Timothy Joseph Gaughran

TJ was my best friend. We deployed for a year to Bosnia Herzegovina while fighting was still ongoing. We did dozens of reconnaissance missions throughout the entire country. TJ logged over 1 million driving miles in a year and kept me safe while I was up in the turret manning a machine gun. TJ was an Operation Desert Storm/Shield Combat Veteran, Bosnia veteran and also did Civilian Work in Iraq and Bosnia.
He should´ve achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major with his time and experience but like me he had problems not telling superiors they are wrong when wrong. That´s what I loved about him. He left the Army a Sergeant E-5 after serving a combined total of 20 years Active Duty between his initial Active Duty Service and his Active Reserve Service which included two year long deployments.
He loved his family and spoke often of his parents (his father an Army veteran), numerous siblings (at least one of his brothers was an Army and USMC veteran. TJ´s parents were teachers and he must have inherited their genes as he enjoyed learning other languages and was proficient in conventional German which he taught to GI´s and taught English to German civilians. On deployment to Bosnia his German language skills came in handy on numerous precarious occasions. TJ spoke often of his son and daughter and his desire to have a closer relationship with them. He spoke of his sisters and their hardships but always with love.
I wish I had been half the friend to TJ as he was to me.

We met in Germany on our way to Bosnia Herzegovina in December 1995. I was a volunteer filling in for another soldier who refused to deploy. TJ was the only person in my new unit that actually took time to speak with me when I was new to the unit.

He would share something very personal and end by saying, to quote Paul Harvey, "and that's the rest of the story".

Today is your birthday and I miss being able to telephone you to wish you a Happy Birthday.