Skip to main content

Another Fallen Guardsmen....



Unfortunately one of my duties as a staffer for Joint Forces Headquarters is to handle some of the processes that are in place when our soldiers die. Today I went to my first funeral for a KIA (killed in action) Soldier. The Soldier's name was SGT Ryan Montgomery. Montgomery was from Greensburg, a small town in Central Kentucky. Montgomery was in a Field Artillery oufit that was tasked with force protection and convoy security missions around Baghdad. On July 3rd Montgomery fell to a roadside bomb. Very sad, but not as sad as the disruption that almost occurred at his funeral.

Last night I went to a bar to unwind after work, a guy at the bar wearing a suit and a tie struck up a conversation with me, and we inevitably started talking about "work", he was intrigued when I told him that I was a Second Lieutenant. He immediately started asking whether or not I had heard about, or knew the latest soldier from the Kentucky Guard that had been killed. I told him no, but I was planning to attend the funeral. He told me that he planned to go to help keep the protestors away from the family. When I asked him what he meant, he stated that a nutcase from Arkansas who claims to be a Minister is picketing the funerals of deceased servicemen in a celebration. Essentially, because they claim that someone blew up their church, now God is punishing our servicemen by killing them with IED's. I later learned that this is the famous lunatic who picketed Mathew Shephard's funeral.

When I got home, I called the SGS at home and told him about what I heard, but he was already in the loop. I was shocked to learn that they had picketed a funeral of another KY Guard soldier. I wondered why I had not heard about it, but apparently a group called, "Taskforce Omega" had intervened and stumped any attempts that the members of Westboro Baptist Church made to disrupt the funeral. These brave and patriotic people decided to attend this funeral in order to ensure that the Church did not disrupt the funeral.

Luckily, the protestors declined to set up when they saw the big group of Task Force Omega members. Task Force Omega is comprised of bikers, many of whom are Vietnam Vets. They are a rough and tumble looking group, but I really admire their resolve. They plan these "counter-protests", and sometimes travel hundreds of miles to attend funerals. After this funeral was over, I walked over to the group and shook each one of their hands and thanked them for their service. Great Americans they are....each and every one of them.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Have you ever wondered how a man with such a horrible face could ever be able to marry such a lovely lady? Well, Now you know the truth about Douglas Kelly (Kelly not Kelley) Smith. He's an advocate of Rufies and other mind altering drugs. How else could someone that butt ugly ever connect with someone like that. Mrs. Smith, let me commend you for such laudable sympathy to have actually stuck with him for so long.

Just kidding - It's Pollock. What's up man!
Agnes said…
Hi, I got to your blog from my photo blog's tracker. Reading what you are going through in the front line makes me feel what I put on my blog so trivial! I wish you all the best ... and be home safe soon. Take care!
Anonymous said…
Just my humble opinion, but in a world of "perfect justice" (which the USA surely isn't given the quagmire of the US "justice system") the "minister" would benefit greatly by getting stomped into a coma as an object lesson about respect and honor.

Popular posts from this blog

Being an Officer...a Black one.....is sometimes hard. [Howard Rollins from "A Soldier's Story"] Sometimes being an Officer is difficult....not because of hard tasks, short timelines, or all of the worries involved in the care of your Soldier's, but the aura of professionalism and objectivity that you must display at all times. There have been many times that I have wanted to make a comment, yell, cuss at someone, or otherwise let my personal feelings be known about a subject, but unfortunately I could not because of my position. Let me tell you about two incidents that bothered me in particular. I was in Dallas Ft. Worth airport waiting to catch a flight on the last leg of my TDY trip to help a returning unit at Ft. Sill. As I went to my gate, I saw 4 Sailors in their black uniforms gathered at the gate...one was large and white, the other three were black. There was very little room, and many of them were standing intermingled with civilian airline passengers
One day and one half... I just woke up in my hotel room after a night of fun and good times with my wife at 4th Street Live. I glanced out the window, and realized that I was facing the sullen reality that I have today and tomorrow on leave, and that Tuesday means the end of my contact with my family for a great while. I have approached this time on leave with the solid intent of not concentrating on how much time I had left, but rather the quality of the time that I was using. Somehow, it just didn't work like I thought that it would. I have noted that these past two weeks have flown by, much quicker than any other two weeks that I have experienced in my life. If deployment were to go like this, the time wouldn't seem so unbearable. But, nonetheless I suppose that I need to get myself prepared for the inevitable. The reality is that my oldest son Devon who just finished the seventh grade will be starting his Freshman year of High School once I get back. Robbie who just
The Thought Police: a necessary function for our safety? Please take a look at this video and tell me what you think. When I saw this, obviously I was shocked, but even more than that, I started trying to frame my thoughts into the context of what I do for a living. Obviously in this country people have a right to express their opinion on everything that goes on. I am happy we don't live in a police state where so many things are censored and forbidden. However, I don't think that we should overlook people like this, the "Miami 7", or any other nutcases out there that are Anti-American. I don't believe that the United States has done everything properly over the years, but I do believe in the inherent "goodness" in America as a whole. So, should we kick the doors in of these people and haul them off to some austere prison complex for creating such a hateful and radical video? Certainly not, but I do think that they should be watched very closely, and