A soldier writes of his death

I wanted to share a magnificent piece by Andrew Olmsted, a soldier who was killed a few days ago in Iraq. It is his last piece before his death, and it reflects on his time as a soldier, writer, family man and more. He felt that he was about to be in severe danger, and asked that this piece be posted in case he died. It is touching, tear-jerking and enlightening. Take a few minutes and give it a look.

Here is the piece, and the introduction by Obsidian Wings:

Andrew Olmsted... was killed yesterday in Iraq. Andy gave me a post to publish in the event of his death; the last revisions to it were made in July.

Andy was a wonderful person: decent, honorable, generous, principled, courageous, sweet, and very funny. The world has a horrible hole in it that nothing can fill. I'm glad Andy -- generous as always -- wrote something for me to publish now, since I have no words at all. Beyond: Andy, I will miss you.

My thoughts are with his wife, his parents, and his brother and sister.

And a similar introduction by the NRO Corner:

Andrew Olmsted. I doubt most readers of The Corner—and indeed most writers here as well—were regular readers of his blog, but he was one of the best. Careful, reliable, passionate. He left a "last blog" in the event he was killed—in an ambush, it seems, not one of the two ways he expected (sniper or IED)—and it's got a lot of good thinking in it. Take a few minutes off and read it, you'll learn a lot about the way our soldiers face life and death.

--Wyndam