By Jim Daly

I saw on the news the other day that retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Keith Sherman has been camping his way across the country for almost a year. Sherman’s singular, powerful mission is recording the stories of fallen service members through the voices of Gold Star families, those who have lost loved ones through military service. For them, “the grief never ends,” Sherman said.

Sherman has traveled across the nation documenting stories of Gold Star families from each of the 50 states, gathering tributes and stories of the families’ loved ones. While his project started humbly, Gold Star Dirt became a nonprofit last August, and Sherman has traveled over 43,000 miles. With three states left to visit, he stopped in Oregon.

Oregon native, U. S. Army Specialist John A. Pelham was on his second tour when he was hit by four bullets February 12, 2014, during Operation Enduring Freedom. Three were stopped by his body armor. The fourth hit the very edge of it at the neck. It could have been deflected up or down. It was deflected down, and he died. He was 22 years old.

At one point Pelham’s father was asked: “Do you think it was a waste of his life that he got killed as we draw down troops?” His answer was: “Hell no.”

Sherman asked: “Upon watching this interview, what message would you like to have resonate…” Pelham answered: “That freedom is extremely expensive. And I am not talking tax dollars. I am not talking budgets. I’m talking human lives.”

“I feel the weight deeply during and after each interview. I can’t count the number of times that I have shed tears right along with the family. They are pouring their hearts out right in front of me, someone that they don’t even know,” Sherman said.

I submit to you that military deaths are an investment. They are instead an investment in freedom.

This country has freedoms and opportunities that most of the world envies. Why else would half a million illegal immigrants from Central America risk arrest, imprisonment, and deportation to their country of origin? Why else would countries like Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so many others ask for our help, ask for our troops when they are threatened?

I was discussing the potential future of America with a veteran friend the other day. He thinks that our country’s leadership has lost a lot of respect in the world. He thinks that the leadership is doing things that don’t make sense. He is afraid that we are in danger of our leadership taking actions that could cause the downfall of our country.

I feel that while some of those actions may not be the wisest possible, our country is a world power and is respected by those that are powerful as well as those that are threatened. We have for two hundred years been a world power and have earned the respect of the civilized world.

Much of what the leadership is doing is posturing and strategizing. We civilians may not understand it. We don’t have all the information that the leadership does. They get reports every morning, and probably several time a day besides. Based upon all the information available they strategize the best approach to these many dangerous situations around the world.

Sometimes the best strategy is to employ our military. And sometimes they have to fight. And some may die.

Are those deaths a waste? I don’t believe so. I have been in combat and have watched people on both sides of the conflict die. And I have seen the benefits of U.S military intervention.

Does one military member’s death change the world? No. Does it change a family or even a community? Yes, definitely.

But the actions of our country do change the world. Dozens of times in our history, the United States of America has changed the world. We have deposed treacherous dictators. We have stopped those that would take over the world. We have eliminated the development of weapons of mass destruction. We have, through that posturing and strategizing, stopped other powers from bad actions.

Our country’s actions preserve our freedoms, and bring freedoms to those that don’t have some that we enjoy.

But we don’t have to understand our country’s actions by leadership. Our responsibility is to support our leadership. To support our government. To support our military. Even when people die. Their deaths are not a waste.

Please Remember: Many of our young men and women have sacrificed greatly around the world, to protect our country, our rights and freedoms, our allies, and the Flag of the United States of America. I am proud to have been one of them, and would gladly defend this great country again today or any day.

Jim Daly, a retired captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a member of the Aberdeen Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 224 and its Veterans Service Officer. He is also a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America.