The Woeber family

As many of you know and have no doubt seen on the news, there was a training accident off the coast of Hawaii last week, in which a blackhawk helicopter went down with five crew members on board.  What you may not know is that on the following morning my dear friend Lori woke to every army wife's worst nightmare.  She woke up to the realization that her husband had not made it home and before she could make sense of that , she heard a knock on the door.  She opened it to find two uniformed soldiers who were there to tell her that her husband's helicopter had crashed into the ocean and they were unable to locate him or anyone else who had been on board.  Today after a week, the search for the crew has been suspended and the Woeber family is left without a husband and father.  

Lori did not dream of becoming an army wife.  She was comfortable and happy living in her community surrounded by her friends, family and church and I know that she did not want to leave that behind.  In spite of her misgivings, and because she loved Brian with all her heart and it because it was his dream to be an Army helicopter pilot and being the amazing, strong and faithful woman she is - she supported Brian and worked with him toward acheving his dreams.  Brian has been serving our country for many years and they were begining to think about life after the Army.  Now in the blink of an eye, Lori finds herself thousands of miles from her home and family, facing an uncertain future. 

Brian was many things to many people:  A soldier, a patriot,  a man of God, a husband, a father a brother, a son, a friend.  Brian was also the sole breadwinner for his family.  Lori and Brian have three amazing boys: Jacob, Nathan and Owen.  Three of the funniest, sweetest, most gifted and loving boys I have ever known. Two of the boys are on the autism spectrum and the special needs of their boys makes it pretty much  impossible for Lori to work outside the home because she is so desperately needed by her boys.  Especially now.

Lori and I met while both our husbands were stationed in Hawaii and we became instant friends. I knew at the time that God put Lori and her sweet boys in my life for a reason. Brian was deployed to Egypt for that first year so I didn't get a chance to know him as well as the rest of the family. I had the chance to read the following that was posted by Brian's friend Shawn Askew and I asked Shawn if it was ok share.

"...the coast guard called off the search for brian...they have a single trawler now looking for wreckage...he's officially classified as "whereabouts unknown", but the families have been notified by DoD...thanks for the initial prayers, but his family and the other four families need your prayers now truly more than ever

it's hard to put into words how truly heartbroken SO many people are right now at the loss of such a good, fine, solid man...i often try find context in series of events...it's tough right now thinking about the last seven days...i think about all the crap that went on in charlottesville and the equally opposite glorious, God-created marvel we all witnessed today...

...this good man volunteered for THREE of the armed services in his lifetime to train to protect the freedoms we all enjoy in this nation and around the world...the freedom to fight with one another and express ourselves - and the freedom to watch natural wonders like today without a real care in the [first] world...he flew medevac missions in afghanistan and trained our allies in korea, egypt, germany, etc., in addition to serving at fort rucker and in hawai'i as an instructor...it's sometimes hard to accept why good people like this have such awful things happen to them, especially when they are doing such good things for everyone else...

i held out MUCH hope that he was floating around in the pacific, smoking one of those cuban cigars he smuggled back for me from his honeymoon, waiting for the cavalry to pull him out of the drink ...but in the end, that hope has turned into the *example* my friend has now set for me of how to serve and give your last full measure of devotion to others, the vast majority of which you don't know, will never meet, and who will never thank you...i know many of you didn't know him like some of us did...but i ghope this little narrative makes YOU feel like he's set an example for you, too

Godspeed marine/coast guardsman/soldier-aviator...we love you, Brian Woeber, and we miss you terribly


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