All Good Things Must Come to an End
November 11, 2005
The moment is here and I am at a loss for words.
Our tour here in Iraq is basically complete. Only a couple of more duty days left here at TQ. The bags are almost all packed and much of our gear had been turned in.
We've come a long way from the time when we headed over here, and every man had to face in his heart the distinct possibly that they were going to be in intense combat and possibly die. Although each us was willing to serve if not our country, we were at least willing to serve the man to their right and to their left, and do what had to be done. We were fortunate and it did not turn out that way. We had our "pucker factor" moments - some more than others - but we got through it okay. There were a few close calls, but we are all going home with all our fingers and toes and our hearts still beating.
We worked some long, hard hours in not the best of conditions, we put up with our fair amount of crap, yet here we are, alive - each and every one of us who made it through the complete tour together are still standing tall. True, many of our fellow servicemen and women had it much worse off than us during the same time that we have been here. We recognize what they too have done, we respect them, and appreciate their sacrifices - but we also did our duty to the best of our abilities, completed our assigned missions, and served with honor and distinction.
We have done our part and that is all that matters.
Many of us started off as strangers to one another. Now we are a team. That's not to say that we all are the best of friends - because we are not - but we are family, and family sticks together and takes care of one another no matter what. I hate to use a cliché, but we are now a "Band of Brothers". We have a mutual, shared experience and nothing will ever change that and no one can take that away from us.
For days, I have contemplated what I would write for this, my final blog from here in Iraq. Too bad I didn't write some of those thoughts down in a notepad so I could share them with you now. Much of it was very good and even revealing. You know what? It doesn't matter. We know who we are and we know what we have been through, what we have done, what we have accomplished.
For some of our guys, they cannot wait to be home and get as far away from Iraq and the National Guard as they can. For others, we are waiting for our chance to do another deployment, and in some cases, transfer to the "regular" Army and make this way of life a career. Regardless, this is a bittersweet time for all of us, and each of us in our own way is going to miss being here and with these people. We are a sum of our parts and Iraq, along with the soldiers and Marines with whom we served, are now a part of who we are and will be until the day we die. For the rest of our lives, hearing a certain song, sound, or phrase will trigger a memory of this place. Doing a certain thing will remind us of the time we did something similar in Iraq. Tasting a certain food will remind of a meal we had together. We will miss being able to see the sky filled with thousands of stars on a clear night, playing tricks on one another, hooking up a friend in need, and having someone be there for us when we felt like shit.
We will miss this place and we will miss one another - no matter what we might think right now. I know because I have already been through this more than a few times in my life and in my military career.
I will miss this place and I will miss my fellow soldiers.
I will miss Charlie Company.
"Charlie Rock! FIDO!"
