On the way home from work. Parked outside were three television trucks. Standing in front of the building were two uniformed soldiers. An honor guard.
The upcoming funeral was for a young man from a nearby community who had recently been sacrificed on the alter of Bush in Iraq. I didn't know Nathan Brown. He attended the school where I teach a year or two before I was hired.
My longer serving peers were planning to attend. I was not. I have already viewed one of the flag draped coffins back in September in my home town.
I could not put myself through this again. I posted about this in another forum at the time it happened. Please take a few moments and read it.
http://bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=2&topic_id=246853&mesg_id=246
853&listing_type=search
Here's a bit about Nathan from the Glens Falls Post Star (It's a subscription service so I can't just link to it.)
"
Together, we grieve
Published on 4/18/2004
Opinion
THE POST-STAR
His name was Nathan Brown, and he wasn't a number.
Those are the words of Raymond Brown, Nathan's paternal grandfather. They beg us to consider the lives of the individuals who choose to serve in the National Guard.
Pfc. Nathan Brown, an Army National Guardsman from Moreau, died April 11 when his armored Humvee was ambushed while on patrol in Samarra, Iraq.
Speaking through their grief this past week, family and friends of Pfc. Brown painted a picture of a young man who was unique in ways that loved ones embrace in their darkness and despair.
Flowers sent from a desert half a world away, paychecks contributed to the family budget, a mischievous grin that foretold all. Nater the skater, Nate the Great, Nate the monkey boy -- a son, a brother, a fiance, much beloved and greatly missed.
In an interview with The Post-Star in February, days before shipping out, Pfc. Brown said he had considered enrolling at Adirondack Community College but enlisted in the Army National Guard instead. He was excited about going to Iraq, he said, and was looking forward to experiencing another culture.
Many are the reasons that men and women like Pfc. Brown join the National Guard. Yet, underlying their decision to enlist is the realization that the world is a dangerous place and combat is a possibility. With the stroke of a president's pen, a "part-time" stint as a "weekend warrior" transforms into a life-and-death fight against a foreign foe on a distant shore.
And yet they go, offering their youth, their energy and, ultimately, their lives in service to their country.
Pfc. Brown is believed to be the first National Guardsman deployed out of Glens Falls to be killed in combat since World War II. News of his death hit the community hard, leaving many stunned, trying to make sense of his loss. From Moreau and Fort Edward to Glens Falls and Queensbury, flags have flown at half-staff as we pay sad tribute to a fallen son.
Yet as we mourn, we recognize that our community joins hundreds of other communities across America experiencing the stinging loss of their own.
Pundits can disagree about the merits of the war in Iraq. Yet there can no debate on one point. The men and women who put their lives at risk are heroes.
We watch them go off to war, hoping for the best and bracing for the worst. Yet there is nothing we can do that is adequate to prepare us for their loss.
And so we cling to hope -- hope that others will be spared the Brown family's grief, hope that the conflict will soon be over and hope that wisdom more than might will guide our future."
The picture of the coffins on the plane on the front page of dKos... maybe Nathan is in one of those boxes. His story is definitely in many of them. As is Kevin's.