Here's an excerpt, “What Burns Faster, Memories or Flames,” from the post, “More Lies Borne Out by Facts, If Not the Truth,” at the Feral Firefighter blog:
“A woman I loved [Andi Parhamovich] was killed in Baghdad in January 2007 – al-Qaeda in Iraq took credit for it … The memorial service with me crying over an empty coffin.”
- Michael Hastings, “The Operators” (2012). . ..
“Twenty-five hundred degrees Fahrenheit, fire burns down…”
“I find her personal writings and her diary… I find a note that says: ‘career, death card.’ Another, dated January 12, says that she and I will ‘take the journey home together.’”
“The men cannot get the doors open. They cannot get into the car… The grenade doesn’t make a sound when it is dropped… The explosion. In less than a second, the gas tank will catch fire.”
“She sees her life. It all comes at once.”
“There is more noise; there is a loud noise. What is faster, sound or memories?”
“The flames are hot. It is so hot now. What burns faster, memories or flames?”
“She sees what happens. … Her father… holding a picture of her, inconsolable. She sees her mother shaking softly in church, looking at her face, framed in a picture. … She watches her fiancée writing with tears in his eyes.”
“It is almost over now. “
“She sees the rest of her life. She sees the ring. She sees a pure white wedding dress and an aisle. She sees her parents and brothers and sisters and friends smiling proudly. She sees the children and the house. She sees the reunions in Ohio; she feels the warmth and hears the laughter and feels the love for her.”
“The noise continues, but she is gone.”
- Michael Hastings, “I Lost My Love In Baghdad” (2008). . .
“… I didn’t think I could love again. I feel very blessed and fortunate that Elise [Jorndan] would have me. The fact that she was able to get past that—I feel pretty lucky.”
- Michael Hastings, from CNN Reliable Sources interview