On Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe

 

This is Sarah Beckstrom in her Army National Guard uniform, where she was happily serving her country - our country - in the capacity that we are all responsible for assigning her to do.

 Guardsmen go where they are ordered. Not because they particularly want to, nor because they have an agenda. They go simply because someone up the chain of command told them to go. They are assigned duties. Sarah's was standing guard duty over a building. Not a particularly offensive duty, or at least it shouldn't be. When was the last time you went to a concert and there were no guards, no security. Did it offend you that they were there? Or did it make you fell just a little bit safer?

Sarah wasn't there to serve her own political, personal or ideological purposes. She was there because she was ordered to be and she was doing the job she was ordered to do. She was a good soldier. She was also a young woman on the brink of putting together her future. That has all ended. It cannot continue. Her story has been tragically and oh so sadly cut short.

Sarah died in the line of duty. She was 20 years old. As a soldier, the ones who ultimately carry the responsibility for her death is us, the people. We elected the officials who gave the orders that ended up putting Sarah on a street in Washington, D.C. We are truly and ultimately at the top of the chain of command. And as such, it falls to us to mourn her loss and remember that she gave her life as a soldier. No more or less so than any fallen soldier on any battlefield this country has ever put troops on. She deserve our respect, our honor and our remembrance. She certainly has mine. We are less because of what happened to her.

This is Andrew Wolfe, USAF Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe. At this writing, he is in a hospital with severe and life threatening injuries from a gunshot wound he suffered in the line of duty. It is unknown whether or not he will survive.

He, like Sarah, was simply doing what he was ordered to do in service to his country. Again, the ultimate responsibility for his wounds belong to "we, the people". He was in service to us, doing his duty for us - not some ideal, policy or preference  - for us. 

While I am praying for his full recovery, I would ask that all of us keep him in our consciousness. He deserves all the good thoughts we can send his way. He has more than earned them.

And I would also ask that we save the finger-pointing, blaming and political maneuvering until after the mourning. It is not appropriate to use these young peoples' and their families' horror for political or personal gain. Sarah deserve our reverence. Andrew deserve our honor. 

Please give it to them. They deserve so much more than we can ever, as a nation, give them.