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Note of thanks to a Departing Soldier
Dear American soldier,
You don't know me, but I know who you are,
and I will not forget.
You are deploying from Fort Carson and
Fort Hood and Fort Bliss and
Fort Stewart.
You hail from Middletown
and Middleboro and Greenville and
Redding
and Thousand Oaks and Maple Tree.
You are white, black, brown and
yellow — but always Americans first.
You are with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team
and the 10th Combat Support Hospital
and the 571st
Air Ambulance Medical Evacuation Company.
You are
with the 1st Cavalry Division and the 3rd Infantry
Division
and the "Iron Horse" 4th Infantry Division.
You are Black Knights with the 2nd Battalion, 5th
Cavalry Regiment.
You are engineers, drivers and
medics in the 13th Corps Support Command.
Your motto is "We Will," "Steadfast and Loyal,"
"Swift and Deadly," "Always Prepared,"
"First to
Fight," and "No Task Too Tough."
You will be joined overseas by thousands of
sailors and Marines on the USS Boxer
and USS
Bonhomme Richard and USS Cleveland and USS
Dubuque
and USS Anchorage and USS Comstock and
USS Pearl Harbor.
You will get support in the Gulf
from an airborne infantry brigade,
a squadron of
F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters, and two squadrons
of F-16CJ radar-jamming fighters.
You have friends on the USS Constellation
in the Persian Gulf,
and the USS Harry S. Truman in
the Mediterranean Sea,
and the carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln stationed at Perth, Australia, and the
USNS Yano en route to the Red
Sea, and the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson
on its way to a training mission in the Pacific.
You have classmates and colleagues and
cousins who died at the Pentagon
and in the Twin
Towers on September 11, 2001.
You have buddies who took bullets over the past
year in Afghanistan and Kuwait
and the
Philippinesduring Operation Enduring Freedom.
You have uncles and brothers and fathers
and grandfathers who
sacrificed their
lives in past wars.
Their deaths haunt you. Their heroism inspires you.
Their footsteps beckon and you cannot resist.
You have wives who are tough as nails and husbands
who are enormously proud.
You have toddlers who
know the colors of the American flag
and
grade-schoolers who have memorized Army
verses like these:
The hardest job, the dirtiest job
Since ever war began
Is picking 'em up and laying 'em down
The job of an infantryman
No mission too difficult
No sacrifice too great
Our duty to the nation
Is the first we're here to state
Our doughboys come from Brooklyn
Our gunners from Vermont
Our signals from Fort Monmouth
Our engineers DuPont
Against the foes of freedom
We fight for liberty
We make no peace with tyrants
On land or on the sea.
As you pack your green Army duffel bags,
press your desert camouflage
fatigues,
polish your boots and kiss your families
goodbye, please take these words with you:
Thank you.
Thank you for answering the call to arms.
Thank you for being fit and young and brave and
willing.
Thank you for loving freedom enough to put
your own life on the line to defend it.
Pay no attention to Sean Penn and Sheryl Crow and
Baghdad Babs.
Tuneout the half-naked loonies and
Flower Power leftovers.
Stand tall.
Fight hard.
And
know there are legions of Americans who are boundlessly grateful
for what you have
volunteered to do.
We know who you are.
We will not forget.
And we will pray every day for
your safe return.
HOOAH
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