Thursday Abe's wife, Leslie, put together a little party so that friends new and old could just hang out with 'the trio' before they departed for Afghanistan.
Several of us from the office attended to hang out with our dear friend before his year long journey.
On Friday the State put on a very formal ceremony at the Mandalay Bay. It was a beautiful ceremony. There were several congressional speakers as well as military. Several speeches brought tears to my eyes. I think the one thing that shot me straight into water works though was when they asked all the children of the soldiers to go down on the floor. It killed me to see all those lil ones watch their daddies or mommies leave them.
After the formal part, they released the soldiers to mingle with their families and friends. Then they brought out his gigantic cake decorated to look like a tank. It was awesome!!! The top rotated and everything!
Unfortunately, Abe is not my only friend to be leaving. One of my former leaders who is now the Command Sergeant Major of the Calvary is going. A former co-worker that would do the SOAR camps with me is going. My dear friend Todd, who I watch football with nearly every Sunday, is going too. There are several others that I know and they ALL will remain in my thoughts and prayers every single day. 
2 comments:
I want to pretend Abe and your friends aren't going, but I guess I can't live in my fairy tale world any longer. God be with all of them!
Carol said exactly what I was gonna say. Really. Honest. Nice post.
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