The Final Roll Call

Yesterday I attended a Memorial Service with hundreds of others celebrating and honoring the life of a local soldier who was killed in Afghanistan last month. When I heard the news of this tragedy six weeks ago, I was completely shaken. The sister of the fallen hero is a coworker of mine and we spoke about when our guys would get home every single day. Now all of a sudden, from one day to the next, her soldier would not be coming home the way anybody anticipated.

The following week or two were without a doubt the hardest two weeks of the deployment for me, so far. I knew that thousands of military families had lost their loved ones in the past ten years, but I had never seen it happen to a family I knew first hand. It was a struggle for that family, and will always be a heartbreaking loss for them. It is important that their sacrifice is never forgotten.

The service was a beautiful tribute to the soldier's life and very emotional to sit through. I felt it was important to show my support for the family and to honor them and their soldier in any way I could. I cried during bits and pieces of the ceremony, but it wasn't until the end that I really let go and let myself sob.

The ceremony of The Final Roll call is usually done right before the twenty-one gun salute (at the funeral; which in this case had taken place in Georgia a few weeks ago) as a way to symbolize the absence of the fallen soldier. The names of soldiers present are called off and they respond. Then the name of the fallen is called in three forms with no reply.

Private Smith

"Here, Sergeant!"

Specialist Jones

"Here, Sergeant!"

Private Brown

"Here, Sergeant!"

Sergeant Doe

Silence

Sergeant John Doe

Silence

Sergeant John Adam Doe

Silence

(Even though the names have been released to the public, no real names were used here)



Watching "Sgt. Doe's" widow hunch over and cry aloud as they started the roll call was perhaps the most heartbreaking thing I've seen in my life. This is without a doubt the worst part of military life. Please pray for the families of those who have sacrificed so much for our great nation, so that we can choose to live our lives the way we do. They need all the strength they can possibly receive, and deserve more respect than is humanly possible to give.

(special thank you to Dana for helping me with this beautiful tribute)