During my time in the military I came across this gentleman named Zack. Zack was a short dude, white, light brown hair - had a hell of a temper and a outlandish storyteller. Zack would often tell me and other soldiers how he was an Olympic swimmer. We all felt he was lying, but we enjoyed his stories…come to think about it… He never had a chance to prove it.

 Well moving on.. let me tell you about his personality. He was a bull-headed young man, confident. If he believed the sky was green, dammit! There was no way of changing his mind, the sky is green. Sometimes, that bullhead of his would get him in trouble on the flight line because he would make decisions without properly researching his data, often making simple mistakes.

(job requirement - long story - wont bore you with the details)

Sad to say, in our squad, if you did not mingle in the right circles, your simple mistakes would seem like political time bombs waiting to explode in your face. As for Zack, he was way from the in crowd of gossiping, chain smoking, back stabbing, status-whores we called co-workers. As a result, he was cast away to the political dessert of nothing-ness and was treated like he as a leper, I really felt for him.

When I first started working his shift, I didn’t really know Zack that well, just small talk here and there, but lord knows I’ve heard about him, EVERYBODY HAS! I would get most of my information listening to the day-shift gossip whores and political pimps talking as they chain-smoked by the hanger. 

I worked with Zack during the conflict in Kosovo and I slowly got to know him, and little by little I learned that he was more than a little hard-head loud mouth crew-chief. He was a hard worker, he was determined and even when people pushed him down, he would dust himself off and keep on working. He didn’t quit - he didn’t back down, and even though I know he was told some hurtful things, he never let it get the best of him.

I would often see Zack running around with toolboxes and parts, catching planes, and working on critical missions. His co-workers would sit on the bench, smoke and talk about how lazy he was even when he was doing all of the work! They would be amazed when supervisor and I would buy Zack lunch  and tell command how much of a good job he was doing. I remember on day they pulled a prank on Zack, even though I saw tears in his eyes, he still stood tall like an oak, That little dude had character, and more heart than most people ever knew.

 When we returned to the states Zack discovered that he had cancer. About a year later he passed. I’m sad to see that Zack was not able to live a full, fruitful life. I am happy to see him live long enough to return home to his family on his last days.

The more I think about Zack, the more I know it was an honor to have known him. If he would have lived, he would have become a fine soldier and man.

"I will not stand behind a man who thinks he knows everything, I will stand behind a man who is willing to learn from everything."