By Grant Martin, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009

A buddy of mine is going to run 50 miles in under 12 hours while deployed to Afghanistan. That may not attract as much media coverage as a story about some self-obsessed people who put their 8 kids on TV or that new show about self-obsessed teens in NYC- but the reason he is doing it should trigger more contemplation about the sacrifice some make in our country.

Those "some" I am talking about in this instance are the children and spouses of Special Operaters who have died while on duty. These families are supported by a charity called the . Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

This Foundation's mission, as noted on its website, is: "...The Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides full scholarship grants and educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations people who die in operational or training missions and immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations people and their families..."

My buddy, Matt Butler, is raising money for this foundation here. He's doing it in honor of his 40th birthday- running the "ultra-marathon" and raising money for the Foundation.

In a time where the mass media seems to feed our citizens' appetites for mindless drivel and self-indulgence, it is refreshing to hear about people trying to do a little for others.

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation's website and the story of those they help should also give one pause. To contemplate the plight of these children having to grow up without one of their parents- this is the definition of sacrifice in my opinion. "Some gave all" isn't just a cliché to them. Sacrifice is only dead on prime time TV- it is alive and well in the surrounding areas around military communities where there is an empty seat at the dinner table.

I encourage anyone interested to donate through Matt's site or directly to the Foundation on their site.

Good luck, Matt- and Godspeed.

- Grant Martin
MAJ, U.S. Army
Fort Leavenworth, KS

the views of the author are his own and do not represent the position of the Combined Arms Center, Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.