A Shout-Out to Another American Hero

On a November night in 1965, a USMC F4 Phantom went down in the desert somewhere between Yuma, AZ, and the Navy’s China Lake facility. My brother was in the back seat. The investigators believe that there was a malfunction in the ejection seat mechanism. It was hard to tell, because the plane had a full ordinance load, and there wasn’t much left of it. I share that so that you will understand that I do know something about the effects of tragedies like this on the parents, siblings, spouses, and children left behind.

We live in an unpredictable world. A world where bad things sometimes happen to good people, while evil too often appears to go unpunished. A world where, unfortunately, we need brave men and women who are willing to stand between us and that which would do us harm. Their jobs are dangerous, and every year, even in peacetime, some are lost to us.

Roughly 41 years after that November night, First Lieutenant Nathan Krissoff, USMC, was killed in combat in Iraq. I’m sure that his father, Dr. Bill Krissoff, an orthopedic surgeon, was every bit as devastated by the loss of his son as my father was. But Dr. Krissoff reacted in an amazing way: he decided that the best way to honor his son’s memory would be to enlist in the Navy Medical Corps. Unfortunately, Dr. Krissoff was about 18 years past the enlistment age limit. But the following August, when he and his wife were invited to meet President Bush, he took the opportunity to ask the Commander-In-Chief for an age waiver. It was granted, and in November of 2007, Dr. Krissoff was commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Medical Corps.

He’s spent the last year training in battlefield medicine, preparing for deployment in a “Forward Resuscitative Surgical System,” a combat surgical team that treats injured Marines in the field. He is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq soon.

You may not have heard of Lt. Commander Krissoff, unless you happened to pick up on the brief mention of his name toward the end of the President’s farewell address yesterday. Our world, and our media, being what it is, he (unfortunately) hasn’t become as famous as some other parents who have suffered similar losses. A Google search of “Cindy Sheehan” returned 945,000 hits. She has her own Wikipedia page. You won’t find Lt. Commander Krissoff on Wikipedia, and a Google search of his name returned only 2,750 hits.

One thing I’ve learned is that as you go through life, many things will happen over which you have no control. What you can control is how you let those things affect you. And how you react says a lot about your character. So I’d just like to give a shout-out to Lt. Commander Krissoff: You, sir, are a true hero. Your actions and your sacrifice bring honor to your son, and my brother, and every serviceman and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States. I am proud to be a citizen of the same country as you. Go with God, sir. Semper fi.