All my best goes out to Colonel Totten’s family and the rest of our Chatlist community

Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:20:00 -0500
From: Jeff Lane
Subject: Re: Colonel Gerald Totten, USMC(ret.) – The passing of a hero.

> —————————————-

> Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 12:45:08 -0500
> From: “Karl Ernst”
> Subject: Colonel Gerald Totten, USMC(ret.) – The passing of a hero.
>
> I am, as I know many others are, greatly saddened by the loss of Colonel
> Totten.  It has been my privilege to know him and work with him.  I pray
> that God will look upon him and be kind to him, and give him peace.  As a
> fellow veteran, I honor his service to our nation and the uniform he wore
> with pride and valor.  Being a former Marine, he is part of a legacy known
> and respected around the world, of legendary courage, honor, and sacrifice
> in the defense of freedom.  His strength and determination, his sometimes
> rough and gruff persona, did not always rub everyone the ‘right’ way.  But
> it was his way to get the job done.  And he did it well.  He served our
> county as a champion of education, never backing away from the ideal that
> the ultimate goal of our schools is, first, last, and always, that our
> children are taught as they deserve to be, that they learn the knowledge and
> skills needed to be successful as they go forward in life, that they know
> and understand that dreams can come true.

Aye… all my best goes out to Colonel Totten’s family and the rest of our Chatlist community.  I always enjoyed Col. Totten’s honesty, and his willingness to call it as he saw it, instead of simply passing along plattitudes.

He reminds me a lot of my uncle, also a Marine, who served in the Pacific during WWII and later in Korea before leaving the Corps and marrying my aunt.  They both had the same strength, it seems, both did not mince words, and when they spoke, it was usually something worth listening to.

Karl mentions his gruff persona, which I touched on lightly, but honestly, that is the thing that made me respect the man the most.  He wasn’t in the habit of sugar coating things, and I prefer that in public figures, far more than I prefer someone who “smiles and kisses babies”.

Godspeed Colonel Totten, and on behalf of my uncle, and my friends in the Corps, Semper Fi…

Jeff