Newspaper Clippings
Being more accustomed to learning about people from the past through the Facebook-enhanced grapevine, imagine my surprise when I came across the name of boyhood friend, now a 2nd Lt. in the Army, in a McClatchy article about a thwarted Taliban ambush.
Second Lt. Christopher Goeke, 23, the commander of the U.S. trainers at the fort, who are members of the Army’s Fort Bragg-based 82nd Airborne Division, said the Afghan soldiers had pushed forward eagerly for the fight, maybe too eagerly.
“I’m not sure we would have done what they did, but they aren’t as well-trained as we are,” said Goeke, who’s from Apple Valley, Minn. “They were brave, though.”
I knew he went to West Point and that prior to that he was a model student and an all around positive individual. I did not know that he was currently in Nawbahar, Afghanistan. We were only friends for that indeterminate length a summer seemed when you were 10, when it seemed longer than it really was, and I remember exploring extensively the woods around his home (playing war), flashlight tag and not understanding Jerry Maguire.
I have since reached out to him on said grapevine and sent my support.
