The Veteran I Knew was a Loyal Soldier to . . .

This year marked the tenth anniversary of my father's death. He has been on my mind a lot.

My family takes a lot of pride in my father's military career. They went with him as he zigzagged across the country and to Europe as he served and pursued a military career. Beyond visits to the post to buy groceries at the commissary and goods at the PX, I have no memories of life connected to military service. But I feel better off for knowing the man my father became after his military service and I know that his time in the Army helped to form the man he became.

When I think of my father I think of loyalty.

He was fiercely loyal to his country. In addition to his military service he was active in politics and served on the boards of many community organizations.

I knew him to be a soldier for Christ. He was fiercely loyal to his church and dedicated himself to cultivating a spiritual life. While he was a man of unique character (too few like him these days) he had his foibles. He had his sorrows and struggles which he owned with humility, and then tried to correct in the ways he knew best.

In the last years of his life he took the time to babysit my children. Those moments allowed us to have some spontaneous and soulful discussions over those things troubling me or him. Sometimes after bearing his soul he would apologize for burdening me with his concerns. I suppose I might have had a surprised expression on my face, only because I was feeling honored by his willingness to disclose his thoughts to me.

Kadie was only person I talked to on October 21. She quietly sent love to me. Like her grandmothers she remembers the important dates (I'm still a fledgling in such matters). Like her grandfather, Kadie is fiercely loyal to friends, family and God. Like him she is competitive, hardworking, and holds a deep abiding faith.

My father was given religious training growing up, and I once thought his military service, helped him to be courageous for Christ. It made him able to confront the spiritual enemy. Perhaps it was the other way around. Perhaps it was his faith in Christ that helped him to be a good American soldier. Certainly he was a better soldier at the end of his life, following his Commander courageously into death, knowing the battle was ending and that peace waited ahead.