Jeffrey Shaffer remembered

Greenville resident Paul Shaffer will not soon forget the day last year his son informed him of his plans.

"He said, 'Dad, I made a decision. I decided on joining the military.' I said, 'I am just a little bit nervous. There is much going on over there.' "

Shaffer's worst fears materialized when he was informed last week that his son, Army Pfc. Jeffrey Shaffer, 21, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Paul Shaffer will depart Friday for funeral services in Texas, while his son, Taylor Shaffer, 15, a sophomore at Greenville High School, remains in Greenville.

While Paul Shaffer, 50, is "very proud" of his son, he wonders how much longer U.S. troops can be asked to remain in Iraq.

"Our boys are getting shot up left and right. It's like a turkey shoot. I and everybody I talk to are sick of it.

"My son was a very, very brave young man. I take my hat off to him. But I say if we are going to be there, let's do it the American way. If they want a war, I say let's take it to them and get it over with."

Shaffer said his son grew up in Texas but later lived with him near Flint and in Arkansas. Shaffer said his son dropped out of high school at 16, deciding after earning his GED and weighing his employment options to join the Army.

He was killed Sept. 13 when a roadside bomb exploded near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Ramadi, a Sunni Arab city that remains a violent stronghold of Iraqi resistance.

From the Muskegon Chronicle