Accord
10-15-08, 04:08 AM
3 days ago in Kandahar we were woken up at 0200 for a ramp ceremony for a fallen Marine from 2/7 killed earlier that day.
The slow playing of the Marines Hymn on bagpipes as the American flag draped casket carrying our fallen brother was loaded into the back of the C130 for his final flight home and then the playing of taps, it was brutal. The absolute silence of the brisk Afghanistan night with the only sound being the electric motor of the cargo door closing on the back of the aircraft and then the final "sealing" noise it makes, the whole thing was just brutal.
It was an honor for me to be chosen to be present at the ramp ceremony because when I lost my friends when we were still operating in Helmand Province, 2/7 would always have a contingent of Marines present for ramp ceremonies for 1/6 Marines, so it was an honor for me to be able to do the same for 2/7.
I have a lot of respect for the Royal Marines, I thought it was really cool that every British Royal Marine on the base showed up to pay their final respects to the fallen US Marine as we loaded him on the plane to send him home to his family. The bag piper was also a Royal Marine. They may be from another country, but they're still Marines and the fallen Marine from 2/7 was just as much their brother as he is ours.
The slow playing of the Marines Hymn on bagpipes as the American flag draped casket carrying our fallen brother was loaded into the back of the C130 for his final flight home and then the playing of taps, it was brutal. The absolute silence of the brisk Afghanistan night with the only sound being the electric motor of the cargo door closing on the back of the aircraft and then the final "sealing" noise it makes, the whole thing was just brutal.
It was an honor for me to be chosen to be present at the ramp ceremony because when I lost my friends when we were still operating in Helmand Province, 2/7 would always have a contingent of Marines present for ramp ceremonies for 1/6 Marines, so it was an honor for me to be able to do the same for 2/7.
I have a lot of respect for the Royal Marines, I thought it was really cool that every British Royal Marine on the base showed up to pay their final respects to the fallen US Marine as we loaded him on the plane to send him home to his family. The bag piper was also a Royal Marine. They may be from another country, but they're still Marines and the fallen Marine from 2/7 was just as much their brother as he is ours.