{"id":93353,"date":"2021-08-30T19:33:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T19:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/30\/my-heart-just-breaks-thinking-of-their-pain-says-gold-star-wife\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:50:53","slug":"my-heart-just-breaks-thinking-of-their-pain-says-gold-star-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/08\/30\/my-heart-just-breaks-thinking-of-their-pain-says-gold-star-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My heart just breaks thinking of their pain,\u2019 says Gold Star wife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Heather Gray Blalock learned Thursday of the suicide bombing attacks outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. service members<\/a>, \u201cit brought on a fresh grief wave. \u2026 Far too close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband, Air Force Maj. David Gray, was killed by a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan nine years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore Gold Star families<\/a>. My heart just breaks thinking of their pain. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we can take heart that they died as heroes \u2026 rendering aid in one of the most tragic humanitarian crises, probably ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the country \u201cmust be committed to helping the innocent ones who deserve to get out, those who face even greater risk if they stay. I\u2019m praying for the situation there as much as I\u2019ve prayed for anything before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blalock is now wearing her late husband\u2019s dog tags again, for the first time in many years. \u201cFeeling them clank against my chest reminds me to pray for our troops deployed there right now and for the people they are risking their lives to save,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Air Force Maj. David Gray, 38, died Aug. 8, 2012, died from injuries suffered during a suicide bomb attack in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron, Fort Carson, Colo. Gray was a former enlisted airman who cross-trained to become one of the first air liaison officers in 1997. He was known as “a tremendous officer and leader,” his wing commander said. (Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew this wasn\u2019t going to be an easy process and risk was high. Just as the risk was high when my husband deployed and didn\u2019t return,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As David, an air liaison officer and flight commander for the Fort Carson-based 13th Air Support Operations Squadron, was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in 2012, Heather learned of an attack on an airport near where he was heading. \u201cI remember crying in his arms, saying, \u201cIt is counterintuitive to go into the fray. You know that this is where they are and where the danger is, and yet that is exactly where you are about to go. I just don\u2019t understand.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Heather, that is their way of life, and it can\u2019t be their way of life any more. I want to do what I can to help the people so that\u2019s not their way of life any more.\u2019 “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maj. David Gray was killed Aug. 8, 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust knowing that he had such conviction, that he was willing to go into harm\u2019s way with the hope of providing a better life for the Afghan people, is what really carries me when I start to get depressed when I see all of this,\u201d Blalock said, in an interview with Military Times about the collapse of that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a while, there were girls who got to go to school. For a while, there were people like my husband who made a difference, and hopefully there will be again. \u2026 There were differences that were made, even if just one life or two lives, or however many, there were differences that were made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t