A soldier stands, salutes his CO, then leaves. He heads to the ready room to suit up. To put on his armor, to load his weapon. He gets in the awaiting helo. He watches the trerrain speed by, seeing sand, cactus' and houses go by so quick they are a blur. He is told three mikes until drop. He readies himself, checks his gear, makes sure his weapon works. Then the helo slows and prepares for a combat drop. The soldier jumps out to find himself under fire. He drops to the ground, brings his rifle up and fires back. He runs to the pinned down squad. Because he is their back up. He pops up to return fire, he's hit, right shoulder. He can no longer fight. Two quick intense minutes and he's down. Bleeding out. He finds himself strangly not thinking of the pain but of his wife, his daughter and his fellow soldiers he has just let down. But soon after he hears something, something loud. A jet flying by, dropping bombs on the enemy's position. He looks up and see's Blackhawks coming over the horizon. And he knows the downed squad will be fine. As the choppers touch down he dies. His last thought was of his daughter, wishing to hold her just one last time.

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank god that such men lived" Quote General George S. Patton

Be strong, we are here for you, all of you. On behalf of the american public I thank you.