Unsung Heroes

I was directed to a post today on Blackfive about a song project that involves a group we seldom hear about or even recognize the importance of their work.  It is a song called Angel Flight that honors the men and women who fly fallen servicemembers back to the States from combat zones.  I first heard about it a few months back and was taken aback by how I really didn't know about them and had taken their mission for granted.  I have posted the final video and a behind the scenes segment here as well.





You can purchase the song on iTunes with the proceeds going to support families of the fallen. Seeing this post reminded me that not only do we tend to place the whole idea of combat outside of our daily thoughts, but that there are many groups of unsung heroes across all walks of our lives. And I hope to highlight some of those in future posts. But a number military specific unsung groups came to mind first.

In the process of ordination with an ordaining body on the other side of the country I have personally ridden on flights with fallen Marines and Soldiers as they made their way back home for the final time. And typically forgotten in that trek is the individual(s) that accompanied them along for that journey. Luckily, for a time, they were brought into our national vision through the movie Taking Chance which I highly recommend.

A second group that I was reminded of was that of the Chaplains and Casualty Assistance Officers that are called on to make the initial notification of the death or serious injury of a service member. These individuals take the full force of grief that a family experiences and even must endure anger directed at them as representatives of the government. There was a great book written about one CACO officer in the West titled Final Salute that I also highly recommend for a look into a fairly thankless and time consuming duty that is in addition to one's regular full time job.

I am sure there are many other groups that deserve similar recognition and welcome suggestions for further posts and exploration not just within the military community. But seeing how a majority of my life has been associated with the military, I naturally am drawn to those type of stories.