A Great Loss - David Bloom

I was shocked this morning to hear about the loss of David Bloom. I will greatly miss him on the weekend's "Today Show", his humor, his love for his children and his professionalism were a joy to watch and an inspiration for me in my own affairs.

I really don't know much about David Bloom, but I can tell you, he was the only reason for me to watch the "Today Show" on the weekends. Since he has been in Iraq, I have not watched the "Today Show", I have been keeping to my usual FoxNews channel with occasional forays to MSNBC News to catch David's reports from Iraq.

It's hard to write about someone you don't really know, but I just wanted to express a few words about a man I perceived to be special in a field of television journalists. While the politics of many tend to cloud their objectivity, David Bloom was very much above all of that, he was objective and fair in all of the interviews I saw him conduct.

This was a courageous man, his reporting from the front lines of the 3rd Infantry Division, both informative and objective, put a face to the term one hears often these past few weeks "the soldiers in harms way". Being a former Infantryman, I know well the hardships suffered by these soldiers and also to David Bloom as he accompanied them on their attack into Iraq at the "tip of the spear".

But as great as the loss, I am grateful that he didn't suffer as a result of military action. He didn't deserve to be killed by an Iraqi soldier, but rather, while sad, a pulomunary embolism which is almost always sudden and almost always fatal was the enemy which struck David down at 39 years of age. David Bloom didn't suffer much and he was doing what he wanted to do, what else can a man ask.

David Bloom with the 3rd ID, got it right, I know he will be deeply missed by many more people than me, but I just wanted to say something.

My heartfelt condolances go out to David's wife and 3 daughters, I know they will miss "Dad"...

(Photo borrowed from MSNBC.com, hope they don't mind.)