Such a wonderful poignant story of love, loss, and a grief wave that unfolds during the episode. So good I had to watch twice. I will be using this episode for my graduate student course on Veterans in Transition. I have a Module on Gold Star Families. Thanks to both Will and Kate for the wonderful space and gentle questions that made me filled with gratefulness and absolute wonder at the horrifying and beautiful story. So proud of Holly's grace and resilience in conquering the grief. Hope and love. My heartfelt appreciation for this gift.
Will and Kate - Thanks for making this possible. Watching the podcast of this Gold Star mom’s story was an honor. Love conquered fear and her continued work helping other veterans and their families makes me think of your own mom.
All of these episodes have made me choke up for different reasons, but this one hit me the hardest of the first 5 episodes. What a great conversation about loss and grief. So much emotion compressed into 1.25 hours. Had I reenlisted as a combat engineer in ‘08, I would’ve been in the same parts of southern Afghanistan in ‘10 as Danny doing very similar work clearing IEDs for the grunts. A lot of my old teammates who were still in did from ‘09-‘11. Had I not gotten in trouble for underaged drinking after my 2nd tour I had wanted to lat move to EOD from engineers. That NJP might have ended up saving my life and limbs because I would have graduated Eglin come ‘09 had I lat moved as a corporal in ‘07/‘08. I might have even landed in Danny’s class. I got out after my 3rd tour in ‘08 at the age of 21 instead (and was finally able to drink legally lol). Folks who deployed during that ‘03-‘08 OIF/‘09-‘12 OEF time period really got hit hard and the casualty stats on icasualties.org make that pretty clear.
Such a wonderful poignant story of love, loss, and a grief wave that unfolds during the episode. So good I had to watch twice. I will be using this episode for my graduate student course on Veterans in Transition. I have a Module on Gold Star Families. Thanks to both Will and Kate for the wonderful space and gentle questions that made me filled with gratefulness and absolute wonder at the horrifying and beautiful story. So proud of Holly's grace and resilience in conquering the grief. Hope and love. My heartfelt appreciation for this gift.
Will and Kate - Thanks for making this possible. Watching the podcast of this Gold Star mom’s story was an honor. Love conquered fear and her continued work helping other veterans and their families makes me think of your own mom.
All of these episodes have made me choke up for different reasons, but this one hit me the hardest of the first 5 episodes. What a great conversation about loss and grief. So much emotion compressed into 1.25 hours. Had I reenlisted as a combat engineer in ‘08, I would’ve been in the same parts of southern Afghanistan in ‘10 as Danny doing very similar work clearing IEDs for the grunts. A lot of my old teammates who were still in did from ‘09-‘11. Had I not gotten in trouble for underaged drinking after my 2nd tour I had wanted to lat move to EOD from engineers. That NJP might have ended up saving my life and limbs because I would have graduated Eglin come ‘09 had I lat moved as a corporal in ‘07/‘08. I might have even landed in Danny’s class. I got out after my 3rd tour in ‘08 at the age of 21 instead (and was finally able to drink legally lol). Folks who deployed during that ‘03-‘08 OIF/‘09-‘12 OEF time period really got hit hard and the casualty stats on icasualties.org make that pretty clear.
And now I’m starting out my day an emotional mess. Thanks for sharing that, Will. Beautiful stuff.