My boyfriend, Marine Cpl. Nathan (Nate) Frady was 20 years old when he deployed to Afghanistan in April 2012 for about 7 months. The fact that he was deploying didn't even hit me when we said our good-byes. Not until he was actually in Afghanistan and I couldn't talk to him during the day whenever I wanted to, that's when my new reality sunk in. The thought of anything and everything that could go wrong involving him clogged my mind. He wrote me numerous letters during his deployment and called at every opportunity he was given to use the phone for 20 minutes at a time. During those phone calls he never once complained, he never once said a negative thing except that he was missing me. He made it a point to let me know that staying in touch with me and reminding me as often as he could that he loves me was a top priority of his. I can't imagine what life is like for any soldier in Afghanistan, but to think that of all the crazy stress they deal with from day to day, their lack of sleep, their irritability levels through the roof with their comrades, Nate was so positive and constantly cheerful talking to me. "One day closer to seeing you," is what Nate would tell me whenever I asked how he was doing. I suppose this was his way of avoiding any negativity and always finding something good in the bad.

The one thing I would want anyone to learn from Nate is his ability to stay upbeat despite there being a war happening every day outside his Afghan base, even sometimes within the walls of it. So many soldiers return home with traumatic stress symptoms, yet God has blessed us with a healthy, happy soldier, Nate. He continues to show me with his positive attitude that he carries himself in such a selfless manner. I am beyond grateful for having men like that serve in our military.