Haha this made me giggle (;
HAHAHA!
Here’s the story behind this picture:
During one of my dad’s tours in Iraq, he made a friend named Major Hecker. Major Hecker was the company XO and on their way to Iraq they bought cigars and agreed to smoke them together when they got back to the states.
While stationed in Najaf, my dad’s unit experienced five casualties when an explosive detonated near a humvee. Major Hecker was killed, leaving behind a wife and kids. My dad was not only pulled up to fill some pretty big shoes as the company XO but forced to fill the place of one of his best friends.
This weekend my parents are in NYC for a friend’s graduation and my dad was very adamant about getting to the memorial cemetery there to see Major Hecker’s grave for the first time.
He had kept the cigar in his dresser drawer and six years later he finally got to smoke that cigar with him.
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, Task Force No Slack, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, say farewell to fallen comrades during a memorial service for six fallen Soldiers at Forward Operating Base Joyce in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, April 9. Six troops were killed on the battlefield during combat operations March 29.
Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Burrell
