From Greg...
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Hello all,
I wanted to take a few minutes out and ask a small favor here of all the residents. On 29 June, as those of you who might have been watching the news heard. A roadside IED detonated killing three Marines. These Marines, the first casualties after the transfer of power, were all members of my company, members of my platoon, two were members of my squad, and one was a member of my fireteam as well.
Since the intervening time has allowed for the families to be notified I would like you all to please keep in your prayers (or thoughts if not inclined toward prayer) Sgt Sherman, Cpl Todd, and Lcpl Adle.
Since the media probably won't tell their story and I sort of just need to get it off my chest I want to tell you all about them.
Sgt Sherman lived life on loud. We used to joke that he was 90% deaf and talked like everyone else was too. He could be abrasive and certainly sexist or racist at times, but he wasn't a mean person; he was just cut from very rough stuff. He is survived by several little sons, he had just bought a piece of land in northern Jersey to build a house where he could take them hunting and fishing. He used to joke that his eldest (10) would be in the Marine Corps and outrank him before he left. He was the invincible one, the one who stood on top of ISO containers watching the rockets and mortars fly in that were hitting our base, he lived as if he was indestructible and we believed him.
Cpl Todd turned himself around. He came out here 5and half years into a six year contract, his time was up in August. He would be going home to a job as a graphics artist, the man was skilled. I mean really skilled, he had designed all of our signs with a flair that just spoke of some great talent just waiting to be discovered. His road to this point was rough, in the first few years of his contract he had been a slacker...missing drills and generally being lax about everything. It all turned around last year when he and I were promoted to Corporal together (though in seperate locations). He realized that he was part of the leaders group, those who had to set the example. So he changed, he became obsessive about timeliness, cleanliness, and the dozen other little things that make a Marine more than just a soldier. He came over here with a new life, and for that matter a new wife. Not a few months before we deployed he had been married to the girl he loved, his family loved her and her family loved him. They fit together and you could tell he had that softie streak around her. He had just learned that his company now had its first real employee (W-4s and all). He also knew that this company needed him, he was the best we had on a 50cal, we needed him upfront to protect the rest of us.
Lance Corporal Adle had a similar story. He followed the rules when they suited him a lot of times but he also understood why you shouldn't always follow the rules. He was an operator, like me, but better...a lot better. Probably one of the two or three best in our company and certainly in the top 5 or 10 battalion wide. Back home he was the ladies man, he maintained (with credible proof) three seperate girlfriends plus a network of ladies who could certainly be calling him for a little action now and then. Yet he was mellowing, growing out of teenage rebellion, he had found one that he might want to settle in with and give a long term relationship a shot. He had started to cut back on his smoking and drinking to clean himself up for her and he was a ball of that nervous excitement when he talked about the possibilities. He was trying to stay on, he had remained activated since the first time around and was nearing his 2 year mark. If he could stay on that long he would get the benifits of the active duty GI Bill (a vast improvement over the reserve variant). College was calling him back if he could just get them to extend his active duty time out far enough.
Each one of these men was like a brother to me, I had fights with them, drank with them, discussed women and the world with them. We lived together in tight quarters with hell around us (sometimes literally) and we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of our deployment. So far we had been real lucky, myself and Adle had been at a seperate detachment (the wild wild west I spoke of) and despite constantly going out (at least once a week on average) we were untouched. Now this.
So if you have the time please just offer some silent thanks for these brothers of mine, from a different family, who are no longer with us. Please keep their families in your thoughts as they cope. Please do whatever you might think is right.
_________________
Cpl Burnett
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Hello all,
I wanted to take a few minutes out and ask a small favor here of all the residents. On 29 June, as those of you who might have been watching the news heard. A roadside IED detonated killing three Marines. These Marines, the first casualties after the transfer of power, were all members of my company, members of my platoon, two were members of my squad, and one was a member of my fireteam as well.
Since the intervening time has allowed for the families to be notified I would like you all to please keep in your prayers (or thoughts if not inclined toward prayer) Sgt Sherman, Cpl Todd, and Lcpl Adle.
Since the media probably won't tell their story and I sort of just need to get it off my chest I want to tell you all about them.
Sgt Sherman lived life on loud. We used to joke that he was 90% deaf and talked like everyone else was too. He could be abrasive and certainly sexist or racist at times, but he wasn't a mean person; he was just cut from very rough stuff. He is survived by several little sons, he had just bought a piece of land in northern Jersey to build a house where he could take them hunting and fishing. He used to joke that his eldest (10) would be in the Marine Corps and outrank him before he left. He was the invincible one, the one who stood on top of ISO containers watching the rockets and mortars fly in that were hitting our base, he lived as if he was indestructible and we believed him.
Cpl Todd turned himself around. He came out here 5and half years into a six year contract, his time was up in August. He would be going home to a job as a graphics artist, the man was skilled. I mean really skilled, he had designed all of our signs with a flair that just spoke of some great talent just waiting to be discovered. His road to this point was rough, in the first few years of his contract he had been a slacker...missing drills and generally being lax about everything. It all turned around last year when he and I were promoted to Corporal together (though in seperate locations). He realized that he was part of the leaders group, those who had to set the example. So he changed, he became obsessive about timeliness, cleanliness, and the dozen other little things that make a Marine more than just a soldier. He came over here with a new life, and for that matter a new wife. Not a few months before we deployed he had been married to the girl he loved, his family loved her and her family loved him. They fit together and you could tell he had that softie streak around her. He had just learned that his company now had its first real employee (W-4s and all). He also knew that this company needed him, he was the best we had on a 50cal, we needed him upfront to protect the rest of us.
Lance Corporal Adle had a similar story. He followed the rules when they suited him a lot of times but he also understood why you shouldn't always follow the rules. He was an operator, like me, but better...a lot better. Probably one of the two or three best in our company and certainly in the top 5 or 10 battalion wide. Back home he was the ladies man, he maintained (with credible proof) three seperate girlfriends plus a network of ladies who could certainly be calling him for a little action now and then. Yet he was mellowing, growing out of teenage rebellion, he had found one that he might want to settle in with and give a long term relationship a shot. He had started to cut back on his smoking and drinking to clean himself up for her and he was a ball of that nervous excitement when he talked about the possibilities. He was trying to stay on, he had remained activated since the first time around and was nearing his 2 year mark. If he could stay on that long he would get the benifits of the active duty GI Bill (a vast improvement over the reserve variant). College was calling him back if he could just get them to extend his active duty time out far enough.
Each one of these men was like a brother to me, I had fights with them, drank with them, discussed women and the world with them. We lived together in tight quarters with hell around us (sometimes literally) and we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of our deployment. So far we had been real lucky, myself and Adle had been at a seperate detachment (the wild wild west I spoke of) and despite constantly going out (at least once a week on average) we were untouched. Now this.
So if you have the time please just offer some silent thanks for these brothers of mine, from a different family, who are no longer with us. Please keep their families in your thoughts as they cope. Please do whatever you might think is right.
_________________
Cpl Burnett
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