Military service with honor

Yesterday evening the Air Force notified my brother-in-law and his wife that their son, our nephew, had been killed. At this point we do not know the details. We do know that the whole family is heart sore over the news. My brother-in-law and his wife have another son in the military. He is in the Navy. This is so typical of brothers, if one goes into one service, then the other has to go into another service.

As the regular readers of this blog know, our family has a strong tradition of service to their country. In part this is what gives me the freedom to post strong critiques of the government (federal, state, or local) at times or strong support of the government at times. Our family has “earned” the right to make our criticisms and give our compliments. My father-in-law was a “lifer” who served in Viet Nam; my wife’s uncle served in Viet Nam; I was drafted; another brother-in-law served over a decade in the Army, coming out as a Major; our son-in-law is currently in the military and has already served in Iraq, while his wife, our daughter, is currently a First Lieutenant in Iraq. All of us have served and are serving with honor.

Up until now, all of us have served and none of us has paid the ultimate price. But the thing about military service is that ultimately it is dangerous. Sometimes the price comes due in combat, sometimes during a training exercise, sometimes in an unexpected military accident. We do not know yet how our nephew has paid the price of honorable service. But, this we know, he served honorably and even while heart sore we are a family that continues to believe in service to our country.

President Kennedy had it right, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

From the Trisagion Prayers of Mercy:

O God of spirits and of all flesh, who hast trampled down death and made powerless the devil and given life to thy world: Do thou, thyself O Lord, give rest to the soul of thy departed servant Daniel, in a place of brightness, a place of verdure, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow, and sighing have fled away. Pardon every sin which he hath committed, whether by word or deed or thought: for thou art good and lovest mankind, for there is no man who liveth and sinneth not, for thou only art without sin, and thy righteousness is to all eternity, and thy word is truth.

For thou art the Resurrection and the Life and the Repose of thy departed servant Daniel, O Christ our God, and unto thee we ascribe glory, together with thine unoriginate Father and thine all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. . . .

May the immortal King, who hath dominion over the living and the dead, and who rose again from the dead, Christ our true God, through the intercessions of his all immaculate and all-blameless holy Mother; of the holy, glorious and all-laudable apostles; of our venerable forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; of the holy and righteous friend of Christ, Lazarus of four-days, and of all the saints, establish the soul of his servant, Daniel, departed this life, in the dwelling-place of the righteous, give him rest in the bosom of Abraham, and number him among the righteous, and have mercy on us, and save us, foreasmuch as he is good and loveth mankind.

May thy memory be eternal, O our ever-memorable brother who art worthy of blessedness.