Vivid Memories...

Pictures of the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon, left, and the World Trade Center, right, are seen at a memorial ceremony for U.S. troops marking the seventh anniversary at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

"Part of me forgot just how young some of the soldiers fighting out here are, with all their gear on they seem much older than their years. The ones we were talking to were barely in their teens when 9/11 happened, too young to realize the global impact that day would have and how it would forever alter their lives."
Arwa Damon/CNN International

Evening...

It has been a while since I blogged, eh? Well, there just hasn't been much to write home about...and a call from Chris today confirmed what I suspected - it is quiet for the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. So quiet that Chris is pretty bored...

Yes, he is doing well and ready to wrap it up...to get on the road...Chris is ready to head home. I expect your warrior has similar feelings. I am just as ready. The days are crawling by now but we can handle it...we've been through worse.

The photos and articles on the net today tell the story of other units working the neighborhoods of Baghdad, Mosul and elsewhere. I am thankful for their service and that they are getting the attention they deserve. The 2nd SCR had their time in the spotlight and our warriors performed superbly. It is almost time to move on. Our warriors have earned it...

Seven years ago...has it been that long? As I reflect back on 9/11, I returned to a morning that was almost surreal. I remember it clearly. San Diego...a business trip that had started with such great promise. It changed as soon as I saw the news that morning. Next, a long ride home in a rental car with Dave...lost in our thoughts. Our families - we couldn't wait to see them...to hold them close. Little did we know.

We were instantly at war that started with a sucker punch from radical extremists. Things would never be the same. My youngest son would be headed for Iraq...and a 15-month combat deployment with the 2nd SCR.

So, where were you? Are the memories as vivid for you as they are for me? I expect they are.

Did we have any clue how the world and our lives would be changed? That our paths would crisscross in a sandbox called Iraq? Never in our wildest dreams...

Chris, thanks for the phone call today. We are so glad you are doing well and looking forward to getting home...we too are ready!

Finish strong buddy...stay with it to the very end. Your buddies are depending on you to be there every step of the way.

I love you!

Be safe!

v/r,
- Collabman

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September 11, 2008
“We are doing the best we can to prevent anything like that from happening ever again”

Arwa Damon | BIO
CNN International Correspondent

“Hot, its always hot…” the soldier responded, the collar of his flak jacket soaked in fresh sweat, mixed with that of months of patrolling. We’d only been out an hour, already drenched in sweat, and we’re only carrying about a third of the weight that the soldiers are. Two hours after they return to their base in downtown Baquba, they are out again, flak jackets still wet from the previous patrol. They live on a combat outpost. Sleep whenever they can, work out at the gym. There’s no TV and very little escape from combat. For these soldiers the routine of 9/11 will be like any other day.

We were just embedded with the 2nd SCR in Baquba, and among other stories we’re covering, we were also talking to young troops about 9/11.

Part of me forgot just how young some of the soldiers fighting out here are, with all their gear on they seem much older than their years. The ones we were talking to were barely in their teens when 9/11 happened, too young to realize the global impact that day would have and how it would forever alter their lives.

“I was in the 8th grade I think. Art class. I didn’t know what was going on, they just sent us home,” one of them told us.

And now seven years on, they know it. For some it prompted them to join the military. For all, it shaped their military career. They are in Iraq fighting America’s so-called “war on terror”, though many not really aware that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

The guys are exhausted. You see it in their eyes, in the way that they move, in their speech that seems to be in slow motion. They’ve been here for 13 months now and its taking its toll. They joke about the next deployment being Afghanistan.

And in the words of one New Yorker, they want America to know something on 9/11.

“Just know that we are doing the best we can to prevent anything like that from happening ever again.”