My best friend's cousin died in Iraq a couple weeks ago during his second tour there. He was only 20 and had joined the Marines in an effort to become a better man. Brandon believed in the motto "Live for nothing, or Die for something".
This is a video, taken from one of the dozens and dozens of police escorts' in-car cameras, like you'd see on COPS and the like. It's from the procession from the body coming in to Randolph AFB and being escorted to the funeral home in New Braunfels. There were literally hundreds and thousands of people who either stood beside the roads or by their cars. Lots with flags, others with banners, still others with cameras. Military men and women, both active duty and retired, were strewn all over the place. You could immediately pick them out when they'd pop to.
At the funeral itself, more of the same. I happened to be in the first few dozen cars in the procession to Ft. Sam Houston cemetery on Monday. My friend's niece was in the back of the procession...at Thousand Oaks and I-35. INSANE!
The military burial was an intense scenario that I'd never seen in person. The honor guard, the flag ceremony, etc. All awesomely somber and respectful. Taps brought tears to my eyes.
I thought I'd post this here as most of the military folks tend to congregate here or lurk.
***Edit: There were cops from Round Rock, Austin, New Braunfels, Georgetown, SA, Ft. Sam, Randolph, Bexar County SD, and DPS that were either part of the procession, or handled traffic duty. A lot of them showed up to the funeral, badges blackened.
