The Rocky Mountain News has printed one of the best tributes to the military — to the Marines, actually — that I’ve ever read. It’s a long, thoughtfully written, and often painful story about the Marines who are tasked with bringing home their fellow fallen Marine brothers.

On the flight, the woman sitting next to him nodded toward his uniform and asked if he was coming or going. To the war, she meant.

He fell back on the words the military had told him to say: “I’m escorting a fallen Marine home to his family from the situation in Iraq.”

The woman quietly said she was sorry, Conley said.

Then she began to cry…

It’s a long read. But so very worth it. Especially the heart-wrenching story of Katherine Cathey:

The night before the burial of her husband, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to him for the last time.

The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that would have been played at a formal wedding they never held. She asked the Marines to continue standing watch. “I think that’s what he would have wanted,” she said.

If I hadn’t of been a Soldier in the US Army, I would have been a Marine. My admiration and respect for these men and women is tremendous. This story only strengthens those feelings.

Thank you to the Rocky Mountain News for showing what it truly means to support the troops. And a wonderful example of how to write about the military without imposing your political agenda.

h/t Blackfive, the Paratrooper of Love
Linked at Stuck on Stupid and PointFive