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I'm used to making long drives. At the end of every summer and winter I load up my 2002 Ford Escort, buckle up and make the drive from Massachusetts to Delaware. Occasionally I'll drive home for a weekend or two throughout the semester. Come next week, I'll be packing up again and hauling back to the Bay State. The drive sometimes seems far, but I'm used to it. The Jersey Turnpike seems endless, and it's unusual to see a Connecticut highway not filled with traffic. I daze off, listen to my music, and know that I'll be back with my family or friends before I know it.
While the long ride doesn't faze me anymore, it must have been unbearable for Jean and Maureen Trahan, Freetown, Mass. natives from my neck of the woods. They made the trek on May 1 from Massachusetts to Delaware-just as I have been doing for the past three years. Except, instead of stopping in Newark, the Trahans made their way to Dover to pick up the body of their son, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Trahan, from Dover Air Force Base. Whether they drove or flew, the Trahan's trip was undoubtedly the longest of their lives.
Trahan was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on April 30-the day before his 23rd birthday. He was providing requested support for Iraqi military forces in Al Anbar Province at the time of his death.
While I didn't know Tyler well, I knew who he was. I would occasionally see him out at parties or around town while I was home. I knew he was the quarterback for the local vocational high school in my town back in the glory days. And I know his friends. I didn't receive word of Tyler's death from a newspaper, but rather from the dozens of expressions of sympathy or grief that flooded my Facebook newsfeed the morning after his death.
I may not have been a friend of Tyler's, but the news still hit me hard.It was a different experience to hear of a death in Iraq and not mark it up as a tally or number. Suddenly, I could put a face to the name and the war seemed much closer to home.
I had known friends of friends, brothers of friends and acquaintances who shipped out to Iraq or Afghanistan. I also have friends who have enlisted but have yet to be deployed. However, nobody I had ever known had been killed at war.
It made me disregard logistics and politics and consider the magnitude of the war. It wasn't completely about numbers, strategy, surges or exit strategies. People are dying. Regardless of one's thoughts or views, these men should be honored and respected. They put their lives on the line to do what they felt was right, and they did it for us.
News of Tyler's death probably didn't span past the borders of the south coast of Massachusetts. His name wasn't printed in the News Journal and there wasn't a memorial service on the Green. For those who didn't know who he was, he is another number. Everyone across the country has his or her own problems to worry about, mortgages to pay, jobs to go to, or work to get done, and it would be unheard of to stop and honor every serviceman that dies overseas.
Recently, the wars haven't been getting a lot of attention. There are other domestic issues to be concerned with, especially in a time when the economy is horrendous and people are lobbying for gay marriage and health care reform. With the wars fading into the back pages of newspapers and to the end of the broadcasts on news shows, it is sometimes easy to forget that there are still men and women fighting and dying. It's unfortunate that it may take a death to put things into perspective.
This is not to mention our occasional self- divulgence into tabloids, sports or entertainment. We are certainly entitled to be enthralled with Britney Spears or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but such desires sometimes cause us to lose sight of what is truly important.
Our lives are filled with luxuries that other people can only dream of. Our PlayStations and 73-inch plasmas fill our homes. Our expensive cars fill our roads, and our bodies fill the seats of state-of-the art stadiums and arenas. Even with an economic downturn, our lifestyle is still far superior to just about any other place on earth. It takes someone extraordinary to sacrifice everything in order to protect the lives of others.
Perhaps if we took a few moments out of each day to dedicate our thoughts and wishes to the men and women serving in our armed forces it would serve justly, regardless of one's views. I have never supported the politics of the war in Iraq and I likely never will, but I have nothing but respect and pride for the men and women fighting overseas or yet to be deployed.
When the death tally goes up, remember, they are not just numbers-they are people. They enlisted to defend our everyday lives. Ironically, we tend to get so wrapped up in what they are defending that their sacrifice often goes unnoticed.
Pat Maguire is a managing sports editor at The Review. His viewpoints do not necessarily represent those of the Review staff. Please send comments to pmaggs20@gmail.com.
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