Dignified Transfer
Mark Makela for The Daily Beast
As we go about our business this day, making final preparations for a joyous Christmas, we should take a moment to reflect on the wonders and joys of this life we are given, how precious it is, and how quickly it can be lost.
This week, as so many are traveling to be with loved ones, six who were not expected to be home for Christmas were returned home with dignity and respect, six who should have had a long and fruitful life ahead of them. They are:
Air Staff Sgt. Chester J. McBride, 30, of Statesboro, Ga;
Maj. Adrianna M. Vorderbruggen, 36, with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, 9th Field Investigations Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida;
Staff Sgt. Michael A. Cinco, 28, with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, 11th Field Investigations Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas;
Staff Sgt. Peter W. Taub, 30, with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 816, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota;
Tech Sgt. Joseph G. Lemm, 45, with the 105th Security Forces Squadron at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York;
Staff Sgt. Louis M. Bonacasa, 31, with the 105th Security Forces Squadron at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York.
Regardless of how you may feel about our presence in Afghanistan, the loss of life in the service of our country, protecting our freedoms, defending our interests is tragic, and unfortunately unavoidable.
A routine patrol on Monday, and encounter with a suicide bomber, and six Dignified Transfer ceremonies, as comrades carried the remains of each of the six killed from their transport at the New Castle Air National Guard Base in Delaware yesterday, marked the events that will remain forever linked with Christmas week for six families.
And those families need our prayers this day.
Remember them in your prayers this week, and all who have lost their lives to the myriad senseless acts of violence that plague our world today.
Let us pray for God's help in finding a solution to violence, finding a path to peace, finding a way to love one another.
As we prepare for the coming of our savior in the form of a baby, let us remember that all of God's children are precious and He weeps for each one who falls.
More to come...