Army nurse, paratrooper shot in back by insurgent

Image courtesy: Waterbury Republican-American

This says it all about the enemy we are fighting around the world. Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist groups have absolutely no respect for human life, let alone even the most basic rules of war. While rare, isolated atrocities by U.S. troops like the Abu Ghraib scandal are all over front pages for months, terrorists beheading civilian contractors or dragging bodies through the streets do not get the same level of attention.

According to a Pentagon statement just released, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Spino was gunned down in Afghanistan on Tuesday while unloading medical supplies. The Hartford Courant reports that the nurse and paratrooper was shot in the back by an Afghan insurgent. It is not clear whether the cowardly assailant was caught or killed.

According to the Courant, the 45-year-old soldier had been in the Army since 1993. He started working in a hospital shortly after graduating college, and his career culminated when he was parachuting into war zones and helping the wounded. The Waterbury, Connecticut, native arrived in Afghanistan a few weeks ago after serving in Iraq. WFSB-TV reports Spino would have come home in 20 days. The soldier leaves behind a wife and stepdaughter. His mother, Rita Spino, is quoted in the Courant article:

His mother said, "I was outgoing, but my son was quite shy. He blossomed when he joined the service. It was his true love."

Spino's family will spend their New Year's in Dover, Delaware, watching their beloved hero's flag-draped casket return to American soil. While we mourn this hero's death, it is almost impossible not to be incensed at the enemy's reprehensible shooting of a medical official while his back was turned. The insurgents terrorizing Afghanistan must be stopped.