Four Special Forces soldiers were ambushed and killed in Niger on October 4, 2017. There has been little news since the incident. There have been no official announcements about what the mission was, what happened, or who, if anyone, is at fault. Was it an accident, bad luck, bad plan, bad execution, carelessness, avoidable, etc. There were no statements from Trump or the White House. 

At a news conference on 10/16, Trump was asked why he hadn't acknowledged the fallen soldiers. He went into a long winded answer that he hadn't called the families YET but that he had written letters that were GOING to be sent out tonight or tomorrow. That he would call when appropriate. Then he said Obama and other presidents didn't call but he, the great Trump, called and wrote letters. Well, that's pretty much bullshit.  

Isn't it convenient that the letters were just being mailed 12 or 13 days after the killings, on the exact day that a reporter asked him about the incident? Then, Trump thought the "appropriate" time to call one of the families was the next day. He called Myeshia Johnson, widow of U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who is also the mother of Sgt. Johnson's two children and is pregnant with their third child.  She was on her way to the airport to meet the remains of her husband. I guess this seemed like the "appropriate" time to Trump.

It is alleged that during the phone conversation Trump said: 

'He knew what he signed up for'

Really? That may be one of the most insensitive and tone deaf statements of all time. I'm sure that some Trump supporters will point out that the statement is technically accurate. That is not the point. Common decency dictates that we often couch our speech to be less than completely and brutally truthful. That is especially true when we are conveying our condolences or in Trump's case, trying. 

No apparent concern or empathy about the four slain soldiers for almost two weeks while Trump cavorts around his golf properties. Then, once called out on it by the media, letters are "in the mail" and phone calls get made. The content of this particular ham-handed call makes me wonder if he has made any others. I would suggest that his staff, maybe General Kelly, write a script for future calls. Maybe something comforting and understanding. Apparently, two behaviors that are foreign to our 45th president.

The loss of any of our military is a tragedy. I addition to the loss of life, the worst part is that they leave surviving family and loved ones. In Sgt. Johnson's case, it is a wife and two children, one of which, a two-year-old son, is too young to really remember his dad and one unborn child who he will never see and who will never see him. The oldest daughter is only six. 

These fallen members of the military need to be recognized, thanked, honored. Their families also deserve our thanks, our help, our support, our compassion and our empathy. It would be refreshing to find that our current commander-in-chief understood that and was able to articulate it. 

wjh