During Mike Monsoor's funeral in San Diego , as his coffin was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery , SEALs were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of twos, with the coffin moving up the center. As Mike's coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin. The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it. This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero.
It is too easy to forget the kinds of sacrifice made in defense of Iraq and our nation. We tend to surround ourselves with "feel good" modes of "supporting the troops" but then wallow in the "body count" and worry over whether our commitment is right. All of this is fine, it is part of what people like Petty Office Monsoor protected.
But instead of just welcoming the troops home from deployment, maybe we need to spend a few minutes in awed silence at what some men and women have given up so that you can question our leaders. They arrival home from deployment is far different, far sadder and far more important than anything mere thing we do in our lives.
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