I have lived with the memories for so long now, I can pretty much enjoy the good ones and push aside the bad ones. But today does bring back some of "lost friends." I salute them and drive on.

I have always been great at forgetting most of the bad and only remembering the good. I was fortunate early in my career to take care of combat wounded, both at Landstuhl (LRMC) and in Afghanistan. Last night during the National Memorial Day Concert I came to tears with the Gold Star story. The SM made it to LRMC and we had a 90%+ survival rate, however he did not make it. We were proud of that survival rate and it was painful to see her loss. I was not there when she lost her husband but it felt like I was.