During my Iraq experience, tragedy struck close to home on two occasions:
In November 2004, my dear friend, Doug Thomas was killed. The picture above is the last time I saw Doug alive. We were readying to convoy from FOB Danger to Camp Speicher. I was stopping at Speicher to catch military air to Baghdad to depart for my first rotation. Doug was continuing on to Anaconda for a mission. During his return convoy from Balad to Tikrit, a roadside bomb exploded and a piece of shrapnel hit Doug, killing him instantly. Though Doug was a defense contractor, I remember him this day for he was providing direct support to the military when he was killed.
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Phillip George was the son of my colleague Carson George. On Aug. 18, 2005, Phillip was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan—he was only 22. Phillip joined the Marines on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, yearning to see the world and aching to make a difference.An interview with Mrs. George, Phillip’s mother, was recently published in the Houston Chronicle where she states that not a day goes by where she does not think of her son. I am sure that Doug’s wife and children think of him everyday, too. And even though I may remember the fallen occasionally, there are others who acutely feel the loss daily. Please pray for the families of not only Doug and Phillip but for all the families of the 4,971 American servicemen and women that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To remember those who have sacrificed visit MilitaryTimes.com's Honor the Fallen, Washington Post's Faces of the Fallen, the Iraq and Afghanistan Pages, or Legacy.com.
God bless our service members and God bless America.
