"...a story bigger than our own..."

"Lift up your head, Warrior.

 Every now and then, heaven opens

 and a hand reaches down to connect

 the past and the future

 with the story bigger than our own.

 Like Jacob’s ladder, it hints of a greater salvation, a God who is more relentless than our worst circumstances, and a deliverance that isn’t just for one man and his children but for those who have already live and died 

in those yet to be born.”

-Michele Cushatt 

"My voice You shall hear 

in the morning,O Lord;

In the morning I will direct it to You,

And I will look up."

Psalm 5:3 (NKJV)

“We have not forgotten .. Remember, remember the fifth of November”

“We have not forgotten ...
Remember, remember the fifth of November”

“It’s the knock on the door you never want to come,” Thomas said.

Army Staff Sgt. Carletta S. Davis

Died November 5, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

34, of Anchorage, Alaska; assigned to the 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Nov. 5 in Tal jAl-Dahab, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near her Humvee during combat operations. 

Carletta was awarded two air medals, a rare feat, and earned the prestigious combat medical badge. She also earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. She twice received awards for heroism -- for rescuing two soldiers who had fallen down a cliff near Ft. Lewis, Wash., and for rescuing a wounded Iraqi police officer.

Carletta was the 91st female U.S. service member to die in Iraq. Two more have died since.

“Carletta was the best medic in a company packed with medical professionals,” her commander, Lt. Col. Joseph Novak, wrote to her husband. Carletta was selected as the lead medic in the brigade commander’s personal security detachment -- an elite position that often took her away from her fortified base near near Kirkuk.

Together We Served SSG Carletta Davis

Army Times

Faces of the Fallen

2007 picture on my desk 

Thomas and sons Treyton, 14; Theodore, 13; and Tyrique, 8

( 12 years - now 26,25,15)

2007 the year of Matt and Cynthia's deployment was the highest casualty year for OIF.

holuta10th OIF

Faces of the Fallen - SSGT Carletta S. Davis