The Loyal Nine by Steven Konkoly & Bobby Akart

Author:Steven Konkoly & Bobby Akart [Konkoly, Steven & Akart, Bobby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stribling Media
Published: 2015-06-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

February 13, 2016

Brae Burn Country Club

West Newton, Massachusetts

Susan Lowell Quinn instructed the girls to give Uncle J.J. and his lady friend a hug together with a good night kiss before she led them upstairs to bed. Susan knew how impressionable girls were at this age and she worked tirelessly to instill manners in them as well as feelings of self-worth and confidence. Penny, who was ten, was at an age where she would learn to make positive choices about her own life and for others. Susan and Donald both strived to raise their daughters as young adults while avoiding the external social ills prevalent in today’s society. Only a parent could appreciate the fears of their beloved children taking a wrong path.

Susan was raised in a religious family, dedicated to the teachings of the bible. Dating back to the 1700s, the Lowells were practicing Christians and active in their church. The Lowells were notoriously independent throughout their history, hence their active involvement in the War for Independence. This also held true in their religious beliefs. While the Catholic Church dominated the religious landscape of Boston for centuries, Protestant Christian churches were established as early as 1592. Known as separatists or independents, the Congregationalists distinguished themselves from the more in vogue Presbyterians and were considered more progressive in many social reform movements, including abolitionism, suffrage and temperance.

By the time Susan’s great-great-grandfather Charles Russell Lowell became a Unitarian minister of the West Congregational Church in Boston, the Congregationalists were widely viewed as pioneers in allowing a laissez-faire approach to societal values in relation to the worship of God. Susan, while holding to these same Christian precepts, still feared that her children might be exposed to the unintended consequences of letting societal norms take their own course without interference or moral compass.

Determined to raise the girls as Christians, yet providing them a well-rounded childhood, Susan chose to expose them to adults as much as possible within their home. This evening was an important opportunity to introduce them to the horrors of war without the shocking images, online or in the media, that have jaded so many young people.

J.J.’s guest tonight was former Marine Second Lieutenant Sabina del Toro, who served in Iraq at the same time J.J. was stationed there. Sabs, as she preferred to be called, met J.J. at Joint Base Balad. She had been deployed to Iraq, and the thirty-two-member Marine platoon she commanded was assigned to the 6th Marine Regiment under the 2nd Marine Division based in Camp Lejeune. The 6th was primarily a peacekeeping force deployed throughout the Sunni Anbar province, which included Fallujah, just west of Baghdad.

Political pressures in the United States had converted our soldiers to a neutered police force. The rules of engagement should have been renamed rules of disengagement. Yet Sabs and her platoon followed their orders and performed admirably. Sabs described Iraq and Fallujah in particular as a world where unidentified enemies lurked around every corner. It was impossible to determine a friendly from a hostile.

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