Discus-n00b
07-14-2010, 03:25 AM
I debated posting this or not, but I figured since my section can serve as a blog for anything as well as discus, then it could go there. I guess I just needed to get it off my chest more then anything. Its something thats really been eating at me all day and i'm sure will for days to come. I think its the shock from hearing it.
Today I found out that a good friend of mine, and a fellow Marine, took his own life sometime this morning or late last night. I don't know details, not sure I want to, its just rough when something like this happens. Its hard to handle because you don't see it coming. He was 26 years old and was having a good life. He was one of my influences to join the Marines. Like many of us have done, he joined the Marine Corps post 9/11 during wartime fully aware of the sacrifices he might have to make. He had done 2 successful tours in Iraq, actual combat tours and returned safely from both. He was also a regular at church on Sundays. However, like most of these cases (suicides in the military) his past came back to haunt him.
Like I said, I don't know all the details, but I really believe one of those tours in Iraq really gave him a hard time afterwords. He worked one of the HARDEST jobs in the military during that tour, Mortuary Affairs. He did the dirty work for MA. He was the one collecting those KIA from the battlefield and field/base hospitals, processing them, and then sending them home so they may get the proper treatment for burial in the states. It really tore him up inside afterwords and he struggled with it for a while. I guess it finally was to much to bear. I've seen my fair share of "Angel Flights". Flights that carry the caskets of the men back to the states, and working one is never fun. I can't even imagine what he went through. I wish he would of let some of us help carry his weight and help him out. That is why its so hard to understand and accept, we would of helped him through it.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/joshB1a.jpg
Pray for his family please. RIP my friend, I look forward to to day where we will serve together again. He was a good friend, a good Marine.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
Corporal Josh Blakenship is at his post, and on duty.
December 25, 1984 - July 13, 2010
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/mac/20100122-N-2171N-001.jpg
Today I found out that a good friend of mine, and a fellow Marine, took his own life sometime this morning or late last night. I don't know details, not sure I want to, its just rough when something like this happens. Its hard to handle because you don't see it coming. He was 26 years old and was having a good life. He was one of my influences to join the Marines. Like many of us have done, he joined the Marine Corps post 9/11 during wartime fully aware of the sacrifices he might have to make. He had done 2 successful tours in Iraq, actual combat tours and returned safely from both. He was also a regular at church on Sundays. However, like most of these cases (suicides in the military) his past came back to haunt him.
Like I said, I don't know all the details, but I really believe one of those tours in Iraq really gave him a hard time afterwords. He worked one of the HARDEST jobs in the military during that tour, Mortuary Affairs. He did the dirty work for MA. He was the one collecting those KIA from the battlefield and field/base hospitals, processing them, and then sending them home so they may get the proper treatment for burial in the states. It really tore him up inside afterwords and he struggled with it for a while. I guess it finally was to much to bear. I've seen my fair share of "Angel Flights". Flights that carry the caskets of the men back to the states, and working one is never fun. I can't even imagine what he went through. I wish he would of let some of us help carry his weight and help him out. That is why its so hard to understand and accept, we would of helped him through it.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/joshB1a.jpg
Pray for his family please. RIP my friend, I look forward to to day where we will serve together again. He was a good friend, a good Marine.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
Corporal Josh Blakenship is at his post, and on duty.
December 25, 1984 - July 13, 2010
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/mac/20100122-N-2171N-001.jpg