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