This Memorial Day I grieve the death of innocence and sanity...

[pipoman]

Last week I spent some time on Camp Pendleton amongst 100,000 Marines. My son is stationed on Pendleton. He has not been deployed (thankfully), as his job is of the support side.

While visiting I had dinner with my son and some of his friends. One of his friends, a young Sergent, is on his second enlistment. He spent the first 6 years in the Marines in an infantry division. Two tours, the first in Iraq, the second in Afghanistan. As part of the 1st Infantry Division, he was involved in several of the bloodiest and most alarming battles on both fronts. Unspeakable tragedies befell this young man and his fellow Marines. "Unspeakable today, and forever", says he. Horrors of war, blood spilled, visions which can never be extinguished from a young, vital, intelligent mind. The result being an almost inexplicable mixture of fear, depression, and rage gleaming from the eyes of an unheralded hero. Never to be the same again. Hopefully will recover enough to live a productive life, but this is far from assured. One of thousands just like him. One of tens of thousands who has given a part of themselves which cannot be accounted for, ever. The sadness I feel for this 'kid' is painful to acknowledge...he could be my son, I know he is someone's pride, he is too good of a human not to have been carefully cared for and nurtured for many years.