This is the last old post that I will move over from blogspot.
I stopped updating my blog last year after this happened. I found that I got more feedback from the web forums that I'm on. However, I should keep my blog up so here is the information. This is the original post on one of my forums:
I found out today that a buddy of mine from the Oregon National Guard was killed in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Nathaniel "Brad" Lindsey.
Keep the faith, brother.
I dunno if this is the right place to post this, but I think I will anyway.
Later, I made another post in a different thread:
If you remember from the sad thread, a buddy of mine was killed in Afghanistan on September 9. I went to the memorial on Friday. It was actually a good experience (despite the circumstances). It wasn't all sad. There were some happy stories told about my friend and I was glad for it.
I saw a bunch of my National Guard buddies many of whom I haven't seen for a year or more. The service itself was very good. The governor of Oregon was there and the Lieutenant Colonel for whom my buddy drove almost two years gave a very long and touching tale of his experiences with my friend. Nothing was morose about it. This Colonel, who I saw almost break into tears during the casing of the unit's colors ceremony earlier this year, told some stories about Brad that often had the audience laughing. That is a good thing, in my opinion.
Another thing about the memorial was the music they played. A lot of it was American country music that was appropriate. It was probably more moving than anything else in the service other than the Colonel's eulogy.
Anyway the point of this is, while I'm watching Firefly episodes right now, at my own funeral I want the Firefly theme song played. It is that good of a song and I think it reflects my values pretty well.
Now this isn't about me. It's about my friend Brad, who I served with during AT 2005 and in New Orleans. I miss him.
TinSoldier posted on Mar 23, 2007
| views: 532
Comments
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chassbrownvietvet said on Mar 24, 2007....
I feel your loss, TinSoldier. And the here are the words to your music.Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me.
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me.
Leave the men where they lay
They'll never see another day
Lost my soul, lost my dream
You can't take the sky from me.
I feel the black reaching out
I hear its song without a doubt
I still hear and I still see
That you can't take the sky from me.
Lost my love, lost my land
Lost the last place I could stand
There's no place I can be
Since I've found Serenity
And you can't take the sky from me. -
lambovet said on Mar 24, 2007....
TS-So sad, I'm proud of all of our military men and women. Death in combat is awful. Death in any of these current combats is just too tragic. Won't someone please just pull them back? If you want to go back in then damnit, PLAN for them. The wounded, the dead,- Don't sneak them back into their homeland under cover of darkness like common thieves. These men and women are our heroes. Declare war if it is the right thing to do and let us glorify their sacrifices, and honor their heroic actions. -
TinSoldier said on Mar 25, 2007....
Thanks, Lambo.
My friend died in Afghanistan, however, which I still see as an honorable fight. I hope that our distraction in Iraq does not detract from the good works that we have tried to do in Afghanistan. Too many good men and women have died in both places.
Sorry. Even now six months later, even though I didn't know Brad as well as I should have, thinking about it makes me break down. Let me tell you, he's the last guy on earth that I ever thought that this would happen to.
If you've read the article, which contained much more about this man than I ever knew, I know that I will never live up to his example.
Lambo, it's not your fault, but your compassion and understanding made me break down just now. It's taken me a couple of minutes to compose myself again. It's just so hard, and I'm sure you understand much more than I do myself.
I mean, Brad was the guy you could always bum a smoke off of. He always came to me with the commo problems for the Battalion Commander's radio problems. He always gave me the scoop from the inner circle to which I was not privy.
His family still needs him! Sorry, I can't go on any more. I'm bawling my eyes out right now...
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silverwhisper said on Mar 25, 2007....
TS, when was this? and i'm sorry for your loss.
ed -
Alyss said on Mar 25, 2007....
{hugs} TS again. -
pixiegirl2 said on Mar 25, 2007....
i'm sorry for your loss, losing a friend is so awful, i can't imagine of losing one of my friends. i wish i could say something that would make you feel better, but i don't know what to say. although i just say this, the ones we love never leave us, they will always live in our hearts where no god can take it from us, so dwell him in your heart. -
TinSoldier said on Mar 25, 2007....
ed: It was September 9, last year. I had posted it elsewhere as well.
Alyss: Thanks.
I'm not usually a weepy drunk guy. A drunk guy who types too much, maybe. But it was just Lambo's post or something that just hit me last night like a two-by-four to the back of the head.
I mean, it wasn't his post itself that made me let loose all of a sudden, but it was just, I don't know. I still don't know how to describe it. He wasn't even supposed to deploy to Afghanistan. He'd already been to Iraq and Kuwait, like so many others of us.
When I first heard about it on the television news, I didn't know for sure that it was the Lindsey that I knew.
After hearing about it I researched quickly and found out it was the guy I knew. He was the driver for the Lt. Col. who was our battalion commander until our unit was deactivated in January 2006. Brad went with the colonel and remained his driver, and when Brad found out that Lt. Col. Stuckey was going to Afghanistan he decided to go as well.
Brad deployed to Afghanistan with the rest of the Oregon National Guard before Lt. Col. Stuckey was able to make it over.
He wasn't one to stay at headquarters, and that is one of the things that helped get him killed.
I've been thinking about it all day today. I want to think that I wasn't just crying for one soldier who I knew that died in one war, but for all the young men who've died in war.
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silverwhisper said on Mar 25, 2007....
i'm so sorry about brad, TS.
ed -
MissMimi said on Mar 26, 2007....
TS, my deepest sympathies to you.
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