Bryan Strawser

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Archives for 2004

Sgt Hook: Taps

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Sgt. Hook writes:


We landed at one of the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) yesterday to drop off supplies and pick up some equipment, a somewhat routine mission for us. The crew suddenly became very solemn when we noticed a ceremony being conducted about 30-meters away. A KIA ceremony.

The flag draped coffin was placed in the position of honor in front of a formation of Soldiers while a chaplain said a few words. We were all humbled and reminded of our own immortality and that everyday out here, we are in harm’s way.

As taps played we rendered our salute to the fallen Soldier, hero, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. News of the firefight resulting in one dead and two wounded a couple of days ago had reached us. We had no idea it was Pat Tillman. Tillman turned down a big fat NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to become an Army Ranger shortly after 9/11.

Sgt Tillman is a hero not because he walked away from the Cardinals, but because of where he walked to. He like all the rest of the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coastguardsmen volunteered to put himself between the bad guys and our way of life and fight for its preservation. Rest In Peace Sgt Tillman, your service to our nation is an inspiration and you will not be forgotten.

RIP, Pat Tillman. You’ll be in my thoughts tonight.

Pat Tillman killed in Afghanistan

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Citizen Smash writes:

PAT TILLMAN didn’t have to join the Army. He didn’t have to volunteer to become a Ranger. He didn’t have to go to Afghanistan and fight terrorists.

He did it anyway.

On July 12, 2002, Peggy Noonan wrote about Tillman in the Wall Street Journal:

Maybe he was thinking Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Maybe it was visceral, not so much thought as felt, and acted upon. We don’t know because he won’t say, at least not in public. Which is itself unusual. Silence is the refuge of celebrities caught in scandal, not the usual response of those caught red-handed doing good.

All we know is that 25-year-old Pat Tillman, a rising pro football player (224 tackles in 2000 as a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals, a team record) came back from his honeymoon seven weeks ago and told his coaches he would turn down a three-year, $3.6 million contract and instead join the U.S. Army. For a pay cut of roughly $3.54 million dollars over three years.

US Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in an ambush yesterday in Afghanistan. He was 27 years old.

Chief Warrant Officer Chris Campbell

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I went to high school and met a great guy named Chris Campbell. We were very close friends, even fighting once over the same girl, and nearly losing our friendship. But life perseveres.

Tonight, for some reason, I wondered what had become of him. Because, as is so often the case, we lose track of our friend after high school. I knew Chris had joined the US Marines and had gotten married, but other than that, I had no idea where he was.

A good google search led me to this news article from Navy News:

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Campbell was wounded in the arm by shrapnel during a battle at Nasiriyah, Iraq, March 26. He was treated in Kuwait before being transferred to Fleet Hospital (FH) 8 in Rota April 5.

Before leaving Kuwait, Campbell was awarded the Purple Heart by Marine Lt. Gen. E.B. Haliston, commander, U.S. Marine Corps Pacific. The Purple Heart is awarded to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces killed or wounded in an armed conflict.

Sure looks like Chris in that picture. And I had no idea he was in harm’s way.

Semper Fi, Chris

The Holocaust Museum

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Jeff Jarvis visits the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC:

The Holocaust Museum is phenomenal: beautifully expressed, eloquently informative, devastatingly human. I have read about the museum from its opening and have seen pictures of the exhibits. But there is nothing like the experience of walking through and coming to the room that extends up and down beyond focus with pictures of the people of the shtetl Eishishok: It makes every life real, it makes every loss painful. And when I came to the room with shoes, nothing but empty shoes, I broke down.

I’ve been there – it was the last thing I visited in Washington, DC before moving from Ellicott City, Maryland to Medina, Ohio in the mid 1990’s. It was then, as it is now, a hauntingly emotional experience that reminds us all of lives lost and the existence of evil in the world.

The Blank Notepad

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A blank piece of paper – a blank notepad – is like an invitation to create something.. and right away.

Yesterday, I picked up a shiny new legal pad of yellow paper at one of my stores. With this blank notepad in front of me for just the afternoon, I managed to scratch out agendas for three upcoming meetings that I am sponsoring, planned out a major project’s timeline that is due in mid-May, and updated a significant amount of personal planning.

All of this while sitting in a meeting and individual recaps – and managing to fully participate in those discussions while completing the tasks above. Mind you, there was a bit of downtime in between these recaps and the other events.

Sitting down this morning at a Starbucks cafe with wireless internet access, I find that I filled more than thirty pages of this notepad with scribble – which I’m rapidly turning into MS Word documents and e-mails.

Ahh, the smell of productivity.