This one comes from Blackfive, courtesy of the someone you should know section. Luke Milam attended Columbine High school in 1999. He usually ate lunch in the cafeteria, and then went to the library. If he had held to his usual, he would have been in the library, and may have been killed. He most certainly would have been injured.

Instead, Milam went home to attend to a sick dog. He lost two friends that day, but the experience changed his life. He decided after one of the memorials to join the navy and become a corpsman so that he would never be un-prepared for a situation like that again.

“He had first blamed himself for his friend’s death, for not being in the cafeteria, for not saving people, for not knowing what to do, but had come to the realization that he did not have the skills or the knowledge to have made a difference.”

At that point, West said, Luke Milam vowed to go into the Navy, become a corpsman and prepare himself so “he would never be in that position again,” West said.

On September 25^thMilam made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting near the city of near the city of Musa Qula, which is in an opium poppy growing area of Afghanistan. Coalition forces are still routinely getting in major battles there.

Here’s how one of Milam’s friends and fellow Marines described meeting Milam:

And at the service, Major General Dennis Hejlik, the commanding general of Marine special forces told Luke’s parents, sister and two brothers what a special guy Milam was who was always there for his fellow soldiers.

Hejlik had gotten to know Milam in Iraq.

The general had first seen Milam and his platoon when they walked into a tent following three days of fierce combat, the grimiest, dirtiest Marines he had ever seen, he said.

They dropped their gear with a thud, sat down for some chow, but before they took a bite, the men grasped hands and “gave thanks to the Lord,” Hejlik said.

In Iraq, Milam was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery after his platoon came under savage attack. He pulled injured soldiers from burning vehicles, arranged a defensive perimeter and fought off the attackers, Hejlik said.

In 2006 Milam was honored as being one of the best soldiers in U.S. Marines Forces Special Operations with the “Operator of the Year Award.”

“God bless you for your son,” Hejlik told the Milam family. “We can never replace him. I knew Luke personally. He was an absolutely marvelous guy. He was huge and he was humble.”

Ken George, a senior chief medical hospital corpsman, who had known Milam throughout his career, said that Milam “was loved by everyone out of respect for him as a person first, as a proficient warrior and more importantly as a brother.”

My prayers go out to Milam’s family, friends, and fellow warriors, who are most likely still on patrol somewhere.

1. 

   A real hero who knew how to make good out of a bad experience.

   Death is nothing… but to live defeated is to die daily.–Nepoleon

   Comment by Isaac — 10/5/2007 @ 18:00

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2. 

   Wow.

   Comment by Kris, in New England — 10/8/2007 @ 09:42

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