Welcoming a Brother in Arms Home

Today we at Fort Leavenworth welcomed home one of our own to his final resting place.

The door gunner on the Chinook helicopter that was shot down in Afghanistan about a week ago with Special Forces aboard was buried at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.  He was only a 21 year old Specialist when he gave all for his country.

To welcome this young man home and to give him the honor he deserved for the price he paid Soldiers, Family Members, and Civilians lined Grant Ave on both sides rendering a salute as this patriot was driven by.

Honor where honor is due.

From the front gate to the cemetery there were 1000's of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine personnel and hundreds of civilians and Family Members paying their respects to this Soldier.  He was led on to post with the Patriot Guard (of which I am a member but did not ride in this one).  It was a mile long procession of motorcyclist, the Soldier's family, law enforcement and many others.  Protecting from the rear was a final contingency of Patriot Guard riders.

Patriot Guard

As the procession moved down the road the Soldiers came to attention and saluted holding the salute until the Soldier had passed their position.  I can only imagine the family driving on post and begin to see a line of people solemnly standing on the side of the rode to welcome their son home to his military family.  To see 1000's of military personnel and civilians rendering a salute or standing silently along the road giving a final respect to a patriot.

In this world where we have to deal with people from organizations like Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka Kansas.  This church's main purpose is to spew hate towards those who protect their freedom to say what they want. What I saw today was people demonstrating love, care and compassion not just for their fallen brother but for the family that escorted their love one.

As the family drove by close enough for me to see their faces as it caused me to choke back tears as I could see the pain on their faces and yet relief and comfort by seeing so many standing there to support them.  We may not have been allowed to go to the cemetery to be with them as they laid their patriot to rest but I believe lining that street today in Fort Leavenworth brought more healing then any one could convey.

It was a honor to be able to welcome this young man onto post.  A duty that I did not out of obligation because of an order but because it is the least I can do to say thank you for his willingness of this one to lay down his life for his brothers and sisters.  As Jesus said no greater love then for one to lay down their life for another.

Many don't realize that less then 1% of those eligible to serve actually serve.  This means that when one life is lost it is felt hard by all of us in the military.  My request is that more would do like we did today.  They would line the streets to welcome the living and the dead Soldiers home.  For if more would do as we did then we would drown out the hatred spewed out by people like those from Westboro Baptist.  If you own a motorcycle I invite you to become part of the Patriot Guard and protect those who simply want to peacefully lay their family member to rest.

If you know that even one Military personnel is arriving home from a deployment to an airport near you I ask that you would gather family and friends and greet them at the airport and express your gratitude.  You don't have to support the war just support those who protect your right to be free to believe the way you do.