{"id":1641,"date":"2025-10-15T15:39:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=1641"},"modified":"2025-10-15T15:39:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:39:31","slug":"her-last-breath-was-taken-doing-what-she-loved-helping-people-in-afghanistan-then-there-was-an-explosion-and-just-like-that-shes-gone-marine-navigates-grief-aft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=1641","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Her last breath was taken doing what she loved\u2014helping people in Afghanistan. Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she\u2019s gone.\u2019: Marine navigates grief after losing veteran best friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHer car is parked in our lot.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so mundane. Simple. But it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

My very best friend, my person, my sister forever.<\/p>\n

My other half.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We were boots together, Corporals together, and then Sergeants together.<\/p>\n

Roommates for over 3 years now, from the barracks at MOS school to our house here.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been attached at the hip from the beginning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality and think about how I\u2019m never going to see her again.<\/p>\n

How her last breath was taken doing what she loved\u2014helping people\u2014at HKIA in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Then there was an explosion.<\/p>\n

And just like that, she\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Our generation of Marines has been listening to the Iraq\/Afghan vets tell their war stories for years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to feel distant when you\u2019re listening to those conversations, it\u2019s easy for that war and those stories to sound like something so distant\u2014something that you feel like you\u2019re never going to experience since you joined the Marine Corps during peacetime.<\/p>\n

The stories are powerful and moving.<\/p>\n

Motivating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You know it can happen.<\/p>\n

And you train to be ready if\/when it does.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re ready.<\/p>\n

Gung-Ho.<\/p>\n

You raise your hand for all of the deployments, you put in the work.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s hard to truly relate to those stories when most of the deployments nowadays involve a trip to Oki or a boring 6 months on ship.<\/p>\n

Then bad people do bad things, and all of a sudden, the peaceful float you were on turns into you going to Afghanistan and for some, never coming back.<\/p>\n

It turns into your friends never coming home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Her car is parked in our lot.<\/p>\n

For a month now, it\u2019s been parked in our little lot on Camp Lejeune at the Comm Shop where I work.<\/p>\n

I used it while my car was getting fixed and I just haven\u2019t gotten around to bringing it back to our house.<\/p>\n

I drove it around the parking lot every once in a while to make sure it would be good for when she came home.<\/p>\n

So many Marines have walked past it, most of them the newer generations of Marines, our generation of Marines.<\/p>\n

The same Marines who often feel so distant from the war stories their bosses tell them about.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure they thought nothing of it\u2014just a car parked in a parking spot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some of them knew her.<\/p>\n

Some of them didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But they all saw her car.<\/p>\n

They all walked past it.<\/p>\n

The war stories, the losses, the flag-draped coffins, the KIA bracelets and the heartbreak.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so distant anymore.<\/p>\n

Her car is still there, and she\u2019s gone forever.<\/p>\n

I love the first photo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We climbed to the top of sugar cookie in 29 one Saturday morning a few years ago to pay our respects.<\/p>\n

I snapped the picture on my camera.<\/p>\n

I never would\u2019ve thought her name would be on a cross like those one day.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way to adequately prepare for that feeling.<\/p>\n

No PowerPoint training, no class from the chaps, nothing.<\/p>\n

Nothing can prepare you.<\/p>\n

My best friend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

23 years old.<\/p>\n

Gone.<\/p>\n

I find peace knowing that she left this world doing what she loved.<\/p>\n

She was a Marine\u2019s Marine.<\/p>\n

She cared about people.<\/p>\n

She loved fiercely.<\/p>\n

She was a light in this dark world.<\/p>\n

She was my person.<\/p>\n

Til Valhalla, Sergeant Nicole Gee.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wait to see you and your Momma up there.<\/p>\n

I love you forever and ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHer car is parked in our lot. It\u2019s so mundane. Simple. But it\u2019s there. My very best friend, my person, my sister forever. My other<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1653,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions\/1653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}