Yesterday I was talking to a woman about how much I enjoy the military jets from nearby Buckley Air Force Base. The jets come flying low over our farm, then head back into Buckley.
The woman told me about an email she got from a friend in Phoenix. She sent it to me. It concerns a letter-to-the editor a man wrote in Phoenix, complaining about four jets from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona flying low over the man while he was at Arrowhead Mall in Phoenix. The man sarcastically asked if these "Tom Cruise wanna-bes thought local residents needed a wake-up call at 9:11 A.M., or were they just trying to impress the clerks at Mervyns?" The man asked for a response.
Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr. gave him a response. The four officers flying the jets were honoring a fellow officer who was killed in Iraq fighting for our freedom. He was being buried that morning. After the rifle salute, the playing of taps, and the presentation of the flag of the USA to the widow, the "pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives" on behalf of fellow officer Captain Fresques.
Rosensteel concluded his response by informing the man that "only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you...Jesus Christ and the American soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom."
3 comments:
Amen.
As an aunt of one of those soldiers who will be coming home in three weeks, I am grateful to every soldier who came before him and are making it possible for him to return safely to his wife and soon-to-be-born daughter.
It never ceases to amaze me how childish and unforgiving some people can be...and on the flip side how amazing and self scarficing others are. Thank God literally for those who stand between me and danger.
A beautiful post...and such a beautiful truth at the end.
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