Untouchable

The following speech was written for Shawn's memorial service in Iraq by a very good friend-

"There is no easy way to go about losing a brother. Sgt. Shawn Dressler was more than a soldier, he was the guy that would come up on a long day with his big smile, singing a country song, dancing around, or talking about Jesus. I'm sure he was just as tired as all of us, but he would do this so we could laugh. He was our friend and our brother. It's not going to be the same without Shawn. Whether it's out by the smoking area, playing S.O.C.O.M., or even just not seeing him walking around in all of his Michigan gear.

I spoke with his wife, Amanda. Her and I began talking as me and Shawn's friendship grew. I told her I would be speaking here tonight, and I asked her if there was anything she would like me to say on her behalf. She said she wanted us all to know how much he loved us and talked about us.

Sgt. Dressler and I have spent many hours on tower guard; he was a loving son, and husband.

Among many things, Shawn had a love for turkey hunting. I like to think there's somewhere up in Heaven he can go turkey hunting. He was so happy his R&R was during turkey season.

When we got to the cash, our SGM came up to me and stopped me and started telling me to honor our brother by going out into sector and finding these terrorists. We spoke a few minutes and he closed with "don't have hate in your heart." It made me smile because Sgt. Dressler used to say that when he would walk around blessing people with capfuls of water. I began to think that that was Shawn, sending us all a sign; all those times he joked about it, he truly would want us to go about our job the right way, not by dishonoring ourselves and our country; and also that he is ok.

I'm going to miss him a lot, we all will. He was a tremendous asset to our platoon; between being a universal soldier, being able to move from gun team leader, to Bradley gunner, and his last duty position as a dismount team leader, and also being the guy that would bring a smile to all of our faces. We've lost some true heroes here at Wolfpack and Vanguards, and I know they're up there right now, as part of God's Army, looking down on us as the angels do. So Shawn, we miss you, we love you. We'll be seeing you again in the sky, where we will all become untouchable."

Four years later, I still have this, and I still read it. The man that wrote this is an amazing friend, both to me and Shawn. The man that wrote this always believed in me, without question. I know Shawn is so proud of him. Matt, I hope you don't mind that I posted this. I hope you know how much this meant to me then, how much it means to me now. I hope you know too how much your friendship has always meant to me. Hope you're doing good. You will always have a very special place in my heart.