United We Roll at Stardust Radio

Our Fallen Heroes make their final journey home from the foreign land where they gave their ultimate sacrifice to their home soil and to their loved ones under the cover and protection of Old Glory - our country's flag who flew with them, and now holds them close. At each point of the journey home, brothers and sisters in uniform are there to pay honor. The uniformed members stand at attention and salute the Fallen Heroes, as their own thoughts, prayers and feelings go on in their hearts and minds behind the sharp posture - with only their tears to hint at their feelings. This article was written by one such sister in uniform as a Marine made his journey home. You do not have to be there to shed a tear for this young Hero of Freedom.

Devil dog makes his last flight home
http://www.manas.afcent.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123210358

by Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss (Commentary)
376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

6/22/2010 - TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan -- From the moment I looked into the yawning mouth of the back of the C-17, I felt a lump in my throat begin to form.

It was a yellow flag heat condition day in humid Kyrgyzstan, and 50 Airmen and I were lined up on the tarmac, waiting to greet a young Marine who was coming home.

If only he was coming home the right way, I thought, as I heard the troop commander call the group to parade rest.

I'd picked the sunny side of the plane. With combined heat and humidity well into the 90s, at 3 p.m. the sun's rays were at their strongest. I'd picked the sunny side on purpose.

It's the least I can do to stand in the sun for just a few minutes, in order to greet this Marine the right way, I thought.

It was the very least I could do. If this Marine were alive, he'd probably have picked the sunny side, too.

He was an E-3, that Devil Dog. 29 years old. I was trying to wrap my mind around the reality of death ... yet again.

I shut my eyes briefly. In my mind's eye, I could picture his lifeless body, in a uniform that was probably still crusty with dirt, lying peacefully in the flag-draped coffin. I knew once they got him to Dover they would make sure every piece of his uniform and body were pristine, but for now I was betting his eyes were closed and he just looked like a battle-weary boy. I wondered how he died.

But before I could imagine too much farther, I opened my eyes and flicked an eyelid, trying to scare off a pesky bug without moving too much.

Group, tench-HUT!

We all snapped to attention as the mortuary affairs detail appeared with the box and began to descend the ramp. The lump in my throat rose.

Present-ARMS!

50 Airmen rendered honors to our fallen brother with a slow, respectful salute, and held it while the pallbearers marched in step.

It took six of them to carry his body.

As the casket passed, the field of blue with 50 stars draped over his head and his heart, I thought of his mother. I thought of his brothers, maybe his sisters. A bead of sweat trickled down my back.

Military bearing, Carolyn - remember your military bearing.

I tried so hard to hold back the tears, and I almost did. But one tear fell. One tear made a track down my cheek, and dripped off my chin, as I stood at attention to honor my comrade.

I don't really know exactly why I cried. Maybe it was because his short life was well lived. Maybe it was because his good life was cut short. All I know is, bearing or no bearing, this Marine deserved my tear.

That tear was for his mother. For his brothers. Maybe his sisters. That tear was for the men and women of Afghanistan who he died trying to help. For the Marines in his unit who would carry on without him. And for the Americans whose freedom he defended. Maybe it was a tear he never even shed as he shed the very last of his own blood, in service of his country and in the name of freedom.

Order-ARMS!

The Marine was ready for his last flight home.

Goodbye, my brother, I said in my mind. You served well.

Dis-missed.

May you rest as well as you lived.

===============================================
This Marine's dignified transfer occurred on the flight line of the Manas International Airport by Airmen of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan.

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio www.stardustradio.com
Tuesday 6/29/10 2:00pm – 4:00pm Central (Live)
Wednesday 6/30/10 6:30pm – 8:30pm Central (Repeat)

Welcome Stardust Listeners and thank you for joining us on United We Roll this Tuesday, the 29th day of June, 2010 as we take time to honor those who serve our country and who protect our freedom!!

For more articles on current happenings and news, please visit our United We Roll blog located at http://stardustradio.info/b2evolution/blog1.php and our United We Roll Facebook page located at http://www.facebook.com/UnitedWeRoll. You can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter/JudiBUSA.

For today's show, we have two very in depth and interesting visits with 3 of our special guests who are currently serving in Iraq. The show will actually end around 3:30pm Central, which puts us about 30 minutes short of the usual two hour period today. This is so we can move into a special project that overlaps just a bit with our normal show broadcast period. Remember, if you are not able to stay with us through the show this afternoon, it will repeat again tomorrow evening, Wednesday, June 30th at 6:30pm Central. In addition, an MP3 copy will be placed on our show archive site for listening and downloading. You can reach our archive site at www.stardustradio.info or on the United We Roll page at www.stardustradio.com.

(2:06pm) During our first visit today, we will be talking with two deployed Air force members who are serving with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing/Finance Management. SSG Eduardo Martin works in the Customer Service area where he helps fellow members with a wide variety of financial services and MSG Keith Monroe is in the Budget area, where he works with purchases from supply offices around the base, flight arrangements and payment for members going home on emergency and vacation leaves and a whole lot more. It is very interesting to learn how much accounting, banking and purchasing goes on in a deployed area. It surprised me to hear how involved the operation there is as well as the fact that they work pretty much 6-7 days per week, not like their stateside counterparts who have weekends off.

(2:44pm) Our next visit is with Army Chaplain/Major Barton Herndon who is currently deployed with the 1st HBCT, 3rd ID. This is not Chaplain Herndon's first deployment as he was also deployed in 2003-2004 in the Sadir City area which was a tough time and place to be. Chaplain Bart brings us a tremendous visit as he shares so many experiences of his own and those that impact the men and women who he supports in so many ways. This visit will be inspirational and tug at your heartstrings at the same time. You will not want to miss a minute of this visit and you may hear some things that will stay with you long after this show is over.

Ladies & Gentlemen, we wish to thank all of you for joining us today and we hope that you will be with us again next week when we will have more great visits from our Heroes of Freedom.

We would like to thank some folks without whom these visits would not be possible. Of course, this includes our very special guests. And our deepest appreciation goes to Mr Tom Conning and MSgt Mike Hamill. We again wish a wonderful homecoming for SSG Viss and a welcome to the Stardust Radio family for TSgt Jennifer Buzanowski.

With July 4th coming up this next weekend and so many events to celebrate Independence Day, let us not forget that our freedom was won with the blood of our forefathers and all generations since - including our brothers, sisters, moms & dads, sons and daughters of today. Let us find time to thank all who have continued to pass the gift of freedom down through the generations to us through their sacrifices - and let us remember that we must continue to protect this precious gift and pass it on to our children, so they can pass it on to theirs and so this great land of America will continue to be a land of freedom and liberty.

As always, our hearts and prayers go out to all of our military members, families, Veterans and to all of our first responders & their families - everyone who puts their lives on hold and on the line for us and our families.

We would like to remind our Veterans, active duty members, family members and anyone who is interested in health and legislative issues that affect those who protect our freedom to tune in to our other broadcasts – OFFE with Gene Simes and Jere Berry at 8pm Central on Tuesday nights and also with Rick Townsend and Firebase Network Sundays at 6:00pm Central.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL & MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!