Honoring the Exchange of Life for Life

Article here. Excerpt:

'The face never comes into view in my dreams, but I know it’s him. The twisted mouth is agape, molded in an eternal gasp of shock. The lower half of his body is gone, and there’s a black hole where his guts should have been. When Chevy was blown from the Stryker hatch, he took flight for an incalculable measure of time before landing on the slat armor of his vehicle. His uniform was blown off, which never happens in the movies. But he was whole, as complete and pure as the day he was born, I’m told. I never got the chance to see for myself before he disappeared into a body bag. The continuing ambush prevented that.

Memorial Day comes early and often for the men in my infantry battalion. During the unit’s second tour in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, we lost 21 men from three companies and attachments. We lost 17 in the span of four months during the Battle of Baquba.'