|
These are pictures of Matt Kahler, who I served with in the Army. There are 17 deserving friends (or so) that I could remember, but today I have the luxury of remembering Matt.
He was from Granite Falls, Minnesota and was for the most part a fairly serious and reserved person-- but he did have an incredibly dry sense of humor and was extremely bright and insightful. Built like a wrester, wiry, hard and about 5'8" the guy was impervious to pain, and had piercing blue eyes. On one training mission we did an 18 mile infiltration in to a target, and then did 18 miles out. Everyone was sucking on the hump out - but Matt was stone faced, and he led from the front; encouraging, dragging and kicking his men in the ass to complete the mission. I don't think he sweated.
He was a tremendous combat leader and ALWAYS chose the hard right over the easy or wrong. He saved lives. I don't write that lightly; Sergeant First Class Kahler saved lives. But, he couldn't save his own.
He left an amazingly cool wife behind, and now his daughter is about 11 years old. It is tragic she will not know her father. I remember Matt today- and I loved him, he was a better man than me.
|