A moment to say "thank you"....

We very rarely have casualties of war (thankfully) here on base. At least not that I’m aware of. In the years that I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve heard of any of the folks that are stationed here -- but deployed in areas of struggle supporting any number of missions – fall victim to the violence they’re surrounded by. Which is a very good thing. I don’t know how I would do emotionally if that was the case. I don’t get very friendly with too many people I work with, partly because most people rotate out every 3 years. And truthfully not everyone keeps in touch, although the intentions are good. I learned my lesson the hard way many years ago, and so as a result I don’t get too involved with making friends in the office. But I digress....

Today, the remains of Army 1st Lt. Brian Jones of Westminster, MA arrived on base this morning. He died on Wednesday in Baghdad, Iraq from wounds he suffered when his vehicle hit an explosive device. The motorcade for his funeral procession left here, and drove right by my office building – so we all went outside to pay our respects and give our thanks to this young man and his family for their sacrifice.

It was very brief, but sobering. It was an emotional moment for me, truthfully. I mean, I didn’t cry – but I did get a little choked up at seeing one of his family members – who I’m guessing was a brother -- look out the window, and seeing everyone saluting them as they drove by. I couldn’t imagine as to what was going through his mind.

“Freedom has a taste to those who fight and die for it, that the protected will never know....”

And on this note....
I will be out of the blogosphere until Monday, so have a great week – and to all you “moms” out there – have a lovely, lovely Mother’s Day.