Well done Tyler...

LT. Tyler Edward Parten USA (KIA)

It's taken me a while to write about Tyler. Other than Adam, he was the closest friend I've lost. The three of us were in Glee Club together actually, for a brief period, before Tyler quick to move onto better things...he started a one show band at school, which played at the Firstie Club when we were plebes and I wasn't allowed to go watch.

I want to write eloquently about his laugh and smile...about what times we shared and how much I'll miss him, but I can't. Every time I begin to type, I begin to well up and have to stop. I'm in the MWR...no place for an MI LT to be seen crying over friends.

I look at the picture above and I remember taking my own Firstie Photo. How excited we all were to have all the accouterments of our success...saber, ring, sash, stripes...and how forward looking we were to leaving it all behind to get our single gold bar. Some of us were destined to become great officers, others...not so much. Tyler, we all knew, was in the former category.

We took those pictures, it seemed at the time, to remember a moment when the whole world was ahead of us and nothing could hurt us. When trips to the firstie club, weekends in New York City and a life of adventure lay ahead. Too often, however, it now seems the photos were taken so, when they were needed, they could be dusted off, posted and remembered for who we were in times like this.

I won't write any further. I will say that if you've read my blog over the years, then you have read about Tyler, even if un-named. When I traveled with the Arabic club, he was there...when I went to the Debutant Ball, he was there...for my four years at West Point, Tyler was there. And now...he's gone, and I just don't understand.

Well done Tyler, Be Thou At Peace.