I was making sure that he was ready to fly and that he pain was in good control. I was also encouraging him that in just a few hours he would breathing the wonderful cool crisp air of Germany and enjoying the wonderful trees. Being in the desert makes you appreciate cool air and trees. He looked at me with sadness in his face and said, “Yeah that sounds nice, but my men will still be here.” What an unselfish attitude. Here lies a man whose arm was torn apart from a bullet has lots of reason to feel sorry for himself and feel entitle to some better living conditions; but, no, his thoughts were for the men that would be left behind. I was humbled.

When I loaded him on the plane and told him to have a nice trip and tears filled his eyes. I am not sure what made him tear up, but I was wondering if his thoughts had returned to his men.

This episode brought back the thoughts of the movie “We Were Soldiers”. Hal Moore at the end of the movie has tears in his eyes as he prepares to leave the battle field, after many of his men had died. He said, “I will never forgive myself that my men died and I didn’t.” Both of these men were examples of selflessness and men of honor.

I daily witness men who teach me what it means to have honor and to be selfless. In these moments of instruction I realize how much I care for myself more than others. The thought brings me back to Christ. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Soli Deo Gloria