Share the Memorial Day Story You Want Everyone to Hear...

As it happens, “they” determined May as “Military Appreciation Month”. To wit, several days were designated to show said appreciation to the military community. 

Did you know there was a “Military Spouse Appreciation Day”, and that it is celebrated on the Friday before Mother’s Day? Turns out I missed that one. Could explain multiple divorces in my past too…

Maybe you heard about “Armed Forces Day”, which is celebrated on the third Saturday in May? I forgot about that one too. Don’t get me wrong, I remember the words/day, but have no idea what it really means or what it’s for. Just saying.

And yet another day we celebrate in May is Victory in Europe Day, or “VE Day”. That’s celebrated on May 8th. I do know that one, not because I’m old enough to have served in WW II (close…), but it was one historical event I picked up early in my childhood.

All levity aside, I want to talk about a truly symbolic event America will honor next Monday. Not that it isn’t proper to recognize our Military Spouses, Armed Forces Day, or VE Day, because it is. 

I want to talk about Memorial Day. For our military community, we all have that one friend (or group of friends) that will post some meme on social media almost disparaging families enjoying the three-Day weekend with a barbecue. I still don’t understand that. Or some of my friends will share the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day in an almost patronizing manner. Maybe you’ve experienced some of that, and maybe you may not even know what I’m talking about.

So, a couple of things. If we (veterans and families) want the rest of us to feel the significance about these specific events, it is our responsibility to share why they mean so much to us, and not simply be quiet about it. 

To that end, I want to share about Tracy.

I wear a KIA bracelet all the time. It honors Tracy Lynn Alger, my teammate during my second tour in Iraq. She was killed in an IED strike on our very first combat mission in Shubayshen, Iraq on November 1st, 2007.

We were conducting a “partnered” mission with our Iraqi Army counterparts, and had established three checkpoints along a stretch of road about 10 miles long. 

Let me be completely transparent at this point. When I say “we”, I am referring to the mighty 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. The Hamburger Hill Battalion. And I was not on this mission.  I was a “TOC monkey”, monitoring all of the action from the complete relative safety of the Battalion HQs as the Task Force Executive Officer.

We started before dawn, and encountered multiple IED strikes and several small arms fire attacks. All were ineffective, and we were able to continue our mission. 

It was at the end of the operation, around 10 PM at night when the Battalion Commander, the Command Sergeant Major, and a group of 12 or so were huddled around Tracy’s up-armored HUMVEE.  We were successful.  We made our mark. It was Miller Time.  Final kudos and words of wisdom were shared, and everyone walked off to their own up-armored HUMVEEs and were ready to go back to our Combat Outpost situated in an old Russian thermal power plant right on the Tigris River. 

As Tracy’s HUMVEE started rolling forward, it struck a pressure-plate IED, and erupted in flames immediately. The gunner was blown out of the turret (and miraculously survived), and the driver received third degree burns over the majority of his body (praise God, he still is with us as well). 

Tracy, in the passenger seat, was killed immediately. It’s taken me 10 minutes to write that last sentence. Tracy was killed. Her future robbed. She was from Wisconsin and enlisted in the National Guard because of the 9/11 attacks. She was a barrel racer and a rodeo rider. She was 30 and would never experience the joy of being a wife or a mother. In an instant, she was gone.

Some of the things I still remember…first, Tracy was harder than woodpecker lips. Our Battalion Commander held a “gut check” type PT event shortly before deployment, and Tracy hung with the team. More transparency….I didn’t. No excuses, but for the first time I couldn’t compete with the “young kids”. And Tracy didn’t just make it, she impressed all of us. Secondly, when we were preparing her Memorial Service and had printed out all the programs, we got a call from our Brigade HQs. “You can’t write that she was assigned to 3-187 IN. You have to put 626 BSB”.  You see, in 2007, for whatever reason, “people” cared if a woman could/couldn’t be assigned to an infantry unit. We were numb. Are you serious? At least it gave us an outlet to focus our grief. Tracy was, and always will be, an Iron Rakkasan.

To all the veterans and family members out there, I encourage you to share your stories of the heroes you served with that are no longer with us. It may be painful. But these stories NEED to be told. Our families, friends, and teammates don’t know what we know. Unless we share with them. I cannot encourage you to do this enough. What do you remember about the heroes you served with that are no longer with us? I want to hear them. Your tribe does too.

This weekend, I will be remembering Tracy. 

I will honor her. 

I will never forget.