Sgt. 1st Class Ruben J. Villa Jr.
United States Army
KIA 18 Aug 2006, Kuwait
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36, of El Paso, Texas; assigned to Area Support Group (CFLCC), Camp Arifjan, Kuwait; died
Aug. 18 from a non-combat related cause in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Tributes

This Memorial Page Established by-Cecilia Villa
In Honor Of SFC Ruben Villa, Jr

March 30, 2010
craig baumberger
In 2006, press secretary, Tony Snow, was asked about the significance of the death of 2500 US
soldiers in Iraq.  He replied that it was only a number.  The family and friends of Ruben Villa know
that their loss was far more than just a number, a name on a list.

ONLY A NUMBER :2008. In 2006 when U.S. fatalities totaled  2500 and Iraqi losses in the tens of
thousands,  press secretary, Tony  Snow, was questioned  about the significance of the losses.  He
replied that it was only a number.  The loss to family and friends and future generations can never  
be defined by  a number.  The same is true of the losses by Iraqi and  Afghan citizens.

Refrain:
“It’s only a number” is what the man said,
About the soldier that died far away.
Just a name on a list that he had never read,
And the list just gets longer each day.

Verse:
The honor guard staggers from the weight of their burden.
There’s a whole generation wrapped up in those flags.
It’s the hopes and the dreams of the sons and the daughters ,
Of the fathers and mothers who have died for that rag.

Chorus:
It ain’t just a number gets blown up by some bomb,
That dies in Iraq or back in Vietnam.
It’s a father or mother, would have kids of their own,
But now there’s no family, they are not coming home.

Verse:
We have wasted their futures and what they might do,
To stop global warming or prove it’s not true.
Find a cure for the cancer or hunger or pain,
Or maybe bring water where it don’t ever rain.

Verse:
Because it is not just a soldier, dies far away,
It’s a whole generation that’s fading away.
It’s a chapter unwritten, a page left unturned,
A word left unspoken, a secret unlearned.

Chorus:
Because it ain’t just a number, gets blown up by some bomb,
That dies in Iraq or back in Vietnam.
It’s a father or mother would have kids of their own,
But now there’s no family cause they’re not coming home.

Refrain:
“It’s only a number” is what the man said,
About the soldier that died far away.
Just a name on a list that he’d never read,
And the list just gets longer each day.