Commentary: Sergeant Griego writes on the high cost of freedom Published Oct. 23, 2009 By Staff Sgt. Dominick Griego Essay contest winner JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- John F. Kennedy said it best, "The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission." I have served for seven years in the United States Air Force and in those seven years I have experienced firsthand the high cost of freedom. I have to be honest, freedom to me was something that I was born with and something that I took for granted. I had lost freedoms while severing, such as missing my daughter's birthdays and those important milestones in their lives, but I never understood the total cost of being free until I deployed to Kuwait City, Kuwait. This is where I experienced death in the military for the first time. Every solider that perishes while deployed is flown to Kuwait, and that is why I was given the honor in helping these soldiers get home to their loved ones. My first human remains detail, which they're referred as, included 16 bodies on a C-17. I remember clearly looking into the bay of the aircraft and seeing the caskets lined up in perfect order with American flags draped over them. It was a perfect picture that will forever be imprinted into my memory. I think I would have cried if I was not immediately put in action to retrieve the caskets. As we transported each casket with the upmost respect I couldn't help but visualize the person that lay in the casket and their families that they left behind. Could my children and wife carry that cost? Each casket was different, some were heavy and some were light, some had a distinct odor and some didn't. And I couldn't help but wonder what tragedy occurred to put them in that box. 16 times we entered that aircraft and each time I was shaken by the spirit of that individual. Some of the troops became fatigued and as one dropped out another volunteer immediately. I became fatigued but I just couldn't stop, I couldn't let go to the idea that I needed to help these people get home. It was the longest three hours of my life. Not a single word was spoken after, none was needed. The only thing you could hear was the crying of some who could just no longer keep it in. Every day for the next four months, we did this duty with honor, and with as many tears as there where sacrifices. From then on out I stopped waking spoiled to freedom and begun respecting how wonderful it is to be an American who contributes to its freedom. I will never forget those I helped home and I will always honor them by doing everything in my power to safeguard our freedom that they sacrificed for. That cost will never be too high, it will never be surrendered, and not even in death shall we who are free submit.