Remember Those Who Sacrifice... (re-post)

Take time this Memorial weekend and for that matter, as often as you can to remember and reflect on those many Americans who sacrifice for our freedom...

As an Aide-de-Camp I traveled with my boss, to honor those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. As the CSAs personal representative, My boss was responsible for ensuring that a fitting, final tribute was made to our fallen comrades. I will never forget the families that I had the opportunity to meet and serve during my travels. I remain in periodic contact with all of them; I will not mention their names here, but I would like to share one story in particular that will remain with me forever.
These events occurred during a trip to Northern California. The family had recently lost their son. A young Staff Sergeant who left behind a wife and infant daughter. We met with the family prior to the memorial service and sat with them for hours just talking about their loved one and who he was and what he stood for etc... Then we discussed the memorial service and other aspects of planned events that were to happen in the coming days. While this family was grieving and dealing with the loss of a loved one, they somehow found out that another serviceman, from a neighboring town, had been killed in action. They then turned to my boss and asked what they could do for this family and how could they contact them. My boss was a little surprised and asked that I work with them to find out the requested contact information, but the most interesting comments came next. The father then stated his reason for wanting to help this family, "I know what this family is going through, I have a ten day head start and these 10 days of experience are invaluable in helping them get through this."
Only after reflecting on this event, did I realize that in all of the media coverage (and there was a swarm of media) of this very honorable and fitting final tribute to our fallen comrade - we missed a very important story! What the media failed to take away is the power and strength of Army families. The powerful story that Americans didn’t get that day was: This family, an Army family, having just lost their son, father, husband - was reaching out in their time of grieving and looking to help another Army family, who they didn’t even know, get through the difficulties of losing a loved one – and all because they had a 10 day head start. That is the power of Army families! And truly a part of the story that America needed to hear.
Please take the time this weekend to remember and reflect on those who have gone before us, those soldiers and families who are currently sacrificing, and those powerfully strong Gold Star families who have “laid so costly a sacrifice at the altar of freedom.” My sincerest admiration and thanks goes out to all of you!