​Until Valhalla

You spent your final days in my office, getting to know me and my friends and I never knew the fight you were up against. A custody battle for your little one after your sixth – and final – deployment. Laughing with us, telling us stories, mouth full of dip giving me advice about fatherhood two months before I found out I was having my own. Often, you sat silent but I didn’t realize how different and difficult this silence was. The countless field ops you and your peers guided me through in Eastern Europe. Your guys really took after you. I remember your face now and often my own memory issues forgot your name but it always comes back to me when I realize the opportunity I have when I talk to my little one. Men much, much, much better than me having fatherhood ripped from them because they decided to serve a country that didn’t serve them back. You lost your child in a divorce and then lost your life in your bedroom after drinking all night. I never forget the faces of the widows and the children at the funerals. They are usually all the same, in shock and nearly as lifeless as the bodies are. I have my own child now that I fought tooth and nail for to have an opportunity to be here. And I won’t take that for granted. Thank you and the plenty of men like you for everything. Until Valhalla.