In Memory of Sergeant Long Nguyen

I had the pleasure and honor to serve with Sergeant Long Nguyen from Oregon, while deployed to Louisiana in support of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and while in training at Camp Shelby. I found out yesterday that he recently died. The way the information super highway works, I may never know exactly what happened, and in fact that isn't truly pertinent to me now that he is gone.

Sergeant Long Nguyen served in HHC 141 Brigade Support Battalion while I knew him. He was a truly professional Non Commissioned Officer, who was a pleasure to work with. He did not complain about tasks given to him, he performed them to the best of his ability, and he was a pleasure to be around. We spent about 20 days together helping the recovery efforts in Louisiana, and we spent months together later on in the year in Mississippi, challenging each other to get better at our push ups and sit ups. It was something we would do together when we ran into each other, about once a day.

He was a popular person in spite of the fact that he was fairly quiet. People enjoyed his company, and respected his abilities. I know that the people he worked directly with in our Task Force will truly miss him, I wish I was going to be able to be present at the ceremony for him. He was working at a different location than I am, and so I first found out about his death the way most of the people in Oregon found out, on KATU news. I found it very shocking to have to accept it. Life is precious, it is important to live it the way you believe is right; to have as few regrets as you can have. I hope that is the case for Sergeant Nguyen.