Memorial Day - Thinking of Brian Freeman
Memorial Day means much more to me today than it did before I went to Iraq. Now I really do think of those who have died for causes beyond them. That is the real spirit of the day: sacrifice for the common good. Since soldiers do not get to choose what they fight for, we celebrate the sacrifice and do not judge the politics or specifics of the particular conflict.
This is what makes Memorial Day such universal holiday. Since we are observing the commitment & ultimate sacrifice that some Americans have made for reasons beyond their own, we can all respect and appreciate these two things together.
This Memorial Day, I think of Brian Freeman. Brian & I served in the same Civil Affairs battalion in Iraq when he was betrayed by the Iraqis who he was helping and killed. We both were at West Point for 3 of the same years, we both went to Fort Carson, Colorado for our first duty assignment. We were both in the Cavalry and he replaced my roommate as platoon leader. Brian spent his time off learning the bobsled & skeleton racing to take a shot at the Olympics... why not? He was a talented guy. He almost made it to the Olympics and had a great time doing it.
We both left the military and entered into real estate. Brian was working in the acquisition & development department of a major California builder and I was a Realtor. In 2006, we were both called back into the army and trained together for Iraq. We would talk at training about real estate and how we both intended to learn enough that we could eventually develop a small piece of land and see if it could work out and turn into bigger things. He had the OJT and I know between the two of us, he could have really done it right.
He also had a child and a pregnant wife as we were getting ready to go.
It was a small blessing that he was able to spend some time with his daughter born right before we left. Brian was one of those people that everyone liked and who was funny & witty without even appearing to try. He was just good.
Brian & I met one time while in the mix of it. We met at a meeting in the plush Green Zone about agricultural programs that we could implement in our areas of responsibility. He joked that he was a one man PRT (provincial reconstruction team) which was actually true. They were spread really thin in his area South of Baghdad.
The day Brian died, he was living with the local Iraqi authorities in his area of operations working with from before dawn to late at night every day to help them get their government working and solve problems from broken sewer systems, to how to hold a democratic meeting to dealing with corrupt police. That day, their was an unusual breakdown of security at the compound. Several men were able to drive in past security and enter the building armed without firing a shot. Brian was meeting with a local official when he was surprised by this assault force.
After a short an unsuccessful defense, Brian and a few other soldiers were taken hostage in the back of an SUV. The captors must have panicked by because they stopped and abandoned their vehicles. Before doing so, they shot Brian and the other hostages in the head. Brian was still alive when the army found the vehicles but could not make it to the hospital. A good man and good father gone before his time.
Brian, you are remembered this Memorial Day. You sacrificed a great life for something bigger than yourself and that is about as good of a eulogy as a man could receive.
-Brian Wilson