The Red in the Flag (Memorial Day 2016)

(Note: I am slowly bringing my entire back catalog of posts, letters, and podcasts onto Substack for paid subscribers. This post is from Memorial Day 2016.)

It's Memorial Day in the United States, the day set aside to remember the sacrifice of those who have died while serving in our country's military.

To date, there have been over 1.4 million combat-related deaths in our nation's history. Think about that number for a moment- 1.4 million. It's such a big number that we can't really process it, so sometimes we don't even think past it. 

But those are one million, three hundred thousand individual people. Sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters.   

It's solemn. Important. 

It matters. 

And so, today while you're enjoying your day off, please take at least a moment to remember those families who will have an empty chair at the table. 

When you see the flag flying in the breeze today, think about the red. Officially, the red in the flag stands for hardiness and valor.

But to me it's for the blood that was shed for our freedom. 

Not many days of my life go by without me thinking of them, the three hundred or so American service members who died while I was in Iraq. I took care of some of them, as part of the 332nd Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad Air Base. 

I can still see a lot of their faces, hear their cries, smell the congealed blood and feel their pulses weakening as they bled out. 

War is not pretty. And for those of us who have been there, we don't reminisce and wax nostalgic about it. Not the on-the-ground reality of it, anyway. 

When I think about those 1.3 million lives, I recognize the selflessness, the sacrifice, the heroism, the love required to willingly put yourself in the line of fire for someone else. It's beautiful; in fact, Jesus said that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend (John 15:13). 

But being there is anything but lovely. 

WARNING: The picture below is medical, and it's bloody. Don't look at it if you're squeamish.