Don’t thank me today; I’m still alive. In our country’s well meaning collective rush to thank those in uniform, sometimes Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day get confused. You can thank me in November. But today, we remember those that died in service to their country.
Like far too many in our country at the moment, Memorial Day for me is not a impersonal holiday. I don’t “Support Our Troops” or “Remember Our Veterans” with sincere but only skin-deep platitudes. I don’t hold a faceless solider in my mind, and send a general thanks into the ether. On Memorial Day, I remember Jeff. And Kermit. And Pat.
Some of you may know I was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician when on active duty, and still do much of that work now as a military contractor. EOD guys are the military bomb squad, the “heroes” of the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, a film that is about as true to life for EOD as Navy Seals is to the frogs or Law and Order is to lawyers and cops. Not that there aren’t shreds of truth buried in the unrealistic operations: the paranoia, the faceless enemy that remains uncaught, the challenge of becoming an excessive American consumer again when its all over.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have necessarily thrust into the forefront a mission that was kept secretively in the shadows for decades before. Unique among mission areas in the US military, all four services share a common initial training location, common skill sets, and a bond that transcends inter-service rivalries. Most EOD guys have more in common with one another than they do with the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps they happen to be a part of. Its a very small, tight knit community forged from the demanding, high wash-out initial training and the intense dangerous work that follows.
This war has not been kind to the several thousand EOD technicians in the four services. Every year, on the first weekend in May, we gather in Florida, at the EOD Memorial, to add the names of those that have died in the last year to The Wall. So far, since 9-11, we have added 77 names, roughly twice as many as we did in World War II. We already have at least three more names to add for next year. They are strangers to most of the country. But we know them all, and we love them and miss them.
If you’ll permit me, I’d like to list them now:
November 2001: Army Staff Sergeant Adam Harding
April 2002: Army Staff Sergeant Brian Craig
April 2002: Army Staff Sergeant Justin Galewski
April 2002: Army Sergeant Jamie Maugans
September 2003: Army Staff Sergeant Joseph Robsky
December 2003: Army Staff Sergeant Michael Sutter
December 2003: Army Staff Sergeant Kim Voelz
February 2004: Army Staff Sergeant Richard Ramey
February 2004: Army Sergeant Elijah Wong
July 2004: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Michael Clark
December 2004: Army Corporal Cory Hewitt
December 2004: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Jason Lehto
February 2005: Army Staff Sergeant Daniel Gresham
February 2005: Army Staff Sergeant Kristopher Shepherd
February 2005: Army Staff Sergeant Eric Steffeney
May 2005: Army Staff Sergeant Russell Verdugo
October 2005: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Joel Dameron
November 2005: Marine Corps Master Sergeant Brett Angus
November 2005: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Darrell Boatman
November 2005: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Daniel Tsue
December 2005: Army Staff Sergeant Johnnie Mason
December 2005: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Kenneth Pospisil
February 2006: Navy Petty Officer Second Class Nicholas Wilson
March 2006: Air Force Technical Sergeant Walter Moss
March 2006: Army Sergeant First Class Kevin Jessen
March 2006: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant John Fry
March 2006: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Justin Martone
July 2006: Army Sergeant First Class Scott Smith
July 2006: Marine Corps Sergeant Justin Noyes
July 2006: Navy Petty Officer Second Class Austin Koth
August 2006: Air Force Master Sergeant Brad Clemmons
August 2006: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Dwayne Williams
August 2006: Marine Corps Sergeant John Phillips
August 2006: Navy Chief Petty Officer Paul Darga
September 2006: Navy Petty Officer Second Class David Roddy
October 2006: Marine Corps Sergeant Justin Walsh
December 2006: Air Force Captain Kermit Evans
January 2007: Air Force Technical Sergeant Timothy Weiner
January 2007: Air Force Senior Airman Elizabeth Loncki
January 2007: Air Force Senior Airman Daniel Miller
March 2007: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Dustin Gould
April 2007: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Peter Woodall
April 2007: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant William Callahan
April 2007: Navy Chief Petty Officer Gregory Billiter
April 2007: Navy Petty Officer First Class Joseph McSween
April 2007: Navy Petty Officer Second Class Curtis Hall
June 2007: Air Force Senior Airman William Newman
June 2007: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Stephen Wilson
June 2007: Marine Corps Sergeant Shawn Martin
July 2007: Army Staff Sergeant Joshua Mattero
July 2007: Navy Chief Petty Officer Pat Wade
July 2007: Navy Petty Officer First Class Jeff Chaney
August 2007: Marine Corps Sergeant Michael Tayaotao
September 2007: Army Command Sergeant Major Jonathan Lankford
November 2o07: Navy Petty Officer First Class Kevin Bewley
January 2008: Army Sergeant James Healy
February 2008: Navy Petty Officer First Class Louis Souffront
April 2008: Air Force Technical Sergeant Anthony Capra
June 2008: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Christopher Strickland
August 2008: Army Staff Sergeant Brian Studer
September 2008: Army Sergeant First Class Lawrence Ezell
February 2009: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Daniel Hansen
March 2009: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant John Roy
April 2009: Air Force Technical Sergeant Philip Myers
April 2009: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Mark Wojciechowski
April 2009: Navy Petty Officer Second Class Tyler Trahan
June 2009: Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ricky Richardson
July 2009: Army Staff Sergeant Edmond Lo
July 2009: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant David Spicer
July 2009: Navy Petty Officer Second Class Tony Randolph
August 2009: Marine Corps Master Sergeant Adam Benjamin
September 2009: Air Force Staff Sergeant Bryan Berky
October 2009: Army Staff Sergeant Thomas Rabjon
October 2009: Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Aaron Taylor
December 2009: Air Force Technical Sergeant Anthony Campbell
January 2010: Air Force Technical Sergeant Adam Ginett
February 2010: Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Eckard
So today’s let’s soberly remember our war dead . . . before unsoberly celebrating their lives while we had them. That’s how my buddy Jeff and most other’s names I have listed would have wanted it. Godspeed.