Taking Chance

There is a lot of hum around the blogosphere about Taking Chance, which will be shown on HBO. A true story about the return of a Marine to his home. Somehow I do not feel the urge to watch it. Why? I already know the details 5 years ago when Blackfive broke his story into the Milblogsphere. 5 years ago, April 2004, I cried as I read LtCol M.R. Strobl's account of the escort of LtCol Chance Phelps home.

Here is an excerpt from April 2004,

23 Apr 04 – The enclosed article was written by LtCol M.R. Strobl USMC who is assigned to MCCDC Quantico, VA and served as the officer who escorted the remains of PFC C. Phelps USMC from Dover AFB, DE to his home. PFC Phelps was
assigned to 3d Bn, 11th Marines – an artillery unit functioning as a povisional infantry battalion during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM 2. PFC Phelps was killed in action from a gunshot wound received on 9 Apr 04 during combat operations west of Baghdad. He was buried in Dubois, WY on 17 Apr 04.

TAKING
CHANCE

Chance Phelps was wearing his Saint Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn’t know Chance before he died. Today, I miss him.

Over a year ago, I volunteered to escort the remains of Marines killed in Iraq should the need arise. The military provides a uniformed escort for all casualties to ensure
they are delivered safely to the next of kin and are treated with dignity and respect along the way. Thankfully, I hadn’t been called on to be an escort since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. The first few weeks of April, however, had been a tough month for the Marines. On the Monday after Easter I was reviewing Department of Defense press releases when I saw that a Private First Class Chance Phelps was killed in action outside of Baghdad. The press release listed his hometown—the same town I’m from. I notified our Battalion adjutant and told him that, should the duty to escort PFC Phelps fall to our Battalion, I would take him.

Continue the rest here ..... Taking Chance at Blackfive.net