All of us who love Whitney Houston understand that when those moments came in the song where we use to hear her voice soar and explode with clarity, bravado, and power felt a penetrating and effective connection to her. For many of us the first time we heard The Voice was in 1985 when she gave us The Greatest Love of All, and for those of us who remember an evening sitting in front of the TV in 1983 watching the Merv Griffin Show and heard a young girl with the voice of an angel and said wow. We Didn't Know that on that night we'll be falling in love, but we did. Merv said it right, "We won't forget that name, Whitney Houston."

She was known to the world as The Voice, but was known to her family and friends as Nippy. We got So Emotional because no matter what mood or emotional state we were in she had a song to fit the situation and she was a part of our life. Her songs took you back to a memory or that One Moment in Time. She was with you when you met your Greatest Love of All, When It's Not Right, but It's OK, and all the times you Wanna Dance with Somebody. Her music was the soundtrack of our lives.

She was not just a singer but the whole package. She captivated you with her voice, charisma, presence, and her ability to connect with her songs and her audience. Her voice is incomparable for a reason, and that reason is her power, tone, phrasing, range, control and interpretation which was and continues to be unmatched. Her gift was her voice and her talent was her natural ability to put emphasis, and emotion to lyrics to bring life and meaning to words and therefore not just sing but tell a story at the same time. That story telling was the ability to make words mean more than what was set down on paper. It took her voice to infuse them with deeper meaning so that when people heard them they sled through the brain and went straight to the heart giving her the most emotionally based, heartfelt voice the world has ever heard.

That voice helped many people in a big way. In 1991, it brought me and fellow Soldiers, and a nation together with her rendition of our National Anthem. It also helped me get through my time in Iraq. I played her CDs so often the other Soldiers asked if they were the only CDs I had. I said no, they were the only ones I could listen to from beginning to end and over and over again. What I didn't tell them was that her music was getting me through my time there. When I needed to know Why Does It Hurt So Bad, she would say just take it Step by Step, know that You Were Loved and you'll be Fine because You'll Never Stand Alone.

No vocal artist has been able to, or will be able to, imitate Whitney's feminine, acute voice which oozes with such immense power it drew you in. Her songs inspired a myriad of vocal artists and bolstered the dreams of millions. She became a pioneer for several female vocal artists. So, although many people believed she wasted her life and talent, just remember she give us so much, she enriched the lives of millions with her voice and yet her life was continually misconstrued, misinterpreted, disrupted, disheveled, and chaotic due to inexcusable acts of selfishness and criticism on the parts of many. Let's not forget she was human with feelings and made mistakes just like everyone else.

Though I never met her she was a part of my life for 27yrs and I feel as if I lost a close friend and relative. She touched the hearts of a world. The greatest gift this life can bring is when you look back and know You Were Loved by someone, held by someone, meant something to someone, and touched somebody's heart along the way. With our deepest appreciation, respect and admiration for all that you did and gave we say we Will Always Love You and thank you for sharing with us your greatest gift The Voice. You are Home now.

I'm a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant serving 21 years. I've been deployed all over the world. My last deployment was to Iraq.