Goodbye Sara… we all loved you so.
My favorite quote from Sara:
“I remember when men were men and women were glad of it.”
I can not begin to express our sense of loss. Our very own Ex-Ph2 has passed away.
Sara was a very private person and never wanted to become a burden upon anyone. She died exactly in that manner, at home quietly. Her health had been in decline for some time now but she never once complained about it to me.
I would send her pictures of birds I encountered during my travels and she would respond in her usual snarky way. When my last one went unanswered… that was answer enough for me. I knew we were all dreading what news there was to come. She passed last month and I had to delay posting this for a myriad of reasons.
Ex-Ph2 posted 1,482 articles and made 52,820 comments. She was never one to shy from making her point and agree with her or not, one had to admire her tenacity. When she was threatened by Valor Vultures she never even flinched.
When Jonn became too sick to carry on she did not hesitate to step up to the plate. She held the line. So many other Mil Blogs have come and gone because they did not have an Ex-Ph2.
Over the years we have posted some of the worst examples of veterans and wannabes that can be imagined. When Daniel Bernath went after all of us, she stayed at her post while seasoned men faltered away. Threatened by lawyers, Stolen Valor Vultures, miscreants and malcontents she just kept loving this community anyway.
She kept her other family mostly in the dark about her activities here. I can say that during my conversations with her family they are “overwhelmed” at finding out about all of us.
“I am just a sailor, a protector of our land. A servant called to battle when my country takes a stand.”
She tried to protect others as best she could. I hope they understand.
We are not afraid to shed a tear, I’ll just have to keep wiping mine away. No more gravy for me. I did not want to delay this any longer so I will end for now with the last picture she had sent to me. To Sara I wish ‘Fair Winds and Following Seas’.
Category: Fair Winds and Following Seas, Veterans in the news, We Remember
rest easy
you will be missed
She will truly be missed. Her sense of humor was something else and I considered her a friend although we never met in person. Fair winds and following seas, sister.
We lost a dear friend. Fair winds and following seas, Sara.
I will miss her wit, her humor and her recipes.
Sara, you will be missed.
Rest in peace, shipmate.
Thursdays Are For Cooking will never be the same.
Fuck
Exactly
Can’t really improve on that
Dammit…
Godspeed, and until we meet again. May your skies be blue and your waters calm.
I am so very, very saddened to hear this. Ex was a remarkable lady, and even though we never met, I have considered her a friend all this time.
Rest easy, Ex. We’ve missed you and we will miss you even more, even harder. Thank you for your friendship.
I never knew her, but I recognized the handle at times.
So, I hope this is a fitting tribute.
31 million views in 16 days. 🙂
RIP S.
Damn. RIP.
Godspeed, Fare Well, and Rest Easy, Mi’Lady. A Sister and Mother Hen to many of us whose passing leaves a big hole in our hearts. We Salute you, Ex-PH2 Sara, for who you were, what you did, and what you meant to us. Believe or not believe in a Higher Plain or Spiritual Being (I happen to believe in such) as you think fit, but I am of the opinion that the Higher Plain is that much more brighter since she was given a rousing Welcome Home by the multitudes that greeted her. I do know that our plain will be much darker now that she is gone before us. This is not a Good Bye, but a See you later, Sara. Save me a place at The Table.
May God’s Peace bring some measure of His Comfort to Sara’s Family, Her Fur Babies (Miss Punkin Squawky Pants & Smokey), and to us all.
She’ll save us all a seat, just as surely as Jonn’s saved one for her.
That’s going to be a riotous and raucous table.
If that’s heaven, I’m good with that.
Enjoyed her recipes, her humor, her columns…the Lionesses of TAH have lost a key member.
If the table is in Heaven…let the rest of us know how it goes if we, uh, ‘fail to make it’ there.
Very sad to hear. I tried numerous recipes she posted on Thursdays and was never disappointed. The world is a bit dimmer without her wit and humor. RIP Shipmate.
No words 😢
A glass is raised. Rest easy, my friend. A true Lioness has fallen.
Fair winds and following seas shipmate.
So sorry to hear. She was always willing to provide some great insight and was never one to back down. I remember the days of Psul and Bernath, and it was great to watch her jump in the fight.
Epic !
Especially during Palmer’s late night, Thunderbird-fueled rants. She’d shut his ass down with a quickness.
Yeah, I remember that, she pulled no punches and had NO mercy whatsoever for those who were stupid enough to engage her in battle!
She’s the epitome of “one tough broad” and I say that with all the respect I can muster. God help anyone who crossed her!
Rest easy Sara. We have the watch.
I’ll miss her snark and Thursday recipes.
DocV
I miss her going after IDC SARC when he’d go a little over the line. It was all in good fun and just plain hilarious.
Miss ya.
RIP Ex, I’ll have a load of puns to tell you when I hit those golden gates. Where is that Kleenex to wipe my eyes.
May her memory be a blessing.
