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Lt. Colonel McMahon, photo from Military Times |
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Since the plane carrying my high school math classmate went down on my birthday, I felt especially grateful on this anniversary of my good fortune to live another year. Reading his obituary, having just become a father of three, I felt terrible for the loss suffered by his wife and three children. But the time he had to live was not wasted. What Lieutenant Colonel Michael McMahon did for children in Afghanistan thoroughly impressed the Afghan officers and doctors I met years later, after I returned to serve in the military, after a long time away. When I put on the uniform, I know there isn't much chance I can measure up to what Mike did, but I can do what I can do. Our heroes leave behind shoes too big for us to fill. What we can do is fill the shoes we choose to wear with a commitment to serve, motivated by an appreciation of the honor it is to wear the uniform worn by so many great people in the past, and in the present, and to be worn by many more in the years to come, as well.
Anonymous
Happy Birthday, Veteran.
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