Taking Chance

Four years ago, Marine Private First Class Chance Phelps was killed in Iraq. Lieutenant Colonel Strobl was his escort from Dover, Delaware to his hometown in Wyoming. His account of the journey is a powerful piece of writing.

A movie based on his trip with PFC Phelps has been made into a movie, Taking Chance, which airs on HBO in February and will be available from Netflix. The trailer is here.

When we flew from Hawaii back to the mainland in October, the plane also carried the remains of a servicemember. It was pre-dawn and there was a driving rain when we arrived in Atlanta. But you could see the escort, a local honor guard, and a motorcycle veterans' group that were out there in the cold, wet darkness, rendering honors to this fallen warrior.

The plane was quiet while his escorts deplaned and went around to the cargo area to oversea his transfer. We were then allowed to deplane. But still many passengers lingered, some even moving up to windows in empty areas of the plane (where some of the flight crew had also gathered to watch). Inside the terminal, I saw several people pausing at the windows overlooking the tarmac until the convoy of cars and motorcycles drove out of sight.

One of my sons has thoughts of becoming a Marine aviator. I'm glad that he was able to see this part of the service. Not only that service is not without danger but that even in death, one is part of a fraternity.