For The 233rd Time..."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

I just completed reading the book The Lone Survivor that was written by and is about retired Petty Officer First Class, Marcus Luttrell, the recipient of the U.S. Navy's highest and most prestigious decoration, the Navy Cross, awarded for valor in the face of the enemy. As a proud warrior member of the Navy SEALs, one the most fierce fighting units in our nation's arsenal of combat ready weaponry, Petty Officer Luttrell was deployed to Afghanistan in June, 2005. On the 28th of that month he and three other members of SEAL Team 10 - Michael P. Murphy, Danny Dietz and Matthew Axelson - were airlifted into the Hindu-Kush mountains and given the assignment to find, capture or kill Ahmad Shah, he being the identified leader of a growing Taliban army that had committed atrocious acts of terrorism throughout that region.

Dropped in the middle of one of the most desolate regions in the world, made even more perilous by the presence of the Taliban enemy that freely operated all around their location, SEAL Team 10 set about the task of securing an observation post for the purpose of gaging whether or not a small inconspicuous Afghan village a mile into the valley below was the current center of refuge for their assigned prey. As they stealthily went about the business of establishing their perimeter of operation, three goat herders - comprised of two adult males and one male teen believed to be approximately 14 years of age - stumbled upon SEAL Team 10's location. The dilemma instantly facing the team was what to do with these three - all suspected to be Taliban sympathizers - free them or kill them. A heated debate ensued and a vote taken, the result of which was to let them go. Each knew and genuinely feared that such a humanitarian decision could place the team's very survival in mortal danger. That fear became real when within an hour of the three locals release all hell broke loose from above and on both of their flanks.

For several hours thereafter the team members engaged in a withering gun battle against 30 to 40 Tailban enemy fighters, forcing the team to retreat to lower and lower defensive positions on the mountain in a valiant but losing effort to keep the relentless enemy from over-running their position. Turrell, in the book, goes into extensive, gut-wrenching detail describing the horrific circumstances under which the team was desperately trying to survive, the ultimate result being the death to his fellow team members due to the repeated multiple, horrific gunshot wounds each received. Turrell only managed to survive the initial battle as a result of a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) that struck the ground in front of him, propelling him backwards over a precipice where he landed several hundred feet below into a rocky outcropping, out of immediate sight of the Al-Qaeda soldiers still determined to kill the remaining American soilder.

Determined to remain illusive from his pursuers, Turrell managed to limp little and crawl mostly for seven hours until he was discovered by Pashtun tribesmen from the village of Sabray, who carefully transported him back to their village and administered to his many battle wounds. believing, as part of their code of honor, that any wounded man must be cared for and protected from his enemies regardless of the man's origin or intent, and regardless of the potential repercussions such an act of humanitarianism might inflict upon the village inhabitants. Six days after the initial battle of "Murphy's Ridge," the Psahtun villagers managed to sheppard Turrell through the mountains until they came into contact with an advancing unit of the Army Rangers who were searching for what they hoped were still survivors of the SEAL Team 10.

It was at this time that Turrell learned of a failed rescue mission that been mounted by fellow SEALs, who had immediately sprung into action to answer a distress call that had been received from SEAL Team 10 during the height of the battle. While attempting to disembark the members of the rescue mission from the rear of Chinook helicopter, an enemy fired RPG slammed into the hovering aircraft, bursting it instantly into a fiery inferno, killing all 16 men aboard. With that explosion the most disastrous day in SEAL history had come to a close.

Perhaps I have embarked into far too much detail in reporting the overall text of Lone Survivor. This post is not about the book. My purpose is to convey to any fellow citizen who may happen to come across this personal 4th of July message that our country owes a debt of gratitude to Marcus Luttrell and the 18 brave men who died on that lonely mountain 8,000 miles aways from the safety of our shores that we mere civilians can never begin to repay. The debt of undying gratitude must be further extended in genuine homage to the thousands of other brave men and women of our country's military that through the decades of waging our country's battles have paid the ultimate sacrifice, each with their own personal stories that unfolded in grisly detail in the midst of the dense fog of battle. Stories that are even now only known and forever remembered by their fellow combatants who watched in numbing horror as their buddies fell forever silent beside them.

This country was forged out of the clashing steel of war. This country has survived and become a beacon of freedom and hope to the world due in great part to the supreme sacrifices that the men and women of our military forces have made down through the decades to safeguard our principles of freedom. "Freedom is never free." The price that has been paid for our freedom runs blood red...as crimson as the red in our nation's flag. Today, as we celebrate joyously the 233rd birthday of our nation's founding, wherever you are on this day and whenever you see Old Glory flying, look with reverence and heartfelt gratitude to the red stripes stirring in the summer breeze...and remember the blood so unselfishly sacrificed so that on this day you still have the opportunity of life, liberty and the unencumbered freedom to pursue happiness.

God Bless America and the men and women who serve her faithfully in our stead.