Suburban soldiers, family members say bin Laden’s death doesn’t change anything for them
While thousands of college students cheered Osama bin Laden’s death in a party-like atmosphere by the White House Sunday night, the reaction by suburban soldiers who have fought in the war on terror was far more subdued.
Army Specialist Nick Santoyo, 22, of Carol Stream, who recently returned from a one-year tour in Afghanistan, said he was stunned and happy to hear bin Laden had been killed, but wasn’t celebrating because he believes the war is “nowhere near” over and might even get more dangerous for the troops.
Santoyo communicated on Facebook with some of his Army buddies still in Afghanistan Sunday night, and they felt the same way.
“They said, This is cool. He’s actually, finally dead. But don’t put your heads down and get complacent, because it’s definitely not over. If anything, keep your head up even more,” he said. “They said they’re stepping up security because it’s going to get worse now.”
Santoyo, who enlisted in the Army six months after graduating from Glenbard North High School in 2006, is now in the Army Reserves and expects to be called back to Afghanistan. His close friend in the Army was killed there two weeks ago.
While soldiers and their families did share some high-fives and cheers over the news, it was then back to business.
“(They’re) still doing the job day in and day out, so nothing really changes for the soldiers on the ground. This won’t even impact missions that they’re doing today,” said Bobby Matthews, the Barrington Army veteran who heads up Operation Homefront’s Illinois chapter. “This is just one little battle in a much larger war.”
Kirk Morris, of Gurnee, whose 19-year-old son was killed in Iraq in 2004, says he feels no sense of justice or closure now that bin Laden is dead, nor do any of the other Gold Star families he spoke with Monday.
When he heard the news Sunday night, he said he smiled.
“It’s good that the guy who started this all has been extinguished, but that’s as much as I can go,” said Morris. “There’s a depth of sadness to me that we’ve had to sacrifice so much blood to get to this guy. We lost so many incredible young men and women in this war.”
Naperville mom Barbara Gaicomino, whose son recently returned from Afghanistan, works with Operation Support Our Troops America and said bin Laden’s death hasn’t changed anything in her mind, or in the organization’s mission to support soldiers and their families.
“I’ll celebrate when these guys and girls are out of there,” she said. “The fallen will not come back because of this, the wounded are still wounded, and we’re concerned about the safety of men and women there now.”
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