Nearly 10 years ago, Capt. Richard Rodriguez (Delta) casually published an article that he titled “Fallen Soldier” on his personal blog. He recounted a flight he piloted from Ontario, Calif., to Atlanta, Ga., with some honored guests—the remains of a U.S. soldier, his military escort, and his family—and the efforts the crews both on the ground and in the air put forth to ensure the needs of that soldier’s family were met with great respect.
“Fallen Soldier” went viral.
How viral? Even snopes.com got involved, proclaiming the story true after tracking down Rodriguez, and versions of the story (some with details slightly changed or a personal agenda appended) remain all over the Internet.
As we prepare to remember our fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, ALPA reached out to Capt. Rodriguez to look back at his original post and its unexpected—and continuing—resonance.
Rodriguez reports that he had no idea “Fallen Soldier” had gone viral until he got a text from his daughter. “She texted me and told me she’d seen it online; her husband is an Army Ranger, and she was familiar with the story.” Until that point, he said, he had no idea how much the story would resonate around the country. “I just wrote what I felt with no expectations.”
Ten years ago, he remembers, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were resulting in many losses like the one he wrote about. “It’s the reality of the oath that all service members take,” he says. “The willingness of the individual to put their life above others, whether one dies in action, or a car wreck, does not diminish an individual choice to serve, possibly with the ultimate sacrifice.”
An Air Force veteran himself, Rodriguez also had friends whose children were returning disabled, with injuries, or with post-traumatic stress disorder, so he’d seen firsthand the pain in families’ eyes. However, this was the first time he’d piloted a soldier’s final trip home, and he resolved to do all he could for the family.
“When I was informed that I had military HR [human remains] on board, I was determined to support the escort in any way possible,” he explains. “Then I was told that the family was also onboard and that they had been unable to see their son.” Rodriguez sprang into action, as his blog post states, setting things up in Atlanta for the family to see their loved one and have a private place to wait for their flight on to Virginia.
He makes a point today to highlight the Delta Honor Guard, an all-volunteer employee group that assisted in the treatment of the solider and the family that day. “The Delta Honor Guard was, is, and will be instrumental in transferring military HR in the most compassionate, respectable, and patriotic way,” he says. “I cannot say enough about their good work and the support they give to the families of deceased military members.”
Rodriguez says today that what he remembers most about that day is “the flight attendant telling me that I had no idea how important the plan we’d come up with was going to be for the family.” He went on to highlight the passengers: “The response from all the passengers was amazing. They all solemnly stayed in their seats until the family exited the aircraft.”
Rodriguez never spoke with the family, as they immediately made their way to the tarmac and the cargo door, and then on to the terminal. If he had the chance, he says, “I would at the least acknowledge their loss and let them know that it was an honor to help them that day.”
For pilots today encountering similar circumstances, Rodriguez has this to say: “Do not hesitate to do whatever it takes to ensure the proper carriage of the HR. Seek out help from everyone—you’d be surprised the lengths people go to for this. Don’t worry about operational pressures; simply do what you think is the right thing.”