LT Cunningham

Cadet Tim Cunningham was my first semester, plebe year platoon leader, and from the day that I reported to him I knew that this was a special guy. He became one of my heroes and he has always been a source of inspiration to me as a leader. He embodied what has become my #1 leadership tenet: compassion. Here's a picture of him, the platoon sergeant Brando Whitten, and the plebes from our platoon at Christmas dinner (he is 2nd from the right):

Tim was also a great family man, he was married soon after graduation to his high school sweetheart Samantha and not too long after that their family came to include their daughter Abigail. Here they are all together:


Lieutenant Cunningham's first assignment, after attending the Infantry Officer Basic Course and Ranger school, was with the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and he deployed to Iraq with his platoon in the fall of 2007. I sent him a message at one point and one of the questions I asked was what sort of challenges he faced. He responded: "The challenges vary. As far as the technical aspects, not too many challenges. Those are not too difficult to get your arms around. Mostly, if there are people challenges, and the personalities conflict, that will frustrate everything you do, and make it a pain to live/ work in the environment so close to that/ those persons. That, in general is my biggest challenge. " I know that he made the best of his deployment, and that he did well to those he encountered. This picture is just one shred of evidence to that fact:

I remember a Friday two years ago when I was working in Phoenix, my friend Michelle at West Point called on the phone. She said, "Gib, LT Cunningham died in Iraq the other day." The worst part is that he didn't get killed by enemy fire, an IED, or anything like that, but when his vehicle rolled over into a canal. One other soldier, PFC John Bishop, was also killed in the accident. He's been on my mind ever since that day, and I wear a bracelet that reads "1LT Timothy Cunningham '06, 101st AA KIA 23 April 2008 Iraq" The world became a lesser place the day that he left us, but I know with 100% certainty that he is in heaven looking down on us all.

So today it has been 2 years since he was killed in action. I ask that you pray for Tim and for Sam and Abby too.