It's officially Mitch's birthday on the East Coast!  I just wanted to update this site and I know I don't do it nearly enough!

I'm glad the problems were worked out and it came back online.  I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have it anymore.

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday and that I miss you so much, as does EVERYONE!  You are thought of every single day and you left such a mark on everyone that you knew/touched.  Your life was inspirational to so many.

You'd love the new dog, Tango!  But Blondie sends her usual message to you "Woof Woof" (inside joke we had when he was in Bosnia!).  And all I have left to say for this blog is "Duh-Huh".

The third anniversary is coming upon us.  I haven't been updating this site as much as I wanted to do but I appreciate the continuing visits and guestbook signatures.

My wish for everyone that knew Mitch and those that didn't that have found themselves on this website is not to mourn this year.  Celebrate Mitch.  Celebrate his wonderful life.  He amazingly touched so many people and made differences in their life.  A true feat that not many people accomplish in a long lifetime.  Mitch accomplished it in his short 32+ years.

Celebrate what he meant to you and how he touched you.  When and how you do please come back and tell us about it.

Here's to Mitch!  My best friend and hero.

I miss you more than you could have imagined.  I miss you more than I thought was possible.  I thank you for touching my life as you did.

I couldn't sleep this morning and got up and on the computer and said to myself that I really need to get busy on Mitch's website so here I am.  I added a few more pages of pictures and working on uploading more videos ... one is now uploaded!

I hope everyone enjoys the new stuff ... believe me MORE TO COME!

Julie, I’ve searched for it but I have not been able to find my original write up. I’ll try to re-create it for you as best that I can.. but unfortunately I doubt that I’ll be able to re-create the level of detail, and emotion, that went through me that day.

As I mentioned before, I didn’t know Mitch. I learned of his death through a buddy in the same motorcycle club that I’m in (Wild Pelicans), CW3 Gary Schaefer (we call him ‘Meat’.. don’t ask. LOL).  You might know Meat, or know of him. He was also a Kiowa pilot. He was stationed at Rucker for a while. I think he may have been an Instructor Pilot at one time. He is currently flying ‘fixed wings’ over in Korea.

Anyway, in early/mid 2006 Meat had written a rather emotional post on our club message board about missing a good friend of his, who had recently died in Iraq… CW3 Mitchell Carver.  He mentioned that Mitch had run out of ammo, but was still doing ‘gun runs’ over the bad guy, to keep them pinned down… when he was shot down.

It was VERY obvious how highly Meat thought of Mitch…. and how much Mitch’s death was weighing on him. I did a couple of searches, and found a few articles about Mitch.. that I passed along to Meat, which he very much appreciated.

In the articles, I learned a lot about Mitch, and that he seemed like an awesome guy. I also learned that he was buried in Arlington Cemetery, which is very close to me.

I came across a website that makes engraved ‘memorial bracelets’ to honor those who died for their country ( www.memorialbracelets.com )…. and a plan sort of fell together. I ordered a memorial bracelet in Mitch’s name, which I would give to Meat.

I also decided to visit Mitch’s grave at Arlington Cemetery, to get a couple of pics.. and pay my respects to someone who meant so much to my buddy…. and was by all accounts, a true hero.

This is where I wish I had the original write up, but I’ll do the best I can to relate it as it happened that day.

I ended up carrying the bracelet around with me for a week or so, until I had the opportunity and the time to ride by Arlington for a visit.

Inside the Visitors Center I used the little computer kiosk to find the location of Mitch’s grave, when I realized that I didn’t have a pen to write down the section, row, marker, etc. I told myself that it wasn’t that far of a walk.. and I could remember it (famous last words!), so off I went.

I left the Visitors Center and walked up the roads towards the section I needed to be in. During the walk it seemed like it was much father away then it looked like on the map.

Even with as many times as I’ve been in Arlington, I’m always taken aback by the number of graves there…. the number of people who have served this country, and in many cases, died for it. This day was no different, as the mind wandered in admiration, and appreciation, as I looked out over the rows and rows of white headstones for as far as I could see.

At one point, I noticed the silence. It was quiet. Absolutely quiet. I thought that was pretty odd. Arlington is a busy cemetery. They can actively have 15-20 funerals a day, so it’s unusual not to hear the sounds of a funeral every 15 minutes or so. It’s also located in the flight path for Reagan National Airport… yet there were no planes to be heard overhead. All was quiet.

I finally made it to the beginning edge of the section I needed, when I realized that I really should have found an ink pen and written it down after all! I couldn’t recall what row I needed!

I stood there for a minute or two trying to decide if I should walk back to the Visitors Center, or just wander off into the section and see what happened. As I’m looking at the vast number of headstones in the section, the term ‘needle in a haystack’ came to mind!

It was a pretty decent walk to get to that point, so I decided to go ahead and walk around a bit.. and if I didn’t find anything in a few minutes, I’d walk all the way back to the Visitors Center and get the correct row and marker numbers, then return.

I walked most of the way down the edge of the section nearest the side road, looking at as many of the headstones as I went. After going about ¾ of the way down, I randomly made a right and started walking between the rows. I get about 8 or 10 headstones in from the roadway… and I see Mitch’s name directly in front of me!! 

So I’m standing there staring at the name on his headstone, rather awestruck about pretty much going directly to it… when in the distance I hear a 21 gun salute, and the playing of Taps! The first, and only, time I heard that during my visit that day (again, which is very unusual given the number of funerals they do each day)!  

As Taps was playing, I looked at Mitch’s headstone again… and realized that he and I have the same birthday.  March 10^th (I was born in 1966 though).

I took the memorial bracelet out of my pocket, and placed it on top of Mitch’s headstone… and snapped the pictures that are attached to this email. I tried to get decent pics of the photograph collage that was at the base of the marker in case Meat recognized anyone shown in it.

I then sat at the end of his grave for a bit, thinking about this man... this man that gave his life for his country.. for my country. This man that I didn’t know… yet somehow seemed destined to ‘meet’. 

I sent the bracelet to Meat in Korea, and emailed him the pics (or may have posted it on our club message board… I don’t recall) and my original write-up. He was very appreciative of the bracelet and my visit to Arlington.

I feel like I'm forgetting a couple of details, but thats what I recall at the moment. As I said, I wish I could have found the original write up.

So that’s my story… about CW3 Mitchell Carver. That day was one of the most eerie things I’ve ever experienced.. but not in a bad way, or a ‘scary’ way. Just the way that everything seemed to fall into place… almost like it was meant to be, or I was meant to do that for my buddy.

So you see, even people who have never met him… have been touched by Mitch. J

I’ll pass your website address along to Meat (CW3 Gary Schaefer). I’m sure he would like to see it. He may even have some pictures of his own that he can share with you.

Take care Julie,

Mike P

Some of the pilots that were assigned to 3-7 CAV with Mitch are at Fort Polk for an exercise.  I was able to see a few already but a few more still I know are here.  It's always so good to see Mitch's friends even after so long.  I actually even remember some of them getting weather briefs from me at Fort Stewart/Hunter!

It's also good to know that people still think of Mitch and Kyle still today.  They have not been forgotten!

Glad to see you guys!