Reality Check

Today, Army Private First Class David Drake was buried. I didn't know him personally but I know and work for people who did. We attended his wake last night and they looped the video of his body being unloaded from the C-130 in Dover, Delaware along with the bodies of 4 other soldiers who were returning home for their final rest.

This experience has led me to reflect on certain people I knew who were serving in the military when the Afghani and Iraqi conflicts were launched. In particular, I've been thinking about Marcos. He had just started a new semester in January 2003 when he was called into active duty and had to leave school. We ate dinner together the night before he left. He was one of the first servicemen sent into Iraq. I don't know what happened to him. I would like to believe that he came home honorably discharged, went back to BYU, finished school and found a fabulous woman to agree to share her life with him. They probably have 3 kids by now.

But, I don't know.

There are 5 families who do know what happened to their sons 2 weeks ago. On 7 October 2011, instead of celebrating a son's 22nd birthday, a mother stood on the tarmac at Jack Brooks Regional Airport and watched an honor guard carry her son's casket from an airplane to a hearse. One of the other men had just watched his child's birth via Skype 7 days prior to the explosion that took the lives of these brave men.

Pray for those mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, and children who welcome caskets home. Then go hug your loved ones because you are supremely blessed that they are safe and you are able to talk with them because of the sacrifices made by others. You may not agree with the politicians or with the war, but there are men and women who willingly serve this country to protect the rights you enjoy to disagree with the politicians we freely elect into office.