Mark Carter

A decade ago, I was sitting in English class. Ms. Fellios, my high school english teacher, had us tell what we'd like to be when we graduated. We were supposed to write letters to ourselves in the future. I didn't know what to write, but Mark Carter did. He wanted to be a Navy SEAL. He had no question about it, it's what he'd wanted to do since he was a child and what he dedicated his life to.

Some years ago, we went camping in the desert. Mark, already a SEAL at this point, was bored with the what kept the rest of us excited (shooting guns and otherwise making asses of ourselves). The quiet of the desert was interrupted by the sound of massive car sized boulders rolling down the mountain behind us...Mark had pushed them over just to hear them crash.

Mark died in that service on Tuesday. He was a Navy SEAL and a great person. I don't think I've ever known anyone who wanted to do what he was doing more than Mark. Well done Mark, Be Thou at Peace.