The note contains many B5 quotes from Franklin, Sheridan, and Delenn. He closes with a Delenn reference with a comment to his wife which will leave you in tears.

JMS has sometimes wondered if his words would echo in the universe, long after the show was over. Well, here's some good proof that it did in this soldier's last notes, 10 years after the conclusion of B5's regular series. Of all the things on his mind to say, B5 was there. I don't know if there is some way to bring this to the attention of JMS but he might find some interest in it.

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsid...y-olmsted.html

i think jan or one of the others will bring this to his attention

[Jan]

OMG. I've never heard of Andy Omsted before 15 minutes ago and I'm crying at his loss.

Raben, do you have a way of contacting Hilzoy? I would very much like to repost the link over on the moderated newsgroup but I'd like to be sure that she thinks it would be okay. I'm not familiar with that group and don't want to just barge in.

Jan

[raben]

reposting

I came across the website through another link. However, the Olmsted article's posting had a "email me" link to it which was the following:

[email protected]

The same page states:

"Linking to Us
We quite enjoy it when people link to us. Please use the URL http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/ for your links.
We also quite enjoy it when people let us know that they've linked to us, so feel free to use comments below to do so."

[raben]

original yahoo reporting of Olmsted's death

The same website linked to this yahoo article, believing it was the report of this soldier's death:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080103/wl_mideast_afp/iraqustoll_080103192540

[Jan]

I was just reading the comments and somebody mentioned that they had emailed JMS about Major Olmsted. There's also a condolence message signed by a 'jms' but there's no way of knowing for sure that's the same one.

Jan

[Towelmaster]

Yes, I found it too.

http://andrewolmsted.com/archives/2008/01/final_post.html

[FuryPilot]

OMG. I've never heard of Andy Omsted before 15 minutes ago and I'm crying at his loss.

Raben, do you have a way of contacting Hilzoy? I would very much like to repost the link over on the moderated newsgroup but I'd like to be sure that she thinks it would be okay. I'm not familiar with that group and don't want to just barge in.

Jan

I posted a link to the moderated newsgroup last night -- it does not appear to have cleared moderation yet.

Is everything over there moderated? I would have thought I'd be off moderation by now.

FP

[Jan]

All new threads are hand moderated, FP. Also, while Amy and the others generally check the queue a few times a day, sometimes it takes a considerable amount of time for posts to wend their way to the queue at all. Usually, about the time you give up and repost, it shows up.

Jan

[FuryPilot]

I just checked again -- yup, my post (and 4 others on the same topic) just came up.

FP

[Jan]

Also par for the course, I'm afraid. But if you hang back and assume that somebody else will post some bit of news, it's like there's a gaping black hole and it never shows up.

Jan

[raben]

more on Olmsted

I live in central Kansas and get the Wichita paper. The paper reported that Andrew Olmsted was from Colorado Springs and wrote a blog for the Rocky Mountain News. He began blog posting for the Rocky Mountain News on May 21st.

He was based at Ft. Carson, Colorado and had trained at Ft. Riley, Kansas. The paper said he died "during an attack by insurgents." Olmsted was serving in the Military Transition team , 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry division as an advisor to Iraqi forces.

He had a wife, Amanda Wilson, and they had been married 10 years. He was 37 years old.


R. Allen

[Hal_10000]

Olmsted

For those of you who don't know, Andy Omsted, a soldier serving in Iraq, was killed last week. He was blogging his war experience at Obsidian wings under the moniker of G'Kar. His final message is here:

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/01/andy-olmsted.html

Complete with numerous relevant quotes from B5. In keeping with his wishes, please do not use his words or his death as an opportunity for politics. I post it here merely so that we can share with someone who was not only inspired by B5, but lived its message of self-sacrifice and duty.

RIP.

[Whyruss]

Well written - but I don't think it's real...

[AaronB]

Well written - but I don't think it's real...

Sorry to burst your bubble but it's quite real as we have been discussing in another thread.