LTC Dave Cabrera
With Veterans’ Day looming, it’s important also to recognize those who didn’t live long enough to warrant that title.
We noted Army Lt. Col. David Cabrera’s car-bomb death in Afghanistan last year because we had interviewed him on the dearth of military mental-health professionals. “We’re humbled and honored to be able to help in the ways that we can,” he told Battleland in 2010. “But I’ll be completely up front with you — it’s a tough job being a caregiver.”
This weekend, the Washington Post Sunday Magazine will publish a finely-crafted piece into Cabrera’s life, and death, by Jim Sheeler. Cabrera was the first military social worker killed in action, and was – according to his 7-year-old son, “a soldier of kindness.”
“The military mental health provider world is a small one,” says retired Army colonel, psychiatrist and Battleland contributor Elspeth Ritchie. “The loss of Lieutenant Colonel Cabrera hit us all very hard. Frankly, this was not just because he was a great guy, but his death reminded us that we are all vulnerable.”
Check out Sheeler’s piece here and learn just how great a guy he was.