Each day since the conflict with Iran began, my team has been sending me updates.
They arrive throughout the day — text messages, phone calls, emails. At first, the updates were numbers. How many American women and men we had lost.
But war does not stay a number for long.
Soon, the names begin to come in. The hometowns. The communities that raised them. The families whose lives have just changed forever.
I'll never forget the familiar weight in my chest on March 4 when the first names reached my phone: Capt. Cody A. Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, Sgt. Declan J. Coady, Maj. Jeffrey R. O'Brien, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan.
Just over a week later, six more Americans were killed when a U.S. refueling aircraft crashed over Iraq: Major John A. Klinner, Captain Ariana G. Savino, Technical Sergeant Ashley B. Pruitt, Captain Seth R. Koval, Captain Curtis J. Angst, Technical Sergeant Tyler H. Simmons.
This is how war reaches you. Not all at once, but hour by hour. First a number. Then a name. Then a hometown. Then the quiet realization that somewhere in America, a family has just received the worst phone call of their lives.
Maryland has many service members and military families — so I ask for these updates to know when someone in our communities has been impacted by the president's war.
But the truth is, it's also deeply personal.
I served in uniform. I know the gravity of the oath these men and women took — and for those who have worn the uniform, it's not an abstract concept. It is the faces of the people who stood beside you. It is the empty space left behind when someone doesn't come home.
Because of that experience, I take this type of service — and the decisions that place our service members in harm's way — with the utmost seriousness.
Every day since the war started, I have taken a moment to pause and recognize the fallen. To speak their names out loud, even when no one else is around. To reflect on their sacrifice. To show them the respect they deserve.
These are Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion for the cause of freedom. And the families they leave behind are carrying a burden most of us will never fully understand.
The American people deserve a commander-in-chief who seeks to lighten that burden and heal those wounds. Instead, while families across this country are still receiving the worst phone calls of their lives, the president has circulated fundraising emails featuring the image of a fallen service member's casket.
It's disgusting. It's wrong. You don't have to be a veteran to feel that way. You just know it.
But I still have faith that the president's inhumanity doesn't have to define us. That while he has one, big powerful voice, the people are louder if we all speak as one.
So in this time of hardship, let's do what we can to honor the fallen the right way — by remembering their names, by standing with their families, and by honoring their sacrifice in any way we can (if you want to donate money, many families of the fallen have set up fundraising pages — any amount can make a big difference).
In the Army, I learned the Soldier's Creed to Leave No One Behind. It isn't just a motto, it's a way of living — a way of serving. Let's all do what we can to measure up to that code, now and always.
Elevate,
Wes
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