Never Forgotten, Never In Vain

“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.” – Abraham Lincoln

As dawn broke it seemed like just another Saturday morning here at COB Speicher. Soldiers, Airmen, Contractors and others went about their normal business as we continued our daily preparations to close up shop and continue our responsible retrograde from Iraq. As the sun climbed into the Iraqi sky we started to hear trickles of news from a tragic event that had taken place hundreds of miles to our east. On a distant battleground in another country in which our brave men and women selflessly toil, a helicopter had been shot down with terrible loss. Another war in which we fight with equal professionalism, selfless service, and painful sacrifice rages on in Afghanistan. Thirty American warriors, seven Afghan brothers-in-arms, and a fearless military working dog, all dedicated to one another in faith, confidence in each other and their mission, paid the ultimate sacrifice when their CH-47 Chinook was struck by a missile and downed. It was the worst combat loss in a single day since the start of the war in Afghanistan. Its impact resonated across the entire military community. For when one mourns we all join hands and hearts together. In the military we are all family and we share the grief for the loss of a fallen comrade. I can’t say if anyone here at Speicher actually knew any of our comrades on that helicopter. I know I didn’t. But to all of us that is irrelevant. We don’t need to know our comrades personally to feel the sting of their loss or share the sorrow felt by their family and friends. For we are all linked together by our sense of duty to serve our Nation, preserve her Freedom, and our commitment to the Warrior Ethos. August 6, 2011 was a dark day for all of us, as though there truly was a “tremor in the force” that is the bond of military service. Our resiliency is in knowing that from this sad day we will recover, we will prevail, and we will emerge victorious. We will never allow a fallen comrade to have made such sacrifice in vain. The thirty Americans lost aboard that Chinook may be gone but they will never be forgotten for the sacrifice they’ve laid at the altar of Freedom. Neither will the seven Afghan patriots who gave their last full measure for their Nation and their people. Last, the Military Working Dog is yet another in a long line of devoted K9’s who never questioned faithful service and died alongside the men with whom they served.

God bless the families, friends and the fellow members of their unit in this time of loss and know that all men and women of our military family are bowing our heads with you now and always. Although there are times when we feel our life of service is eternal, we know that in the end we are all mere mortals who are made mighty only by our trust in one another. We know that when Heaven’s roll call is sounded we will all one day be present and accounted for. Amen.