BARNETT MEMORIAL--2 MAR 2007

BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY
MEMORIAL MESSAGE
for
SGT JEREMY D. BARNETT
2MAR07

SCRIPTURE

Romans 8:25-28 (NASB)
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to
pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

INTRODUCTION
SGT Jeremy D. Barnett was a soldier who lived his life “above and beyond the call of duty.” He was always looking for ways to help his fellow soldiers. He had an infectious personality which, within only a few weeks after arriving at Patrol Base O'Ryan, allowed him to develop friendships with the other soldiers. He also saw many opportunities to serve. Because of his character, because duty to him was not just another slogan posted on a wall, SGT Barnett would volunteer to help his comrades during his days off from his official duty.

SGT Barnett’s sense of selflessness did not and does not just stop with him. The day of his injury initiated a chain of events that shows just how special our soldiers and military personnel truly are. Immediately a medic and members of the patrol sprung into action, placing themselves in harm's way to get SGT Barnett to safety. The platoon and company leadership prepped the battlefield so that the medevac could make a clean and easy recovery. The personnel at the CASH first tried all they could to save his life and then compassionately did all they could to minister to our grieving soldiers.

QUESTIONS
Whenever we lose a soldier, a friend, a comrade, many of us begin to ask certain inevitable questions. We begin to wonder, to do the math, and to ask ourselves what his death gained us? This is another way of asking if his life mattered. And if we look deep within our own hearts, we are asking the same questions of ourselves: "Do our lives matter?" While most of us will keep these questions to ourselves, we should nonetheless face our doubts, our grief, and our anger with courage and honesty, for if we do not, then they will turn into cynicism, despair, and hatred.

PERSEVERANCE and COURAGE
When we lose one of our own, it is easy to begin to grow bitter or doubtful about whether we are making a difference, but to travel down this path is to lose hope. And in this theater, in combat, losing hope is something we cannot do. SGT Barnett did not lose hope in his mission because he understood that his mission was to support and aid his fellow soldiers. SGT Barnett did not lose hope in our mission because he did not lose his faith in you, his comrades, his friends.

He kept his hope because he faced the realities of his life with courage and perseverance. Courage was something Jeremy exercised every day. Senator John McCain said this about courage: “Courage is like a muscle. The more we exercise it, the stronger it gets.” We will need this strength in the months ahead. We will need to stretch out our courage on a daily basis. And the day-to-day exercise of courage, of honoring the sacred covenants we as soldiers have made to God and to one another, regardless of the circumstances, outcomes, or sacrifice, this stretching out of courage can be called by another word: perseverance.

ANSWERS
The questions will be there for the rest of our lives as we reflect upon all the good men and women who have been hurt or who have crossed the River Jordan while serving in Iraq. We can turn our equipment into CIF, we can submit our paperwork to PCS or to retire, we can go on to live long and productive lives after our service, but we will never be able to unburden ourselves of the weight of one question--as combat veterans, we will never be able to exchange it or forget about it: "Was our service worth it?" As we struggle with this question, perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether it is the question that we ask that is the problem instead of the answer that we seek.

As soldiers we are witnesses, and as a soldier I constantly see the day-to-day acts of courage that each and every one of you do. While it is easy to become mired in the frustrations of soldiering and of living together as a family, it is also easy to notice how you truly are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. And the next time we grow weary of the inevitable grind that a deployment brings, then let us remember SGT Jeremy Barnett, a soldier, like most of you, who went beyond the call of duty to serve those and help those around him. He is an example of who we should be, who we can be, who we shall be.

CONCLUSION
Let me close with this true story about courage, about perseverance, about faithfulness.

In 79 AD, when the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the city of Pompeii, many people were buried in the ruins. Some took cover underground, and the place became their burial chamber. Those who chose a high hiding place were also unable to escape destruction. But a Roman soldier was found at the city gate, his hands still grasping his weapon. That was where he had been placed by his captain. While the earth shook beneath him, while the flood of ashes and cinders overwhelmed him, he stood at his post; and it was there he was found a thousand years later.

We grieve the loss of our brother, SGT Jeremy D. Barnett. But SGT Barnett’s death was not a tragedy, at least not yet. For we have yet to write the final history of our battalion, our company, and of our own lives. His death will be tragic if we go about our daily activities unchanged, unaffected, and unmoved by his life. Let us dare not forget SGT Jeremy Barnett’s witness. He did all that was asked of him: he faced the enemy with courage, kept his post, remained faithful to his friends, and maintained his honor. He did all of that, and more. He went beyond the call of duty. Hallelujah, Amen.