A True Warrior

     CPL Watkins, like many of us, left behind a message to be read if he didn't make it home safely.  He left it with his best friend, who honored us all by reading it during the memorial ceremony.  Here is the man in his own words:

Please do not despair nor grieve for me. Be proud and talk highly of me for I have done what I was called to do. As a young boy watching "The Green Berets" with John Wayne, I knew a life in the military was my life and possibly my death. I feared not the unknown and so I set forth on this journey knowing full well what it might mean. I must go for now, stand firm and take up this fight. Oh yes, I intend to fight hard for I have reason to come home. If you are reading this, then you know I have failed at my task. Only life threw me a curve, a man seldom has a choice in the manner of his death. It is only the manner in which he lives that is a mark of a true warrior.”

Comments

[Harmony]

God bless all our men and women serving us!

[YankeePaPa13]

Amen.. Semper Fildelis..

[Kelley]

Stay focused, maintain the course and you honor Cpl Watkins and all our other brave souls..... Hang tough and know we all stand with you... you guys rock Capt B......

[A Serving Soldier]

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." -- General George S. Patton

[Subsunk]

A Man among Men. God Bless All in his House. Subsunk

[Subsunk]

A Man among Men. God Bless All in his House. Subsunk

[Huntress]

"No me saques sin rason. No me embaines sin honor"; meaning "Do not draw me without justice, do not sheathe me without honor" As I read this letter written by Cpl Watkins, the above quote came to mind. In the distant past, The Knights Templars swore that they would never draw their swords unless convinced of the justice of the cause in which they were engaged, nor to sheathe it until their enemies were subdued. That seems to embody how Cpl Watkins lived and died.