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Typically he glided by the nickname, Mik. To the hundreds of individuals, particularly veterans, who listened to his hip-hop, he was often known as Doc Todd. George Michael Todd was a Navy corpsman who served in Afghanistan with the two/8 Marines — often known as “America’s Battalion.”
He died in Atlanta earlier this month on the age of 38. The trigger was sudden cardiac loss of life, in accordance with his spouse, Abigail.
George Michael Todd in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in June 2009.
Abigail Todd
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Abigail Todd
George Michael Todd in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in June 2009.
Abigail Todd
In 2017, Todd informed NPR his album Fight Medication was meant to assist fellow veterans heal. Certainly one of his hottest songs, “Not Alone” is about empowerment, “about taking cost of your life, taking cost of your transition” from the fight zone to civilian life, he mentioned.
This week, lots of of family and friends members attended his funeral in Sandy Springs, GA.
“First time I met Mik,” Kris McDaniel, Lead Pastor of Trinity Anglican Church informed funeral attendees, “he got here as much as me after church … and simply swallowed me up in a hug, and the very first thing he says is ‘I am a rapper!’ ” McDaniel chuckles on the reminiscence, “And I used to be like, certain you’re a rapper.'”
Later, McDaniel discovered it was true and have become a fan.
Doc Todd was born in Memphis on Feb. 16, 1985, to George Sr. (Mike) and Rebecca Googe Todd. He joined the Navy in his mid-20s.
In 2009, he was in Afghanistan throughout an American push within the Helmand River valley, which was managed by the Taliban. As a corpsman (basically a medic), he handled blast and burn accidents. The warmth was additionally brutal, says U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Eric Meador who received to know Todd nicely.
“The fellows simply could not keep cooled off,” remembers Meador. He says Todd and his crew began pulling guys off the frontline and telling them to leap within the canal. ” ‘Get moist, get again out. Now you get again up on the road, proceed preventing and let’s rotate. Get the following guys in there.’ ”
Meador says Todd “saved loads of guys from being warmth casualties.”
The primary Marine to be killed in that battle was Todd’s roommate, 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Charles Seth Sharp. Extra buddies died or had been wounded. Todd got here dwelling with PTSD.
However Meador remembers Todd as somebody who introduced levity to robust conditions. “Individuals had been drawn to him… He had a little bit clique of fellows that did jingles and raps and little sing songs collectively.”
He was identified to test in with fellow vets commonly.
Doc Todd and his spouse Abigail Todd within the final selfie they took collectively, in Dec. 2022
Abigail Todd
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Abigail Todd
Doc Todd and his spouse Abigail Todd within the final selfie they took collectively, in Dec. 2022
Abigail Todd
“I do not even know what to say,” writes Chase Reynolds on Todd’s Instagram, “His music helped me after I got here dwelling. Even chatted a bit. RIP brother.. thanks for all the pieces you have executed for our group.. we received it from right here.”
Meador says, through the years, he would get texts out of the blue from Todd. “‘Hey sir… Simply checking on you. Are you good?’ That was the fixed messaging. And I am only one. There’s numerous others.”
Earlier than he deployed to Afghanistan Todd fell head over heels in love along with his future spouse. At his funeral, Abby Todd learn a letter he’d written to her from Afghanistan:
“I dream about you virtually each night time. You soothed me a lot and turned my nervous power into one thing optimistic. You make me a greater individual, and I thanks deeply for that. … It is loopy. Regardless of how a lot I wash my toes, they nonetheless stink. I simply needed to inform you that. I do not know why.”
The Todd household throughout a house renovation in Could 2020.
Abigail Todd
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Abigail Todd
The Todd household throughout a house renovation in Could 2020.
Abigail Todd
The room erupted in laughter.
There was that levity. However Todd wasn’t afraid to, as pastor Kris McDaniel put it, pull “again the curtain on ache and loss.”
“How cathartic is it when somebody, a giant man, a navy man, appears to be like out on the world and says, ‘All of us undergo stuff and we will all make it by way of stuff. We will all get someplace if we notice we’re not alone.’ “
McDaniel additionally mentioned, “The easiest way we honor the passing of a delicate large, a giant hearted man, is to attempt to be as actual as he was.”
George “Doc” “Mik” Todd is survived by his spouse and two daughters, his mother and father, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and an entire lot of buddies.