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SGM Ernie Tabata
I regret to inform you that Sergeant Major Ernest K. Tabata passed away this afternoon in the hospital in Chapel Hill, NC.
Details to follow.
I was privileged to serve with Sergeant Major Ernie Tabata for two years on Demo Committee and have been close friends with him for more than twenty-five years.
I learned more in those two years concerning every subject I asked him about than any other two years of my life. I learned not just about SF engineering, but about how to be a better SF officer, soldier, and man in general.
Ernie took charge of the saber arch detail at my wedding and became a Sergeant Major again, like he was still on active duty. He did it exactly right, and his uniform still fit perfectly.
He was a man who lived simply and humbly, but who was rich in friends and experience.
His legacy lives on in the 20+% of the force he personally left his stamp of approval on, in his more than sixty years of service.
He was a good friend, a good man, and will be sorely missed. The world is truly a lesser place with his departure.
Thank you, Sergeant Major, for your service and your sacrifice, and for the time and wisdom you shared with me over the years.
I hope that you and Anna are together again tonight.
Rest in Peace, Sergeant Major. And save me a place at that final RV.
You will not be forgotten in my lifetime.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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