A cry gone up for a fallen friend

Last week a friend of mine passed away. I served with him during my last deployment into Iraq. He made it through multiple deployments unscathed and got out of the Army this year. Two weeks ago it was discovered that he had a brain tumor that required emergency surgery. He suffered a stroke during the surgery, and passed away shortly after. He is survived by his wife and two children.

I would have counted this man among my friends during my time in the military, but we were not close in a conventional sense. I had not spoken to him in several years. When I first heard what happened I found myself surprised at how much it affected me. Since I found out I have had the opportunity to talk with a close friend who is still in my old unit. He attended and participated in the funeral. I have been slowly taking all this in over the last several days, praying for his family and his close friends. To be honest though I have privately felt a little bit foolish for the amount of emotion his death has stirred in me. Trying to decipher why this was lead me to two different speculations.

I think the most obvious reason that this would have a deep effect on me is my own intimate knowledge of the loss of a family member. And thus my own attempt to try and imagine the feelings of loss his family is going through.

The other reason is that this man was a brother of mine. In the same worn out cliched sense that you have undoubtedly seen dramatized in movies on war and within the pages of military history. Brothers in arms, if you will. I will be the first to admit I do not even like writing that phrase, it sounds so worn out, and overused. It does not make it any less true however. This man was a fellow soldier, someone that I played endless hours of Xbox with, ate meals with, and went out into the dark of night with to deal with evil men. I believe the invisible, unspoken bond is there, between all men who face trials on the scale of a war. This man understood what it meant to serve his country, he is a hero of mine.

Take some time to pray for his family.