Again, beyond my comprehension

Heroic acts like these are so far out of my sphere of understanding, they wouldn't even show up on my radar of ideas.

Not only am I thankful that there are men who would pick up rifles in defense of my freedom, but there are a few men who would jump on a grenade to save the lives of those other men.

And this guy wasn't even a US native. He joined up to gain citizenship.

(TJ-note:My grandfather joined the US Navy to gain citizenship, and for that I and all of my descendents will be extremely grateful. I was telling one of my Strippers about my grandfather joining the Navy and she scoffed at the idea of America asking a foreigner to fight and possibly die. But I explained away to her that: 1) the philippines was a US commonwealth and that filipinos are the Uncle Toms of the pacific rim anyway, and 2) without my grandfather doing so, I wouldn't be in america enjoying the quality of life that I do today and buying her that vodka red bull. Suffice it to say that she is the hippie-type who takes this america-thing for granted. She's still the favorite.)

Anycrap, so this marine. I have no idea... I'm sure many in the armed forces have no idea... And mathematically speaking about human nature, I'm sure that many marines have no idea how to go about justifying jumping on a grenade to save squadmates' lives-- squadmates, who, quite possibly shared nothing in common with this marine except that brotherly bond of wearing the same USMC uniform day in and day out. Or maybe it wasn't a question of justifying it or not, since maybe he saw it as part of his job? See? I would think that most people cannot comprehend this. I can't; therefore, I am thankful that there are people out there who cancomprehend this for the safety of his fellow Americans.

We cannot say this enough, but Thank You to servicemen overseas who on a daily basis risk life and limb for our American Way Of Life (heh, that spells AWOL). Thank You to the families of servicemen who make the sacrifices which pretty much dwarf any other civilian sacrifices.