Here one minute, gone the next

im sorry for you loss as everyone else has said there's not much i can say that will matter, i'll say a payer for the kids & the family god bless

 

+1 on Knife's comments

BZ

 

Sory about the lost, Sad................
Our thought and prayer to their family, Hope the little one in good hand. Keep us posted about the kids. I will take them in if no one will.
BTW Thanks for your service, Send my regard (Personal thanks) to the men and women in your unit.

 

Let me echo what everyone else has said...
what a waste of such good people. My prayers are with them and your unit.
Thank you for doing the hard jobs and giving so much to our country.

 

Well...I hate posting an intro under these circumstances, but here goes.

My name is Josh and I live in Sandy Springs, Ga. I grew up in Carrollton. The same Carrollton that Walker and Dawn Booth grew up in. I've known Dawn since we were kids, and Walker since he moved to Carrollton while we were in high school. I played sports with Walker and we were really good friends. He was one of the guys that you always wanted on your side. I have many great memories with these two. My only regret was letting time, distance, work and the military be an excuse for not seeing them more over the last few years.

I hate this for friends, family and especially the kids. There's not much else I can say about this that hasn't been covered. We all lost when these two were taken.

A little about me, other than what I've stated. I've been riding dirt since the age of 5. Street since 2000. Track since 2004. This past September, I did a 7500 mile cross-country adventure from Georgia to the Oregon and California coasts, and many points in between. I love to ride. These types of tragedies usually make me very angry, but this one is different because I know nothing will bring my friends back. Nothing will bring Garrett and Rhyan's parents back. The 24 year old girl will have to live with this, and that's the worst punishment. I pray for her.

During the week, my only anger has come when a co-worker made some ignorant comments about Dawn and Walker riding together, though they had kids. He also tried to tell me how dangerous motorcycles were, yet he's never ridden one. Go figure. This from a guy who can't even stand up to his wife, but can say that about my dead friends.

Anyway. It's true what they say. All will die, but very few will truly live. A veteran of 5 combat deployments, and his wife, the glue of that family....well.....they truly lived during their short time here.

I didn't even know this site was here until I found it through a link when someone was discussing this tragedy on another forum. I'm also a member of several Georgia and national forums.

Be safe. Have fun.

Edit: Here's a link to our hometown paper. It has a writeup. http://times-georgian.com/articles/2009/04/30/local_news/doc49f7a2fb76857653461979.txt

And a link to the funeral home guest book, in case anyone would like t read or sign it. For Walker(Stephen) http://www.martin-hightower.com/sitemaker/sites/martin0/obit.cgi?user=stephenbooth For Dawn. http://www.martin-hightower.com/sitemaker/sites/martin0/obit.cgi?user=dawnbooth

 

Thanks for your comments, JB. Sorry to meet you because of all this. Hang out all you want.

 

Thanks. I plan on it. I'm just surprised I didn't find this site before. Then again, I didn't join the first motorcycle forum until 2 years ago. About 8 years after I started riding on the street. :biggrin:

 

"All will die, but very few will truly live."....
you know, every day is a gift...
i know there's nothing to add here that will help, but for those who are bible reading types:
Isaiah 57:1 - The righteous perish... merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous are taken away, spared from the evil to come....

Thank you SFPA, for your service, and for sharing this tragedy with us...
God bless this family, these children...

someday, should i meet HIM, i have many questions to ask, but i know He will have the answers...

 

I am not one for prayer but I assure you my sympathies go to everyone who were close to these people. SFPA. When you find the strength, you tell those two jewels that their mom and dad loved them and even those who did not know them, love their mom and dad too.

It is truly difficult to face and console a child over the loss of a parent. I know. But they do need all the support they can get right now, and for a long time to come.

Be safe.

 

Thanks again for the outpouring of thoughts and condolences. I do not typically post stories like this, but I really felt lead to tell thier story as it hit so close to home for me, and more so, the boys on Walker's A-Team.

Mentally, I am still having a very hard time with the tragedy of it, much more so than those times when we have lost men in combat. It was thier sacrifice for us, and we mourn, and then move on, doing what we do to bring death to those trying to destroy freedom and oppress those who cannot fight for themselves. Morbidly, I can tell you that we, the men in uniform head out the wire or step onto the bird almost every time knowing somewhere in the back of our minds that death is a distinct possibility. Its almost expected (at least for me it is) that someone in the group may be injured or killed.

.....But this story is different. This was totally unexpected, and so, so unfair. Very hard to except it.

Walker and Dawn's funeral is today. My unit's memorial for Walker is going to be at JFK Chapel on Ft. Bragg on the 14th at 2pm.

Ride on, Walker and Dawn, Ride on.....

 

Wow, that is so sad. Very sorry man.