Those Never Left Behind

The article "Final Salute" is a story in the Rocky Mountain News.  It is a story that is pretty hard to get through. I can't think about having to go to the doors of fallen Marines and telling their families of their child's death, it has to be so hard to do something like that.  When I think about the U.S. Marines, I think about yelling, guns, ships in the water, and the phrase "Oorah," but after reading through the "Final Salute" my mind has definitely changed. This article is about the men whose job it is to give the grave news to the families of their fallen soldier(s).  Not only does this article show what these select few do almost everyday, it also helps the reader to experience what is going on in the hearts of the men and the families.

I don't think I would be able to know that going into work everyday is going to tell families how their children have died.  I think that this article was interesting as well as emoional, these men had to share the worst news any military news family could ever recieve.  I think that is is an amazing thing for the men to stay with the families and be there for them when they needed it, no matter how long they needed it.  Time is not a problem for these military men.  There was a part in the article that was tough for me to get through, it was the part about the twenty three year old widow, who spent her last night at the resting grounds of her husband’s body before he was buried.  She talk about how she had one of the best night’s sleep, but had felt bad because she had taken that night's sleep for granted.  I know that it is hard to let someone close to you go, I have done it with four of my close friends.  I never got to say good bye or even tell them how I felt about them, they were there and then they were gone.  It hurts.  I think that it would hurt so much more if my spouse had died, knowing that I never got to tell them how much I loved them before they died.  It would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I think that this was a interesting article to read, it is good for non-military people to understand what the men and the families had to deal with.  It is easy to not care about everything else that is going on in the world and just care about your life.  People tend to not think about those who are serving overseas for our country trying to keep us safe from terrorists.  Those who are dying for our country for the betterment of other generation is a really high honor.  Even though it is a high honor, it seems like it would be hard for the families of the soldiers to have to deal with all of pain and suffering that comes with a military soldier.  Like Beck said, it is not up to him, but it is up to the families and the loved ones to decide.