This weekend we kick off the summer season...beaches and amusement parks, children splashing in lawn sprinklers, backyard barbecues with melty ice cream cones and drippy watermelon.  Enjoy it.  I will.  To do less would be a disservice to those who served and died so that we could do so in peace.  So I say that this weekend IS about the barbecues and all those fun things we do on Memorial Day and all summer long.

This year on Memorial Day I will remember CPT Daniel Graybeal, US Army.  Danny Graybeal was the pilot of an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter which was shot down on a medevac mission on February 27th, 1991.  Five hours before the cease-fire which ended the war.  Danny and I were classmates in the ROTC program at East Tennessee State University, and trained together in the Eddie Reed Ranger Company at the university.  (sidenote: the Eddie Reed Ranger Company was so named in honor of CPT James E. Reed, an ETSU graduate killed in action in Vietnam in February 1, 1968.)

We were fortunate to have serious instructors who were Rangers on active duty, so they pushed us hard and made the training difficult and intense.  I can honestly say that most of the training I received in that cadet Ranger unit was more strenuous (and effective) than the training I later received on active duty myself.  The effect was a close-knit group that knew that they could depend on each other.

I remember him fondly as a happy guy with a big smile which came out regularly; he was that guy that was never down, no matter how cold or wet or tired he was.  I remember a trip we all took to Ft. Benning one year, and we got to go to the Airborne School and visit the Ground Training Branch.  We even got to try out some of the training equipment, including the 34-foot tower.  We had great fun jumping out of the tower and sliding down the cables safely to the ground.

But in typical Army fashion, there was a downside.  Here it was "running ropes."  Long yellow nylon ropes had to be attached to the harnesses that had just been used so that they could be pulled back up the cable run to the tower so that they could be retrieved and used again.  That meant a 100-yard sprint over Georgia red clay which ended by the tower where you had to pull the ropes in at the correct angle for the instructor to reach out and grab them.  And in the instructor's opinion, you were never fast enough.  It was the hot, sweaty work you had to do for the fun part.

I have a photo in a shoebox somewhere of Danny Graybeal pulling those ropes at Ft. Benning.  I can't find the shoebox, or I'd scan it and post it for you.  But it is as clear in my mind as if it happened yesterday.  I can plainly see Danny standing there, leaning into that yellow rope.  Trying hard to pull it within reach of an Airborne School black hat who is certainly giving him an earful.  Danny looked straight at my camera and broke into that big grin.  Ear-to-ear.  I snapped the picture, and still have it somewhere.

But I don't really need it.  The mention of his name instantly brings that single image back to me.  And then I remember that he also graduated from East Tennessee State, became a medevac pilot, and gave his life trying to reach a group of wounded Marines.  The other effect of his sacrifice is that this weekend I can go out to my favorite fishing hole and wet a line.  I can throw a burger on the grill and enjoy a cold one.  I can enjoy a full, rich life free from the type of hazards he endured.

So I owe it to Danny to live and be happy, and enjoy the benefits of life in this wonderful United States.  But I also owe it to him to remember why I am free to do so.  I will enjoy myself this weekend...but I will be sure to pause and remember that hundreds of thousands of Americans have given the "last full measure of devotion" to this great nation.  So enjoy your weekend, because Danny Graybeal would want you to.  That's why he did what he did.  But take time to remember.