Crap Shoot...

That's what graduation is. It's becoming painfully clear...not clear, it was always clear, it's becoming more real now, that graduation is a lottery wherein one or more of us will die. I realize that's morbid and I should probably find a more tactful way of saying it, but it's true. I keep hearing of Old Grads who have died, and not from the class of 1997, but the class of '03, '04, '05...

It's a strange thing to know that, after graduation, it's not a matter of if, but when and who will die. And, while I pray and hope it's no one, I know that will not be the case. I read on my friend Vivian's blog that another of her classmates had died. She wrote the following:

To my most favorite redhead, I miss you already, Amos...

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DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

1st Lt. Amos C. R. Bock, 24, of New Madrid, Mo., died on Oct. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Bock was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 101st Airborne Division public affairs office at (270) 798-9966.

http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=10122

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1st Lt Amos Bock of 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, stands guard in the stairway of an apartment building in east Baghdad early August 3, 2006. REUTERS/U.S. Navy photo by MC1 Keith W. DeVinney, Combat Camera/Handout (IRAQ)

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The last time I saw you, you told me this, "As of tomorrow I won't see the first of one of the many great persons that I have met here, until sometime in the distant future. To that person take care and keep smiling."

I'll see you down the line, Amos.

I looked up 1LT Bock on Myspace and his page is still up. He died on OCT 23. On OCT 22, his friend and classmate wrote,

Only a few more weeks...Nash-Vegas.

I don't know why, but the fact he's on myspace just makes it even more real to me now. Only the day before, he and his friends were planning a vacation trip. I didn't know LT Bock, but only three years ago, he was sitting where I am, writing the same papers and worrying about the same things...it's crazy.