another soldier has fallen
In the midst of the most joyous time of year, Americans have been riddled with deaths. Although I know that James Brown and Gerald Ford have died, someone a little closer to me is getting all of my attention. The flag flying outside my house is at half staff today for my good friend Andrew Nelson.
Andrew was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq at 8:00 a.m. the day after Christmas.
To have even written the sentence above is a shock to me. I haven't yet accepted the fact that the kid I swam with and got so close to is now dead. My emotions have fluctuated greatly and over the past few days my mind has been scattered with memories of Andrew. He was such a character, always with something to say and a smile on his face. I remember sitting no more than 10 feet away from where I am right now with Andrew, talking about how a loaf of bread was a great and satisfying snack. I remember pulling pranks with him at post-swim season parties. I remember how he would always chew on the end of his goggles everytime coach would talk to us in between sets. I swam in the same relay as him at states two years in a row. Andrew and I were very close and it is very hard to believe that a person as young as he and as energetic as he could have been killed fighting a war in Iraq.
I keep hoping that he died instantly and that he felt nothing. I would hate to know that he had to suffer through pain and the knowledge that he was going to die in a foreign land surrounded by strangers.
Andrew Nelson was a hero. He volunteered to fight an ever elusive enemy for a cause he deemed worthy. He put his life before everyone else's - a task many of us would not volunteer to do.
Andrew has been lost, but will never be forgotten and today my flag is at half staff for a fallen soldier, a hero, a friend.
Andrew, may God grant you passage into His kingdom above.
Andrew was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq at 8:00 a.m. the day after Christmas.
To have even written the sentence above is a shock to me. I haven't yet accepted the fact that the kid I swam with and got so close to is now dead. My emotions have fluctuated greatly and over the past few days my mind has been scattered with memories of Andrew. He was such a character, always with something to say and a smile on his face. I remember sitting no more than 10 feet away from where I am right now with Andrew, talking about how a loaf of bread was a great and satisfying snack. I remember pulling pranks with him at post-swim season parties. I remember how he would always chew on the end of his goggles everytime coach would talk to us in between sets. I swam in the same relay as him at states two years in a row. Andrew and I were very close and it is very hard to believe that a person as young as he and as energetic as he could have been killed fighting a war in Iraq.
I keep hoping that he died instantly and that he felt nothing. I would hate to know that he had to suffer through pain and the knowledge that he was going to die in a foreign land surrounded by strangers.
Andrew Nelson was a hero. He volunteered to fight an ever elusive enemy for a cause he deemed worthy. He put his life before everyone else's - a task many of us would not volunteer to do.
Andrew has been lost, but will never be forgotten and today my flag is at half staff for a fallen soldier, a hero, a friend.
Andrew, may God grant you passage into His kingdom above.