Two fallen heroes

I began this post to share with you about things going on in Blaine's deployment. I guess now comes the hard part where I have to share sad news with all of you. Some of you if not most of you have already heard through the news and word of mouth that 2 men in Blaine's unit were killed Monday. According to the press release by the FRG, Sergeant Gary Henry and Spc. Jonathan Menke died of wounds suffered when debris from an improvised explosive device (IED) detonation on an overpass fell onto their vehicle. A third soldier, Spc. John Blickenstaff was injured in the same vehicle. He was cared for in the field and due to the great care he recieved he survived and is doing well. When I talked to Blaine today he said that Blickenstaff was awarded the purple heart while in the hospital in Germany. These men were not assigned to Blaine's platoon, however their unit is very close and small enough that everyone knows everyone else. I know that Blaine has taken this to heart and that the rest of the unit has as well. They will all spend some time together this week and have a memorial for the soldiers before they return to the states. Blaine seems to be dealing with this alright. I know that we will all worry for him and the other soldiers in the 38th. They have truly lost 2 family members and 2 families will be missing them here as well. The following links will lead you to articles about the soldiers.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080807/LOCAL/808070441/-1/ARCHIVE

http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=178&SubsectionID=961&ArticleID=45564&TM=59065.82

We all knew that these things were a possibility and I know that we all prayed that it was something we wouldn't have to deal with. I know that this will make things more difficult for awhile but I truly believe that best thing for use to do right now is be sure to keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers. Especially the families of the fallen soldiers. If you have any questions about things that happened I'm going to ask you to send them to me and not Blaine. I know that he would be more likely to know the answer more in depth but there are a lot of things that he can't tell you and I think that right now he may not want to talk about the situtation. When we have briefly discussed it I know that he feels it is too soon to talk about. But I think that is to be expected. Not to mention he has so much going on for himself with his new location and trying to keep everything in order with his platoon and making sure his own soldiers are doing alright.

On a lighter note I will be updating my picasa pictures tonight as well. http://picasaweb.google.com/gellert.k
I never added pictures from the 4th of July so they will be up. Also pictures from our trip to the Bodies exhibit and of Jessica Doll and Nick Weilers wedding. If you are reading this before 8:30am on Friday do me a favor and say a quick prayer for me today. I'm taking a graduate exam on Friday at 8:30 in order to be admitted to Xavier for grad school. Other than that I'm looking forward to a night out on the town with my girlfriends on Saturday night. Oh and I got my hair cut short again! It's great.

I guess I will end by asking you all to say a prayer for the families and friends of Sgt. Henry and Spc. Menke. Please say a prayer for the soldiers too. Oh and for Blaine and the other members of the 38th MP Co. Thats a lot of requests, but I really feel that it is important.

P.S. I love you Blaine....and I'm so proud of you...only 198 days till we are together again.