Brian Scott Freeman

West Point, 1999

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Andy Baker on January 30, 2007:

Brian and I were plebes and yearlings together in I-4. The first time I spoke to him was one of the first times my plebe companymates were all together, shortly after Beast Barracks. An upperclassman paired us all off down in our company day room and told us to get to know each other quickly, because in five minutes we'd be introducing each other to the rest of our classmates. I was paired up with Brian. I remember being pretty stressed out at this point in my Academy experience -- just back from Beast, fired up upperclassmen everywhere, and the academic year looming. My first impression of Brian was that he was calm, cool, and collected -- this plebe thing was no big deal. It was obvious then and there that he would be a leader among us. He also seemed very happy to make my acquaintance, and genuinely interested to hear all about what I was famous for in high school, and whatever else we were supposed to spout off about each other that day. I, on the other hand, just wanted to go back to my room and take a nap. We talked for five minutes, and he was pleased that I was from Burke, Virginia because "Baker from Burke" would be easy to remember during his introduction. During our time at West Point we were never great friends, but for the rest our four years, especially after we scrambled to new companies and saw much less of each other, I could always count on an enthusiastic "What's up Baker from Burke??" whenever we crossed paths. I think that was Brian in a nutshell -- a genuine friend to everyone and anyone, cool under pressure, and a terrific leader -- an asset to any organization. My condolences to Brian's family. Be thou at peace Brian.

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