Sometimes the world is not a good place

John Berry was a squad leader in my National Guard infantry platoon. He, his wife Jenny and son Brady lived in Terrell, about 50 miles from Sulphur Springs. John’s house was less than four miles from the battalion headquarters armory, but John was not the headquarters type.

One Saturday morning before first formation, several of us sergeants were standing around, drinking coffee and talking. John said, “We had a mouse in the house, and Brady wanted to know what we would do. I told him I would put out a trap. Next morning I checked, and the mouse had tripped the trap. I picked it up and showed Brady.” John smiled as he recounted his son’s reaction. “Brady looked at the trap and the mouse and he said (in a 5-year-old’s voice), ‘You didn’t say you were going to kill it!’” We all laughed, because kids don’t understand how life works, and we had been the same at some point.

John loved his boy.

Sean Brady Berry, Sgt., scout sniper, 36th Infantry Division, born Sept. 5, 1979, died Oct. 3, 2005, in Taqaddum, Iraq.