Fallen Hero

Three thirty in the morning in the valley of the Hindu Kush. With no moon the mountain peaks are shrouded in darkness but the landing field at Bagram Air Field has plenty of light tonight. There are shadows that break in straight lines looking like the set of a film noir movie in the 50’s. Soldiers are lined up on both sides of a runway and a C-17 airplane cargo bay is open. We are here for a Fallen Hero ceremony where a soldier just a few weeks in theater is going home in a casket. No one knows for sure how he died. Someone mentioned a sniper another and IED. Dead is dead.




The General is here standing at the end of the formation. A humvee drives up slowly - stops. The soldiers move with absolute precision each footstep measured as they unload the body. The casket is draped with the Stars and Stripes. There is a small army band playing in the background. The trumpet sounds plaintive the notes fall and the soldiers march the casket towards the plane.



We give a sharp salute as the soldier pass by us. The silence of the moment drowns out the steady drone of diesel engines. Everyone is at attention. Soldiers and their weapons are still. There will be frost in the morning and the cadence of soldiers footsteps doesn’t vary as they move inside the cargo plane setting the casket like a jewel.



The First Sergeant gives the order to break formation and we scatter into the night burying sorrow under the stars.

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