Warrior

It is so damn painful to watch something like this. Too painful for even the most poetic words. On Wednesday I was just commenting to a co-worker that the day I can review the casualty list and not see the name of a friend or student will truly be exceptional.

I look to my young son now and think about all of these Warriors who may never get to be fathers or get to raise their sons to carry on a tradition that might seem to passe in the modern world but is absolutely necessary.

Will their stories be forgotten? Will the warrior be laid to rest by American society? I don't think that will ever happen as long as there exists people like us to remember our friends, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. Maybe in the hierarchy of politics the name of Doug Zembiec might not reach peoples ears at cocktail parties and formal dinners (which is a travesty of its own), but for our small part of history he was a Warrior's Warrior. All boots on the ground knew such names as Doug Zembiec, Brian Chontosh, Brian McCoy, and James Mattis. Every warrior spirit recounted tails to their brethren of how magnificent their leader was and boasted of their exploits. It's a common theme that has existed from the earliest recorded histories from Troy to Thermopylae to Guadalcanal to Baghdad. We mourn our losses but always take pride in the fact that we shared a canteen with greatness. Farewell sir.

Semper Fidelis my friends.

-Knip