Memorial

Yesterday was the memorial ceremony for our recent KIAs - 6 total in one operation, 5 of which occured in the same firefight. The memorial was conducted at a smaller base that the soldiers lived at. For the spartan environment, it was very well conducted. It was good to gain some closure on our medic who was killed. We saw a bunch of our other medics from the other bases - a little mini reunion - but it is unfortunate that it took an incident like this to gather everyone. One of the NCOs (Daniel, you met him) and I flew to the base and on the flight over, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the countryside is. The stunning terrain belies the violence implemented upon it. It is a strange, unfortunate duality of this country. It's crazy to think of how much we've accomplished during our year+ back at Campbell, and how much we've accomplished in our nearly 7 months here.

In FOB Blessing, Lt Alex Pruden also wrote about the cost of war " Just to give you all a quick update, 3rd Platoon and the "Above the Rest" Battalion have been very busy this month. As I've alluded to in the past few posts, we've stepped up our efforts to root out Taliban presence in the Pech and its tributaries...and security has greatly improved for the people of this area. Unfortunately, these victories have borne a price: on the last major operation, 6 soldiers were killed and many more wounded...It was a solemn reminder to all of us of the danger we face and the risks we take every day. Thank you all for your prayers and support, I'll bring you up to speed soon."