This wasn’t exactly what I planned to write about in my next post, but as we know, life never works the way we expect. This morning at work I checked my Facebook account on my phone and found out that my friend Ron was killed in Afghanistan this weekend. His truck was hit by an IED; Ron and another soldier were killed, along with a civilian translator. Three other soldiers were wounded. That’s all I know so far. Remember this post I wrote over the summer about meeting the solider and spending all night talking with him? Well, that was Ron. We talked a lot after he left for his re-assignment in Hawaii and then even more once he got to Afghanistan. So while I haven’t known him my whole life, my heart still breaks at the loss of his life. Through our conversations I knew how scared he was to go. We talked often through Facebook while he was deployed and he never wanted anything sent to him in care packages, all he asked for was letters and emails.
It just seems so surreal right now. I had to leave work when I found out and I’ve felt numb and blank ever since. I can’t believe he’s really gone. He was such a happy guy, stationed out of Hawaii and he couldn’t wait to get back to the beaches. We even talked about going to his Military Ball when he returned in April. Ron always made a point to send me notes whenever he could from Afghanistan. He left me a message about his faith in my Thanksgiving Dinner cooking skills.
I’ve lost too many people in my life, and I feel like I should be a seasoned pro at this point, but turns out, I’m not. Death is so permanent. So cruel and so unforgiving. I had a bad feeling when he deployed, but always hoped I was wrong. It breaks my heart to think that he suffered. I can only pray it happened quickly and he had no time to be afraid. While I know he’s safe now, and won’t feel any more pain, I know the people left behind have a long journey ahead. I just don’t know what else to say. It was hard enough to put these words down. Ron, it was honor to know you.
It just seems so surreal right now. I had to leave work when I found out and I’ve felt numb and blank ever since. I can’t believe he’s really gone. He was such a happy guy, stationed out of Hawaii and he couldn’t wait to get back to the beaches. We even talked about going to his Military Ball when he returned in April. Ron always made a point to send me notes whenever he could from Afghanistan. He left me a message about his faith in my Thanksgiving Dinner cooking skills.
I’ve lost too many people in my life, and I feel like I should be a seasoned pro at this point, but turns out, I’m not. Death is so permanent. So cruel and so unforgiving. I had a bad feeling when he deployed, but always hoped I was wrong. It breaks my heart to think that he suffered. I can only pray it happened quickly and he had no time to be afraid. While I know he’s safe now, and won’t feel any more pain, I know the people left behind have a long journey ahead. I just don’t know what else to say. It was hard enough to put these words down. Ron, it was honor to know you.