"A Conflict Of Blood and Belief" (Daily Herald)

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http://www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=38158233


This is a story that hits your gut on Fathers Day...

A conflict of blood and belief
Chris Baily - Daily Herald columnist
Posted Sunday, June 20, 2004

For Raleigh Sutton, untroubled sleep is only a dream these days. As a self-avowed American liberal who sports "Wage Peace" and "I Love My Country; It's The Government I'm Afraid Of" bumper stickers on his car, this nation's involvement in Iraq gives him sleepless nights.
As a father with a warrior son assigned in early June to explosive Fallujah, the term "sleepless" doesn't do justice to his personal case of insomnia.
(snip)
In an e-mail to his father last week between 15-hour work shifts, the younger Sutton tried to explain why he volunteered for Fallujah. "My opinion of this war is as yours, but to me, this is about helping the Marine Corps succeed," said Matthew Sutton to his dad. "After 23 years, one can't help but love the Corps, and I'm fortunate to be in a position to help write another successful page in our history. … Somebody has to take care of these extraordinary young men and women here. It's an honor and a privilege to help lead them."
(snip)
He and his son don't discuss politics much, and he says his family includes a collection of disparate beliefs. It's rather a tradition; Virginia-area antecedents split about down the middle during the Civil War, too. He was raised, he says, by a Republican, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant businessman filled with prejudices. "But I grew out of being a Republican and became a human being," said Sutton, adding that though John F. Kennedy had a lot to do with that conversion, Harry Truman is his real hero.