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From: Barry Hancock <sportform@cox.net>
Subject: Gratitude

At the urging of several people, I have decided to post this.  It is  
a patriotic post only loosely related to aviation....

++++++++

Recently, I watched with much interest and trepidation the NBC  
Dateline 2 hour special on Operation Anaconda -a major offensive in  
Afghanistan in 2002 (I apologize in advance for any typos, etc.).  I  
was admittedly worried that this piece would have the usual left wing  
agenda of magnifying failures of our armed forces and minimizing the  
successes.  While mistakes were made and 7 Special Forces soldiers  
died (6 fighting to recover the body of the first) during the "Rescue  
on Roberts Ridge," it was a story of heroic valor and distinction  
that is at the very core of what makes this nation great.  It is a  
story of human beings with families, some of which will go the rest  
of their lives here on earth without seeing their husband, brother,  
dad, or son again because they died fighting for me, for you, for them.

I have always felt an extreme level of appreciation and gratitude for  
our men and women of the armed forces who have stood in harms way to  
protect divine freedoms and privileges given this great country.   
While reflecting on the sacrifice of grunts on the ground and airmen  
alike - and the families they've left - to do a duty not because they  
were forced to do it, but because they felt obligated to serve a  
righteous cause, I am, without fail, filled with emotions.  Emotions  
such as thankfulness for their sacrifice and professional discipline,  
awe at their courage, pride in my association as a fellow american,  
and even a bit of jealousy and humility that I did not take the  
opportunity to serve and give back to my great nation as they have.   
I'm a sucker for the National Anthem or a missing man fly-by.

As I sat there tonight watching Stone Phillips narrate the story of  
the soldiers and airmen that got unwittingly dropped into a meat  
grinder on a remote mountain top, I could feel their fear, their  
anger, their desperation as things turned from bad to worse, and  
their sorrow of watching the guys they had grown closest to get hit  
and die right before their eyes.  Most importantly I saw their honor  
and commitment to their creed of letting no fallen solider end up in  
the hands of the enemy - a creed that distinguishes the American  
soldier and embodies what makes this nation great.

In the end, tears rolled down my cheeks at the sight of stars and  
stripes draped caskets being taken from transport planes and put into  
hearses.  I wept at the dignity and pride evident in the eyes and  
words of Captain Nathan Self's wife, even when her husband still  
struggles to find peace and accept that his is a hero.  I smiled at  
the wisdom of Specialist Oscar Escano's willingness to use his  
experience to motivate him to fulfill his life's dream of becoming a  
doctor so that his fallen comrades sacrifice would not be in vain.    
The story was not what I had feared, it was what I would have hoped  
it could have been.

We did not ask for this war on terror, just as we have not asked for  
the vast majorities of conflicts we've engage in over the past two  
and a quarter centuries.  All we ask for in the long run is a place  
to bury our dead.  The seven men who gave the ultimate sacrifice for  
my freedoms, and yours, were thankfully returned home to rest in the  
soil they died to protect.

Ultimately, my heart was filled with joy, pride, and gratitude for  
the uncommon dedication and service that these men, and countless  
other men and women have made over the last 200+ years that allow me  
to sit here tonight and freely express my feelings.  The preceding  
sentence describes many of you I'm sending this to...and for those it  
doesn't describe, like myself, I hope you feel as I do - for without  
their willingness to fight and die for our country - for us - the  
simple freedoms afforded by our divinely inspired constitution would  
cease to exist.

I am grateful for a balanced story on a not so balanced network. I am  
grateful to be an American.  I am grateful for the the American  
soldier...the few who have given so much to so many.

Barry