This article is from Time magazine...

well done... not politicized either which makes it even better.
Please continue to surround our Military members and their families with our love, thoughts and prayers. It is they that make the sacrifices so that we can continue to live in freedom.

Before you count your blessings.......please remember to thank our past, present and future military members for making those blessings possible.

Around the Clock

At his home in Aurora, Colorado, Maj. Steve Beck, site commander of Marine Air Control Squadron 23 (MACS-23) at Buckley AirForce Base, hugs his wife Julie before leaving at 2 a.m. to conduct a casualty notification. "If it was your son," he says, "would you want us to let you sleep?"

The Journey Home

Marines unload the body of 2nd Lieut. (2Lt) Jim Cathey, 24, from a commercial flight to Reno, Nevada, as passengers watch.

Grief Catcher

Clinging to Beck, Katherine Cathey of Brighton, Colorado, breaks down at the sight of the coffin of her husband Jim, a Second Lieutenant killed by a booby trap in Al Karmah. She cursed Beck when he arrived and wouldn't speak to him for an hour. But by the time they reached the airport, she wouldn't let go.

Final Farewell

Katherine Cathey weeps on her husband's casket at the Reno airport as Major Beck comforts her. She clung to it for several minutes, refusing to move. "I know Jim's going to be with me in so many ways, " she said later. "And there will be so many people who will teach his son about his father".

Last Vigil

On the eve of the funeral, Katherine insisted on sleeping next to Jim's body, so the Marines arranged a bed and offered to stand guard all through the night. She fell asleep to music she and Jim had planned to play at their formal wedding celebration when he returned.

A Father's Lesson

Jim Cathey's father, Jeff, hugs a Marine as his son's funeral nears. "Someone asked me what I learned from my son," he said. "He taught me you need more than one friend."

Step by Step

Beck takes the effects of Lance Corporal Kyle Burns, killed in a fire fight in Fallujah, to parents Bob and Jo in Laramie, Wyoming.

Honor

Jo thanks Beck after accepting her son Kyle's medals.

Like Family

Three months after Lance Corporal Joe Welke died from wounds sustained in a gun battle in Fallujah, Beck revisited the Welke family in Rapid City, South Dakota, on what would have been Joe's birthday. "He would be 21," said his brother Nick. "The one you look forward to."

Home Comforts

Beck hugs his kids Stephen, 2, and Lindsey and Abagail, both 4. After one burial, "all I wanted to do was play with my children," he says. "But all I was thinking about was all those guys out there in harm's way, making all that possible."