Today we’re here to remember the fallen, and as I was preparing for today through reflection of my time in the Army I was quickly reminded of the amazing soldiers I have the honor and pleasure of calling my friends and brothers, from basic training to deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have lost many loved ones, but why?
Greater Love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13
If you don’t remember or know why, then remembering their name has a bit less meaning. When we ask ourselves, “why did these soldiers sacrifice so much?” We often lean into the patriotic response of “For our freedom.” Where this may be true for why they enlisted or embarked onto their deployment; I do not believe this is why they decided to sacrifice their lives in the moment.
You see, soldiers start off no different from anyone else. Some join because college didn’t work out so well, some to pay off college debt, others because they have just lost their way, and few, because they BLEED red, white, and blue. I can tell you, honestly, I joined because I had lost my way. I needed direction in my life that I couldn’t find on my own. The Army looked to be the best place to give me the discipline and teach me the values Ineeded to be successful. In the end, I found those values to be LDRSHIP. LDRSHIP is an acronym for Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Services, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Every soldier I speak of today represented these values to the end.
A lot has changed for me since then. Today, I bleed red, white, and blue! Patriotism runs at my core and I’m here to tell you why.
I found a new appreciation for America and discovered what patriotism actually means while serving our country. But I didn’t find it on American soil. I found in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the turrets of Iraq.
I served in the Sunni Triangle of Death, Iraq, with the 10th Mountain Division. During our deployment 26 soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in my battalion alone with two soldiers, SPC Jimenez and PFC Fouty, being POW’s, later discovered partially buried in the desert.
In Afghanistan I served in the Kunar Province with the 101st Airborne Division. There we fought some of the toughest battles with enemies that were more than willing to die for their cause. During our deployment 39 soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in my battalion alone. Our brigade suffered the largest losses in a single deployment since Vietnam, with many more wounded or injured.
Two exemplary examples of the Army values are SSG Eric Shaw and SPC Jameson Lindskog.
SSG Eric Shaw was credited with saving the lives of 12 Aghani soldiers on June 27th 2010 during a mission called Strong Eagle. SSG Shaw aspired to be a history teacher; however, after graduating college had trouble finding a job so he turned to the Army. SSG Shaw was a squad leader and leading his team through one of the largest fire fights our battalion took part of since Vietnam. As the first rounds were fired his squads way, he took quick action to direct them behind nearby vehicles. Without fear, Shaw ran into this barrage of gun fire to inform the Afghani soldiers to take cover as well. They complied and began taking cover; however, after a short time Shaw noticed a few of the Afghani soldiers didn’t understand, or hear, his commands. There was a natural disconnect here, they spoke Pashto and he spoke English. Once again, Shaw ran into fire with the lives of these Afghani soldiers top of mind and was immediately struck causing a fatal wound.
SPC Lindskog joined the Army to be a medic, he joined the Army because he felt the medical training would help him pursue a career as a physical therapist. Specialist Lindskog served as the assigned medic to third platoon on March 29th 2011. What it means to be an “assigned medic” is SPC Lindskog had never worked with this platoon before. He didn’t know them like a typical medic would. We were on a mission called, Strong Eagle III with an objective of seizing and clearing a known insurgent strong point. While clearing the objective Linskog’s platoon was ambushed and pinned down by the enemy, taking fire from all directions. During the initial contact there were three casualties, the lead Squad Leader was shot in his back, one team leader was shot in the arm, and one Afghani National Army (ANA) Soldier was seriously wounded. SPC Lindskog, without hesitation, maneuvered from the back of the platoon to the front. Literally bounding through enemy fire. Lindskog began rendering secondary treatment on the Squad Leader and provided instructions for care to the remaining soldier and he moved to the wounded ANA soldier. This was after knowing another solider was shot twice in the front of his bullet proof vest just moments before. Lindskog began treating the ANA soldier as he was struck just under the left arm by an enemy round. Even though he was mortally wounded he continued to instruct his fellow soldiers on how to treat his wounds and give care to the other wounded soldiers. Specialist Lindskog remained lucid for another thirty minutes, continuing to give instructions on how to care for others and himself until he succumbed to his wounds.
Each time you go visit those soldiers after one of those things, they are there fighting for their buddy on their left or right,
Campbell said.
In the moment, these sacrifices were not for the United States, they were for the brothers and sisters to their left and right. They sacrificed for their brother what their brother was prepared to sacrifice for them.
And guess what? They didn’t care about ethnicity, religion, or gender. They died for WHAT America stands for.
We will stop [the enemy] when we start believing in ourselves again and when we remember that our exceptionalism hasn’t anything to do with what we are — prosperous, powerful, envied — but with who we are: a people united by ideals, not ethnicity or geography, and determined to stand by those values, not just here at home but throughout the world.
Senator McCain
We were often told during redeployment back to the states that, “The world hasn’t changed, you have.” This was in an attempted to help us understand and deal with our anger and frustration as we now looked at the world differently. We had an appreciation for America that none of us had before.
The curtains were pulled from our eyes and we truly understood what it meant to be an American, but we came home to an America divided and sub-divided by “new-era” cultures. We continue to divide ourselves by our differences, when our differences are why we should be unified.
Different was His design. Not a call to arms.
Daniel Ritchie
It exhausts me to watch as our country continues to segment ourselves, cut and divide ourselves into sub-group after sub-group that do nothing other than creating further divisiveness. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be proud of being different, or seek others that share the same interests. I’m saying we need to stop planting flags and outcasting all others that don’t fit in to our sub-culture “norm”. We are ALL different, unique, and weird and we are all Americans. America is filled up with weird individuals like us, it’s such a diverse country and that’s what makes us different. And we already have a flag: it’s Red, White, and Blue.
So, I’m asking you today to think deeper into how you might be outcasting others with social groups, clicks, or foundations that may be serving more as echo chambers and losing its American way.
Be different, embrace different, let’s not segment because we are different.