Column: On Memorial Day, thankful for others' ultimate sacrifice

For the nine years I served in the Army National Guard, I was lucky.

In many ways.

From the units the Army assigned me to serve with to my various deployments close to home and around the world, I drew the long straw most of the time.

Instead of deploying to New Orleans in the no-power aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I and a buddy got sent to Fort Chaffee (western Arkansas) to help folks who were temporarily relocating there. We had the officer's quarters in a barracks, with an awesome air conditioner in the summer heat, and had our pick of local restaurants to decide where to eat each night. Other folks in our unit were stuck at a school outside New Orleans without power. They burned their gear when they got back. I didn't blame them, even though one of the guys had taken my sleeping system (the Army's three-level sleeping bag; it's impressive).

My first overseas deployment was to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the so-called "least-worst place in the world." I didn't appreciate it at the time, and grumbled that we had been sent there instead of Iraq. I would later learn how very foolish that thought was.

But, I got lucky even with my tour in Iraq. I "volunteered" to join the state's infantry brigade, and the brass pointed me to a cavalry unit. Best bunch of guys in the world, it turned out.

The luckiest part of my service was I never lost a close friend while deployed.

Folks I served with died. Not many, thankfully. Those instances were difficult, no doubt, and I recall each one clearly, as most veterans do with such situations.

I remember the armorer in Cuba. I and others in my unit had become friends with our Massachusetts colleagues. I knew the guy. His death hit all of us. Hard.

Two guys in Iraq. One I knew pretty well, the other I didn't at all, really.

But all of them died while they wore the uniform. They had a U.S. flag patch on their shoulder, and they went where Uncle Sam told them to go. They died on foreign soil, something most people don't ever consider.

As many of us say, they signed a check to the United States payable up to their death. They did so willingly and with eyes wide open.

My cavalry bunch in Iraq made even that hellish place livable.

They had seen combat in their previous tour. Combat with a capital "C." Harsher than what I went through, and I wouldn't wish my experience on anyone.

Make no mistake, Kaytusha rockets and mortar shells raining down on your head, improvised explosive devices in the road and complicated ambushes aren't a walk in the park, but for all my time on the roads from southern Iraq to Baghdad and beyond, the road never blew up on me, and I never found blood coming from inside my uniform.

But my troop commander and first sergeant and many others in the squadron had seen their friends, their comrades, die. The most infamous incident involved an attack on a bridge. The commander told me about running to find out what happened and not realizing he was running past pieces of his friends.

In Iraq, I listened to more than a few such stories. These men from cities and towns across the state I called home, these teachers and police officers and oil company executives, they all recounted in hushed tones the moments their friends died in service to an ideal, a democratic goal.

Of course, there would be a flag-draped coffin and a service. More than family and friends, others would attend and offer their respect. Taps would play. A few rifle volleys would ring out. Someone would hand a folded flag to the next-of-kin.

Months later, whenever the next Memorial Day came around, someone would place a little U.S. flag beside the still-new grave. A small gesture, but one of thanks.

This "holiday" provides the chance to honor those who died in service of their country. No doubt, such a sacrifice deserves honor and reverence.

I hope it also deserves solemn pledges from those in power to ensure such sacrifices are truly necessary and unavoidable.

Necessary because of our reason for going to war and unavoidable because we provide our military troops every protection possible.

This Memorial Day, as every other since I became a veteran, I will think of those I served with who died while wearing the uniform. I'll think, too, of those who died while serving with the men and women I served with. And I'll think about every man and woman who died in service to this country.

I'll be thankful for them and their sacrifice.

Godspeed.