November 7, 2013
Eli was asleep in his bedroom and wasn't awakened by the phone ringing at 6am.
It took me a while to gather my whits.
An aircraft from B. Co 5/101st was shot down in Tikrit, Iraq.
Life came screeching to a halt.
Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of one of the days that shook our family and changed us forever. It is the day that Matt and Tom were flying together on a mission in Iraq and landed safely while Mika and I were back at my house in Tennessee starting our day off as usual. It was the day that four of our soldiers did not land safely, their aircraft was hit by and RPG and their wives and children did not get to jump into their arms months later at a hangar on Army base in the middle of nowhere America.
Yesterday I awoke with an immediate realization that it was once again the 7th of November. I shed a few tears when I said the Pledge of Allegiance at school, and I cried when Matt and I raised a glass of Jack Daniel's to honor the Crew of 431.
I played through the events of the day in great detail. The relief felt by my family was the polar opposite of pain and loss for the families of the fallen.
Last night I sat down at the computer and wrote a detailed account of that day.
Then I wondered if I have written this before.
I looked back a few years and found one I wrote on the 10th anniversary. There may have been more, I didn't care to look. The words I wrote yesterday were almost exactly what I wrote three years prior. The details and the emotions are just a vivid today, yesterday and three years ago as they were 5 and 10 years before that.
I hope it always will be so clear. I hope I never forget the sacrifices made by the Crew of 431, the families of the fallen, and the comrades were broken by the loss and yet loaded into an aircraft the next day and continued the mission they were called to complete.
To the Fallen.
Rest in Peace.
Eli was asleep in his bedroom and wasn't awakened by the phone ringing at 6am.
It took me a while to gather my whits.
An aircraft from B. Co 5/101st was shot down in Tikrit, Iraq.
Life came screeching to a halt.
Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of one of the days that shook our family and changed us forever. It is the day that Matt and Tom were flying together on a mission in Iraq and landed safely while Mika and I were back at my house in Tennessee starting our day off as usual. It was the day that four of our soldiers did not land safely, their aircraft was hit by and RPG and their wives and children did not get to jump into their arms months later at a hangar on Army base in the middle of nowhere America.
Yesterday I awoke with an immediate realization that it was once again the 7th of November. I shed a few tears when I said the Pledge of Allegiance at school, and I cried when Matt and I raised a glass of Jack Daniel's to honor the Crew of 431.
I played through the events of the day in great detail. The relief felt by my family was the polar opposite of pain and loss for the families of the fallen.
Last night I sat down at the computer and wrote a detailed account of that day.
Then I wondered if I have written this before.
I looked back a few years and found one I wrote on the 10th anniversary. There may have been more, I didn't care to look. The words I wrote yesterday were almost exactly what I wrote three years prior. The details and the emotions are just a vivid today, yesterday and three years ago as they were 5 and 10 years before that.
I hope it always will be so clear. I hope I never forget the sacrifices made by the Crew of 431, the families of the fallen, and the comrades were broken by the loss and yet loaded into an aircraft the next day and continued the mission they were called to complete.
To the Fallen.
Rest in Peace.
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