This week our grandson, Ben, was deployed. How did he go so
quickly from high school honor student/student body president/soccer
player/pole-vaulter/homecoming king to being in a far away country? Sad time
for us, but we are very proud of his bravery and service to our country.
Graduation From Marine Recruit Training, October 2014
Mountain Survival Training June-July 2015
The following was written by a Marine and posted on Facebook
by a young friend of mine who is also a Marine.
- I
left home at 18.
- I
learned to kill a human being before I learned to do my taxes.
- I
learned how to care about someone else’s life, more than my own.
- I
have friends in college and I have friends in Afghanistan.
- My
friends in college go home for the summer, my friends in Afghanistan haven’t
come back.
- I
wrote my will at 19.
- I
don’t get enough sleep most nights.
- I
don’t get paid much.
- I
don’t know the next time I will see my family.
- I
don’t know when I may go home.
- I
don’t know much, really, but I know one thing . . .
- I
have 160,000 brothers out there and they make it all worth it.
My young friend added: “I wrote
goodbye letters to my family in the Saudi Desert too . . . very eye opening.”
This brought tears to my eyes.
The feelings I had when I learned our grandson, at age 18, had just written his
will can't even be described. From a kid to a tough Marine in only a few months.
