Stryker Brigade News

Larry Glemser shared with me some of the e-mails he and his son have exchanged during Jason's deployment. They provide a glimpse of the dangerous job he and other members of our armed forces are doing in Iraq as well as their commitment to that job.

They also reflect the affectionate bond between a warrior father and his warrior son.

Here are two of their many letters.

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May 31

This Memorial Day was not like any other. This day we lost another soldier, Pfc. Jeremy Lovelace. He was one of the company medics. I want to say that he was in my company, but I no longer am the company commander since I switched out (to headquarters) in March. But you can't just disconnect from these kids.

Pfc. Lovelace showed up to the company about 2-3 months before we deployed. I remember the day he showed up with a couple of other new medics. He looked like a little kid, but he was 25. Of course, he was quiet when he met me. I mean he just showed up to a foreign country (Some people think Alaska is.), and he was told don't unpack, we are deploying to Iraq in a couple months. And now he is standing in front of his company commander, being welcomed to the company and being told not to mess up. But you could tell by looking at him that he was a good kid and was going to be a good medic.

He was married — Melissa — and had a 4-year-old daughter. He chose not to move his family up to Alaska since he was leaving so soon. It made sense. You can just ask Laurie what it is like to get married and then move to some new state with no friends and then have your husband leave. So they decided that his family would stay in Oregon with her family. So I never had the chance to meet his wife and daughter.

But on this Memorial Day, Lovelace was hit by a lucky shot. We all wear body armor. We have many soldiers that can tell you personally that it works. But you can't cover your whole body.

Lovelace is the seventh soldier that we've lost. We have over 60 Purple Hearts that have been awarded. This Memorial Day just makes you think and brings what it truly means to reality. I send this e-mail not for responses back but because everyone always asks what is it like, and for the most part we can't tell what we do every day. I know I just tell Laurie that everything is good. But every day we have great Americans like Lovelace doing their job and not asking anything in return, just counting down the days until they can be home with their families.

I ask that you pray for Jeremy, Melissa and their daughter. There is another wife that will never hold her husband and another child that will never have her father hold her again.

I ask that, while you pray for the Lovelace family that you continue to remember all of those who gave for our country. Freedom isn't free. The best thing you can do is pray for us. And fight for our country at home. Don't let the scum at home disrespect our country and all that it stands for.

I know Memorial Day (my anniversary) will have a new meaning from now on.

Jason

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June 2

Well I know you have been busy ... and a lot of things to think about. Your Memorial Day letter was very profound, to say the least.

We both are aware of the high cost of freedom and so are many of our brothers in arms. Only about less than 2 percent of Americans have ever served in the military. Only a few have ever seen combat. The few have been blessed to give the rest of the country peace and to prosper, which for the most part has been taken for granted by the rest of the nation.

For that is not our lot. Our mission is at hand, and the price is to be paid, as you know, many different ways. I believe God does look down and bless the nation for our beliefs and sacrifice. For many are called but few are chosen. And you, my son, have been chosen and you took up the challenge to defend our nation.

With the family sacrifice and lonely season that you and your family and loved ones must go through. We know not the future but must strive to live each day with the responsibility that has been put on our shoulders (a cross). It's easy to know that this is just and right. We must never forget our culture and way of life, our Christian heritage.

That is our lot, and that is what you are doing. A calling from our Creator, our Savior, is not easy. That's another reason why we pray. To believe, to sacrifice, to know acts of selflessness is a blessing from the Holy Spirit.

When I was up in Alaska before you left for Iraq, I remember you talking to a kid, when we were leaving the building, about a soldier who just showed up, and the word was for him not to even unpack because your unit was leaving for the sandbox, Buds! I remember that. So now I know who it was you were talking about. Pfc. Lovelace.

So for him he has given his all. With tears running down my face, I can only feel sorrow and be silent in my head and heart. What can one say?

My son, we still have prayer. We still have a loving God. We still have his son who gave us his all for our transgressions. And only can we hope to see tomorrow brighter.

Thanks for your sacrifice, and thank the rest of your troops also.