Love letter eulogy for fallen soldier

Allison Weiner’s eulogy to her boyfriend was a love letter that began simply.
“Hi, my love. Welcome home,” she wrote to her long-time beau, 34-year-old Major Jeffrey R. Calero of Queens Village. “My heart feels peace knowing that you are home with us.”
About a month ago, Calero had been deployed overseas with the Special Operations Task force from Massachusetts, and on Monday, October 29, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near his vehicle during a combat patrol of Kajaki, a city in southern Afghanistan, taking his life.
On Monday, November 5, Weiner and fellow loved ones gathered for Calero’s funeral, held at St. Brigid’s Church in Westbury, Long Island - back on home soil - and during the service, Weiner’s sister read aloud the letter penned to the slain soldier.
“My God, how I miss you. It’s incredible,” Weiner wrote to Calero.
The heart-broken physical therapist of Port Washington reminisced about outings she enjoyed with her “nugget” - bike trips around Manhattan, watching the New York Jets, and trips to exotic isles like St. Martin and St. Lucia.
“You are such a beautiful and amazing being, and I was excited to spend my whole life with you.”
After calling Calero cautious, smart and strong, she described the usual nicknames that the couple invented for one another. He called her biscuit and little beast. She said the last time she had spoken to her boyfriend he told her, “I love you little beast. I will see you before you know it.”
Weiner mentioned Calero’s nieces and nephew, three siblings, Dennis, Joyce and Irene, and parents, Raymond and Roselle.
“They are the foundation of this wonderful family,” she wrote.
In a previous interview, Raymond Calero said that his son had given him the American flag that hung from their home on Hollis Court Boulevard - a symbolic gesture denoting that the family had a loved one serving overseas. Now the flag remains in Calero’s memory.
A distinguished soldier, Calero’s service included airborne training and duty as an Army Ranger before he joined the Special Forces. He was awarded numerous commendations for his dedication, including the highly regarded “Green Beret” - a distinction that members of the Army’s Special Forces unit receive. Later, he joined the National Guard and was sent to Afghanistan in 2003 and then again in October.
“He just believed in the cause, why they were over there,” Raymond Calero said of his son during the interview on Wednesday, October 31.
The Army promoted Calero posthumously to the rank of Major.
“I always told him I was so proud of him,” his mother said during the interview.
During the funeral mass, the St. Brigid’s pastor, Father Ralph Sommer, told mourners, “We are not here this morning to commemorate death. We are here this morning to celebrate life … because Jeffrey lived.”
“Our faith tells us that one day, we too will be called into that [after] life, but now is the time to say goodbye,” Father Sommer said.
In her personal farewell, Weiner found the familiar words of Bette Midler the most apt, telling her boyfriend, “Thank you, thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings.”
She finished, “I will be here whenever you need me. I will always be. I love you, my baby.”