Rest in Peace. One of the Originals here and always respected her opinion. Very sad.
*Slow Salute*
Rest In Peace, you’ll be missed here, but enjoy the seat Jonn had reserved for you.
She’s with Jonn and the others, all of them waiting for us. We are never really apart from each other. Our true self is our spiritual self, and our true world is where Jonn, Ex-Ph2, and others are now. Death is as illusory to our true selves as the illusory blindness we have when we blink our eyes.
Remember that dream when a loved one who passed away showed up? Remember thinking, “You didn’t really die”, or something similar to that thought? The loved one was letting you know that they did not really die.
We never really lose someone, we are never really apart, all connected to each other, to nature, to “totality,” which contains everything, known and unknown to us. Jonn, Ex-Ph2, and the others who have crossed are “more alive” than we are, those of us on this side are like “drunken folk” in comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q34VFiR566A
I had a dream one night. I had just shot through a tunnel and found myself above a scene. There were people, in deep sorrow. I was hovering. I saw what looked like a balloon, silver and another color. I descended and snatched it on my way down and landed. I walked up to a kid, sitting by his mother, and tried to hand it to him. None of the people acknowledged my presence. The kid looked like he was going to do so, but only looked puzzled, as if he saw an optical illusion.
The sorrow/depression was deep. I said, “I’m done here!” I got pulled up through a tunnel. The scene in front of me shrunk, like the end of the projector film that I saw in school. I shifted my focus to the front. A bright beautiful light, radiating positivity at the end of an incomplete tunnel, made of broken up spirals, a sensation that can’t be described in words. I was shielded by the full sensation.
One takeaway? They are alive, they want us to be happy. Sorrow acts as a barrier to their reaching out to us.
You are EXACTLY correct, IMO.
We think this place is IT, the reality of the universe.
Everything I have learned, says REALITY is on the other side of that door called Death.
Here is the shadow. The REAL is on the other side of that door.
Fair winds and following seas.
Sorry to hear. Did not interact with her as much as others around here but the times I did she always came off as extremely professional and competent. Fair winds and following seas, Sara. Second star to the right and straight on till morning.
Fair winds and following seas Sara
Rest in peace Sara. You will be greatly missed by all and never forgotten. I will always remember her and others in the fights with Bernath. She held her own against all who came against her. A truly classy act that cannot be followed.
Damn, words cannot express the loss. Over the past year or so, I’ve wondered what had become of her and other staff as well as frequent commenters from even just a few years back.
The lady added something to TAH, and later VG, that few others could. She was a beautiful woman, set in her ways, and never hesitant to dress down someone who crossed her in the comments.
Rest well, and tell Jonn we all give a hearty salute to all of you from this side of the chasm.
I’ll miss her. Sad.
Rest in Peace PH2 Sara, you have been and will be missed.
“…home is the sailor, home from the sea…”
You’ll be missed. Rest easy.
Fair winds and following seas Ex, you will be missed
Rest Well….
amazing job and I’ll miss you much
you will definitely be missed
At a loss for words…..She had some entertaining posts.
From reading through all the responses here, you know how much she was loved here and that she’ll be missed.
Fair Winds and Following Seas……
Mike
USAF Retired
The Lioness is dead. Long live the Lioness of TAH.
I had a few back-channel communications with Ex-PH2, and respected her in every way. A few things I never got done for her, yet she never questioned it.
God bless you, Sara, and grant His comfort to all your loved ones wherever they are.
Somehow it does not surprise me that she kept OpSec on her TAH battles with the vermin like Bernath and Psul.
That was how she was, even the little I knew her.
I’m so very sorry to hear this, and my heart goes out to her family and her friends, including those here. May she rest in peace, and her loved ones find some comfort in celebrating all the good she did.
Fucking fuckity fuck fuck.
Got-DAMN IT!!
Oh EX – PH2… now known as Sara, way back in the day when your photo was here.
I am SO sorry to hear this news but for some reason, part of me kinda knew that her absence was a bit of a clue…
Your words and spirit here as a very significant part of this family will never be forgotten and you are going to be sorely missed. Your work here is done so rest well my dear lady.
Shit.
(I know she’d scold me for being such a potty mouth. 😄🥹)
Very sad news to wake up to.
Rest in peace dear lady.
Rest in peace
Grant unto her eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.
I have missed Sara’s comments, stories and recipes these past few years. May she rest in peace.
Very sad news.
My heart is out to the family.
Ex-Ph2, you made many of us better persons with your wise words.
Fair winds on following seas.
We shall see you on the high ground Sara.
‘Fair Winds and Following Seas’, Sara.
AD2
I’d noticed her posts missing for a while. My late mother who had been a 3rd Class Petty Officer (AT3 to be exact) taught me you didn’t ask personal questions to ladies so I kept quiet.
RIP.
She was an original, I admired her greatly and will miss her wit. Rest easy, Sailor.