My Hero. My Brother. Sgt Joshua John Kirk

My hero is my brother, Sgt Joshua John Kirk who was killed in action on Oct 03, 2009 at COP Keating, in Afghanistan. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him and miss his loud, booming laugh. Josh loved being a soldier and his nickname was 'Combat Kirk' because he was always geared up and first out the door when there was any kind of action. Josh joked about how he couldn't wait to reach the rank of Captain so that people could address him as Captain Kirk. He always said that he wouldn't want to be promoted beyond captain. "If it was good enough for James T, it's good enough for me," he'd say. Josh had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to play little pranks on us, like hiding stuff or jumping out to scare us. He made up a game for us called 'Test of Courage' where we would try to scare each other and whoever didn't get scared passed the test. The tests got pretty elaborate the older we got. Sometimes when there was something to be done and no one wanted to do it, he'd get this mischeivious look in his eyes and announce 'Test of courage guys!' and we would have to do it. This picture of Josh was taken less then 48 hours before he died and it is how I picture Josh when I think of him. Always loved, always remembered...I love you little big brother.

Thanks for letting me share,

Jessica Tingley

Gold Star Sister

(Thank you Jessica, your HeroBracelet t-shirt is on it's w