Thank you

I just wanted to post a thank you in light of Veterans Day yesterday.

As anyone who has visited this site knows, I come from a military family. I am not going to go into all of it again, but I do want to say a couple of things. First, I want to say thank you for all of the men and women who served before me. They laid the ground work for one of the most professional and well trained militaries in the world. They laid the ground work with their blood, tears, and sweat. That is a debt that will never be fully repaid by this country or the people who live in it.

Secondly, I want to say thank you to all the men and women who now serve with me. In our countries time of trouble, I am reassured with the knowledge that I am not alone in the fight. I have heard many people (before coming here) say that my generation is a generation that is all about the quick fix, the easy solution, what's in it for me. To that I say they are partly right. In my life I have known many people my own age that care nothing about anything outside themselves. In light of all that, as I look around my PRT I see young men my own age that are here because we chose to serve something greater than ourselves, our families, and our friends.

Third, I want to thank all those that will serve after my time has ended. I am encouraged by the younger generations that are coming up behind me. These are the children that lived with 9/11 from a child's perspective. These kids are going to remember exactly how it felt on that day. They will remember the images as a child remembers. I am very excited to see what direction this country takes in their hands.

Lastly, I want to thank all those that have supported me in my journey so far. There is no way I could have done many of the things I have done in my life without the support of my family and friends. They are a life line that I cherish and use everyday.

Be good to each other and remember, the little things make life fun, but the important things define it.

For real

Things have just gotten seriously real. As anyone who has ever seen this blogger before knows, I am serving a tour in Afghanistan. When it is all said and done I will probably be here for just over a year.

Before now, there have been little steps letting me know that I really am in a combat zone and not just in a bad dream. The first being my having to endure a long and painful "send off" ceremony back home in Davenport. I knew then as I loaded onto the chartered bus that took us to Des Moines that I was really being asked to serve my community and my country.

Once in Des Moines, it was taken a step further as our pre-mobilization training was concluded and we were finally heading out to Ft. Hood, Tx to suffer through 3 months of more training. Arriving on to that post will be an experience I will never forget. Seeing everything, as a kid, you imagine is on an Army post and more. Apache helicopters flying overhead, tanks moving about. It was a pretty awakening experience.

Then came the departure from Ft. Hood. I thought I was ready at that point, but somewhere during the journey over here, I found out that somewhere deep in the furthest recesses of my mind, part of me wasn't. We touched down into Bagram Air Field and all the sounds and smells of "war" were finally experienced. Or so I thought.

After Bagram came arriving at my PRT site. The base that I would be operating out of, living in and protecting for the next year. It started to really set in. Soon after I arrived in J-bad, I went on my first real mission "outside the wire." That night we were attacked by insurgents in a near by village using rockets and automatic rifles. We responded well, quickly and efficiently and none of our people got hurt. Further attacks have gotten me to the point where I respond instantly and trust my instincts more than anything.

Now, though, something has really happened to bring it all together. My task force has lost its first soldier after months of being lucky, quick and trained. I can't say what happened exactly, but this soldier was killed and two others were seriously wounded, one losing part of his arm. I didn't really know the guys that were hurt, but they were in my Task Force and wore the same patch. They were from the same state and people from our state are very big on family. These guys were brothers-in-arms and they fought for something they loved. I can't express my sorrow for the families in any adequte way, other to say that the prayers of every soldier from this PRT are with them.

When you are young (as you know I am only 24) you have thoughts that you are invincible. I don't care what your age is at the time you have to go to war, but when you get here you are no longer a "kid" and once something like this happens, all sense of invincibility is gone. Soldiers die young and unfortunately it seems like in today's society they are never appreciated by the people that should really be thankful for them. Believe me when I say, no one has loved anyone or missed anyone like the families miss and love those that have gone off to war. The young think they will live forever, so we make promises that are not always fulfilled. As I have said before, I am simple man. I love my family, my wife, my country and my friends. These are the things soldiers hold onto when we think about "what if the worst happens." We all want our friends, families and loved ones to cherish the memory of us, but to also move on and live their lives. For if they don't, then no one would be able to tell the story of who we were, what and who we loved or what we were like.

I just want to say that the families of those three young men will be with all of us in the Task Force for sometime to come. My prayers are with you.