Score One for Navy
My middle son was selected to receive the First Year Cadet of the Year Award from his NJROTC unit at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. A single freshman (NS1 cadet) is chosen annually for this award. It is not awarded at the higher grade levels. Needless to say, I am enormously proud. However, what I need say is that my son would be none too happy about my bringing attention to the matter. Ironically, though, it is only in bringing attention to his award that I can serve my real purpose of bringing attention to the man in whose honor the award is presented, fallen U.S. Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan. For that reason I know that my son would grant me dispensation.
Jacques Fontan was an alumnus of Brother Martin High School and a dedicated member of SEAL Team 10 who was killed in combat on June 28, 2005 when his helicopter was shot down over Sawtalo Sar Mountain in the Korangal Valley of Afghanistan. For those of you who have seen the film Lone Survivor, Jacques was a member of the quick reaction force aboard that MH-47 Chinook that was sent in as part of Operation Red Wings II to assist and/or rescue the SEAL four-man special reconnaissance element of which “lone survivor” SEAL Marcus Luttrell was a member. A terrorist with an RPG-7 took that helo down, and there were no survivors.
If you want to know the most poignant moment of the ceremony, it was when the award was presented not by an admiral or veteran or politician on the drill field that day (despite any of those cases constituting a very high honor) but by Jacques’s own mother. (By the way, in case you think that’s easy, then try it some time.) That brave woman, with two arms and torn heart, reached out to present my son with his award. She did it both with tears forming and head held high. Yes, she stuck in there and showed the same sort of leadership as did her hero son. Bless that dear woman.
In conclusion, while the selfless warriors of our nation’s military services are naturally averse to direct recognition, the one thing above all that you can do that they will never fail to notice is to stand for that Flag as straight as you can, to face it as directly as you can, and to plant that hand over your heart as firmly as you can. Please always give them that much.
