Sgt. Daniel Angus, I love you and mourn your loss.

I never met the good Sargent, i have never even seen a picture of him. "The 28-year-old career Marine died Jan. 24 while on foot patrol in the Helmand province in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device detonated. The explosion also killed two other Marines. Angus, who grew up in Thonotosassa, was on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 2000 graduate of Armwood High School was promoted to sergeant in 2007. He had been awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, two Good Conduct Medals, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and a number of service decorations. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and daughter, Kaitlyn." Here is a young man whose funeral procession came by me, the street was shut off for him, we stood on the side of the road, we watched him go by, the police, the hearse, the family, the friends, the endless marines on motorcycles ... and the last police cars. I wondered to myself how quickly every one would forget him, how many of us that stood there were unaffected. I was struck by the pointlessness of it. Here is a young man, willing to travel to the ends of the earth in service of his country, and he is dead. He returned home to a hero's welcome, people stopped for a moment and waved a flag, there was a procession to the burial site, he was laid in the ground, 21 shots were fired and he was buried. His widow was handed a folded flag. His daughter will never know her father except from stories. He is a hero, he risked his life, bravely and with honor, he was selfless and he died on a foreign battlefield. Somehow the 21 gun salute, the folded flag and the 1 minute parade ring hollow. He died with two other Marines whose names i do not know, and i want to know how many more of the greatest of my countrymen will be sent to die? Eventually we will leave Afghanistan (as the English and the Russians did) eventually we will leave the unchanged wilderness behind, the violent tribalism and drug trafficking will continue unabated, the Taliban (or something like it) will rise from the ashes and rule Kabul with the iron fist of Shurria ... so how many more of the bravest of us, of the least selfish of us have to die first? So Sgt. Daniel Angus i salute you as a great American, i mourn your loss and we all should. You, who were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for me and for my family, deserved a mission worth dying for. All of you who serve deserve only to be sent to fight when your heart is being honored, that you are all willing to go and fight and die is something that can not be taken lightly. As commander in chief i send you to achieve goals that only you can, that benefit the world for generations, you go to stop aggressors and destroy tyranny, i could not, in good conscience send you to build a nation where none has ever stood, risking your life every minute you are on the ground.
Yesterday i saluted the casket of a hero, today i mourn his loss .. the words of John Donne seem to fit so well. "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee" with every soldier slain on the field of battle and with every widow at home, part of me dies. I weep for you Sargent and i weep for your widow and i weep for your daughter and i weep for us all. I pray for your comrades safety and their rapid return.

Memorial donations may be made to the Kaitlyn Marie Angus Fund at Railroad Industrial Federal Credit Union, 3710 N. 50th St., Tampa FL 33619.