The shooting death last Thursday of a Virginia State trooper reminds us not only that law enforcement officers place themselves in harm’s way every single day, but that the danger of their job is ever present.

Trooper Chad Dermyer was shot while conducting training exercises at the Greyhound bus station in Richmond, when an armed and obviously disturbed man opened fire after the trooper approached him and began to talk to him following a training exercise in the station.

Trooper Dermyer, a Marine Corps veteran, leaves behind a wife and two young children, thousands of brothers and sisters in uniform — many of whom traveled from across the country to pay their respects at his funeral service in Hampton on Tuesday — and millions of Americans who live in relative safety because there are those willing to give their lives to protect others.

We often take for granted the risk that these men and women take each and every day, simply because we have never come face to face with the very dangers they shield us from. Today, we thank the men and women in law enforcement who do just that.

Godspeed, Trooper Dermyer.