Thoughts on a senseless funeral

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Monty Reeder
  • 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  I attended the memorial service April 16 for Lynette Enyeart, the wife of Warren's retired chief master sergeant Steve Enyeart.

Mrs. Enyeart died from a car accident when a drunk driver hit her vehicle. For those of you who did not attend the service, I would like to pass on a few thoughts.

During the entire service, all I could think about was how senseless this tragedy was.

In the hour or so that the service lasted, I heard the story of a person who had done everything right: She had selflessly served others before herself; she had been a friend and confidant for many of our Airmen; she had followed her husband faithfully as he served our country.

And in a split second, someone else's bad decision took that all away.

I saw a retired chief, who should be enjoying his retirement with his wife, face a life without his best friend.

To be quite honest, I was sickened by the fact this all was caused by a dumb-ass decision.

If there are any of you out there who still don't get it, I beg you to consider.

There is a retired chief, one of our own, two grown children, and a whole lot of friends and loved ones who can tell you in painful detail how serious this is. I am certain the person responsible for this act never intended to hurt anyone, but now he will live with the fact he killed an innocent person.

In recent days, we have had folks who put themselves in a position where they could have killed one or many people.

This is unacceptable.

This has to be the end of piss-poor decision making.

We have a great network and some great programs in place to ensure we can get home safe. We all just have to be smart enough to use them. Please think about this.

Plan before you drink. If you get in a situation where you shouldn't be driving, call someone.

I can promise you that you do not want to be involved in something like this. Military punishment aside, I cannot imagine being responsible for taking an innocent life.

These are just my thoughts.

Again, I am pleading with each of you. Think before you drink.

Make a plan and be smart enough to react when your plan falls through. Use the programs that are in place to help you. If in doubt, don't drive.

Call someone, call anyone. Just don't be the one who ends another's life.