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#WhyWeCelebrate
By Justin Goldsborough | July 2nd, 2010
That’s Pete in right in the middle, front row.
Everybody has their reasons. For me, a big one is Pete. We went to middle school together, played on the same soccer team in high school, hung out with a lot of the same friends.
I remember how badly Pete wanted to go to West Point. His dad had gone there and it was very important to him to follow in his father’s footsteps.
After high school, we all headed to college and didn’t talk as much. But I would see Pete when he’d come home for holidays and summer, just like most of my other friends in college. I remember asking him about West Point and hearing stories of the early wake-up calls and the basic training courses. But other than that, a lot of what I heard sounded like a normal college experience.
After college, most of my friends went to grad school or started looking for a job. Pete had a stint with the Army. It was part of the deal for going to West Point and having his college paid for. And it sent him to Iraq for a year.
He called me once while he was over there. I remember talking to him and being humbled by what he was doing. I remember thinking I’m not sure I could have done it. Pete acted like it was no big deal. But I thought it was a huge deal. Still do.
When Pete got back, some of our high school friends got together to welcome him home. He told a lot of stories, but this is the one I’ll never forget. I’m may not get it word for word, but you’ll get the gist.
He told us about how they would walk down the street in Baghdad and sometimes kids would run up to the them as if to say hi or ask them something. 10-year-old kids, he said. I remember that part. Then he told us that when this happened, they would have to be prepared to defend themselves at anytime.
It puzzled me for a second and all my naive thoughts like “Why would you ever pull a gun on a 10-year-old kid” sprang into my head. Then Pete told us why. Sometimes those kids had machine guns and they weren’t afraid to pull them on our troops. Or someone might have strapped a bomb to one of them.
Not exactly your traditional warfare. I remember thinking I had no idea what it would be like to wake up somewhere thousands of miles from home and know your life was on the line every day to protect your country. I know most troops would say that’s just part of the job. But to me, it’s much more. And anyone who makes a sacrifice like Pete made should be celebrated.
So that’s why I celebrate…at least one of the reasons. Why do you celebrate? Be sure to share your reasons and stories on Twitter all July 4 weekend using the hashtag #WhyWeCelebrate. And a special thanks to Heather (@prTini) and Mike (@30lines) Whaling for starting such an important conversation.
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:38 am
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July 6th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
That’s a powerful story. I served during peacetime, but one of the things we talked about while pulling guard duty in the dark of night while on maneuvers in some “simulated” world hotspot (in reality a back woods locale of LA or MS), was, “What if this was real?” It was sobering. Thinking of men and women as young as I was then being there for real makes me really take stock. Thanks for sharing this, and for celebrating them. They deserve it. #*volunteer*forces
July 8th, 2010 at 7:22 am
Justin, I meant to comment earlier, but I just wanted to thank you for writing this. Reading your friend’s story gave me goosebumps! An excellent reminder of what our troops are going through over there …