Last year for Memorial Day we honored a former Pyramyd AIR employee, Derek Goins, who tragically passed away in 2021. In 2015 he sent a letter to the office that was so impactful that we continue to read it every year. This year, we wanted to share it with you:

As this week comes to a close, I've been thinking more and more about how America celebrates Memorial Day. Unfortunately it's become a day of commercializing on the death of others, barbecues and perhaps a cooler of cold ones. But if we go to the core value of the holiday it is to memorialize the service members of our military who died while in service to the United States of America. It was originally started to commemorate the Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War, but is carried over to our modern service members.

Whether or not you agree with a war or a conflict, there are still men and women who have died to protect our freedoms. Freedom must be paid for somehow. Our forefathers knew this, and the significance of the price of our freedom by putting red stripes on the American flag to represent the blood spilled for us.

I would reckon that most of you have seen the portraits of 8 dead Marines on my wall in the tech room. They were killed in action in Sangin, Afghanistan protecting their brothers to their left and right, but even further because they truly believed in the values that founded the greatest nation in the world. When I think I'm having a rough day or my life is not going just how I want it, I'm completely humbled and grounded when I see their faces on the wall. The day is a gift, and I try to live every day in honor of the sacrifice made by these men and the warriors before them.

Let us honor these courageous men and women that paid the ultimate price for freedom on Monday. By all means tip back a brewski (I will), fire up the BBQ, buy yourself a little something something with the sales going on. But let's not ever forget why we can do these things, spend a moment to think about our American heritage and what it cost to build this nation, and what it costs to keep it.

Semper Fidelis,

Derek Goins

3rd BN 5th Marines