Remembering First Sgt. Aaron D. Jagger

Michigan Liberal reported tonight that Army First Sgt. Aaron D. Jagger of Hillsdale has died in Iraq, one of three soldiers killed by a roadside bomb last Wednesday near Ar Ramadi. Here's my comment on the post:

Aaron was a student of mine
The first job I had out of college in 1977 was teaching in a tiny school in Hillsdale County called Camden-Frontier school.

I taught high school English and French back then and Aaron was one of my students. I remember him -- isn't that funny? All those years ago and I was only there two years ...

I remember Aaron's family was new to the area. I remember he struggled with French. I remember him coming to my place with a bunch of the kids for a French dinner I put on for them at the end of the year. He brought his guitar, which had a pick up so it was amplified like an electric one. He played really well.

In 1978 I was advisor for the junior class and he was instrumental in helping build our homecoming float. I remember it was some kind of mechanical dinosaur thing and it took first place. Aaron was "artsy" compared to the mostly farm kids who grew up around there, and he didn't seem to make a lot of friends right away. He was a nice, friendly, hard-working kid. I liked him.

I've often wondered what happened to my students from back then. I moved to East Lansing, then Grand Rapids and lost track of all of them. It's hard to believe they're in their 40s now -- to me they'll always be high schoolers trying to grow up.

I haven't thought about Aaron in all this time. Seeing this post then reading the article in the Hillsdale Daily made me sad. A wife and five daughters he leaves behind. Aaron and his family deserved better. Our young people deserve better. The people of this country deserve better.