Well, it’s that day of the year again. September 28th is a day that has a lot of meaning to a whole bunch of the people around me. It’s the day we lost someone very close to us. September 28, 2005 is the day my good friend Steve Morin died. But I’ve been thinking, that even though the circumstances of his death will haunt many of us, I don’t like to dwell on that. I like to think of the good times we had. Steve was a guy who had a terrific sense of humor and loved to laugh. I think that’s why he and I got along so well, from the very beginning. We were both kind of sarcastic and liked to make fun of those dipsticks that you always somehow find in positions of authority in the military. I was technically his leader, but he was one of those guys that just got it; he was smart as a whip and I quickly found that I was blessed with two great NCOs, him and Juanito Y.Abellanosa. I saw that Steve was the kind of guy who was great with people; he was always there to help those that needed it. Instead of just writing some soldiers off as hopeless, he took the time to mentor them and help them to become better soldiers and people. Mentor is one of those words that gets thrown around in the Army, but Steve was a true mentor to a lot of people. I may not be a genius, but I’m smart enough to know that I can learn a lot from people that I outrank, and Steve was one of those people. If he had an idea or suggestion, I listened, and more often than not, I found that it made me a better leader when I took his advice. But Steve was a fun guy; he was just a pleasure to be around. As you can imagine, a lot of parts of Iraq (and Fort Hood) could be pretty sucky, but Steve was one of those people who could always find the humor in the situation, no matter what we were going through. Whether we were stranded in the middle of the Kuwait desert at night with no cold weather gear in January feeling like we were about to freeze (yes, that happens) to those nice 125 degree days of July in Basrah, he always could find something to laugh about, something smart and semi-subversive to say over the radio, funny enough to make me laugh but smart enough to keep us out of trouble from whoever might be listening in. I hope when I’m gone people can look back and remember my sense of humor; I’m pretty sure Steve Morin was a guy like that too. Honestly, when I’m thinking back, I always envision him either smiling or laughing. Because that’s just the way it was. He was a funny, smart, Regular Guy (one of our inside jokes), and for myself, and I think for a lot of people, he made our part of the world a better place. So sometime today, I think I’ll have a good laugh at something funny in his honor.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 13:47:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015