Life is Precious. "So Others May Live"

Blog Week 14

            The first person that comes to mind is my wonderful girlfriend Cynthia Flores, who I always wake up to every morning. With the annoying alarm clock going off Monday through Friday at 4:15am exactly, she gets up with me makes coffee and prepares my lunch for work. She’s the reason why I strive for the best on everything I put my mind to. From work to college she motivates me to put in 110% everyday. Through thick and thin we always make everything work. I hope to soon marry her, have kids, and grow old with her.

            When I was in second grade I met a kid named Angelo. From the first time we spoke to each other we always hung out at lunch, recess, and detention we formed a bond like blood brothers would. He has a funny egg shaped head with brown shaved hair. When it came to getting into trouble we were always the ones to blame, even when it wasn’t our faults. But when time went by we started to look back at life and we laugh at the silly things we did growing up. Without Angelo I think I would’ve ended up in jail or killed. Even through all the crazy events with Angelo, he still had a wise mind that I think he learned from his father. It’s been about 18 years now that I’ve known this man who now has a family of his own and lives in Texas. We still talk via the Internet or phones. I don’t think Angelo and I will never stop being brothers.

            Last but not least a fellow Sailor that died serving his country. I would like to keep his name anonymous due to security reasons and for the respect of his family. This wasn’t just any ordinary man this was my junior helicopter crewman. We flew several missions in Iraq, saving lives and completing any task given to us. This man changed my life forever. One night while flying in pitch darkness on a call to rescue a fellow soldier who was faulty injured from gun shot wounds. We flew for about an hour trying to find their location. But no luck and with time running short we started to run low on fuel. Our helicopter Commander made the choice to return to base and had a second helicopter take over while we flew back to refuel. On the way back to base we had a major engine malfunction causing us to spin out control, with both gunner side doors open the Sailor was thrown from the helicopter on impact. Causing him to shoot out the door killing him instantly. He leaves behind a little girl and his lovely wife. That’s when I knew my days of flying were too much. From this I learned that life is so precious and I should make every minute count. I knew this second crash was the one that broke the last straw on the camels back.