Home for the Holidays
The Multi National Security and Transition Command – Iraq (MNSTC-I), pronounced “min sticky”, finally approved my leave request. Looks like I’ll be home for Christmas; that is, if there are no lock-downs or revocation of travel orders for that period. I have to admit, it’s hard to stay focused knowing that home is just a few weeks away.
A couple of weeks ago, I went down to Rustamiyah (Rusty) to do some work with the NATO advisor to the Iraqi Military Academy – Rustamiyah (IMAR). He’s a British “chap” that I’ve gotten to know pretty well over the past few months. Also, he and I hit it off like long lost friends, so I always look for a reason to visit with him. The other good thing about going to Rusty is I get to see one of my best friends, LTC Eddie Palmer. Eddie is the Senior Coalition Advisor to IMAR and works hand in hand with NATO.
This is Eddie, outside the Military Academy where he works.
I got my leave approval just before I left for Rusty, so on my flight over, all I could think about was home. I can’t wait to get on that Blackhawk that will be the first leg of my trip home.
When I got to Rusty, I jumped out and ran over to the pax terminal. I noticed a bunch of 4th Infantry Division and 101st Airborne Soldiers just hanging around, but I did not see Eddie and my ride. The 4th ID and 101st are in the process of rotating out of Iraq. They share the Rustamiyah base, a real hot spot, with the Iraqis. They’ve been here a year and now it’s time to go home. They will be replaced by units form the 1st Cav, 1st Armored and even some 1st ID soldiers who have just begun arriving in theater.
More and more Soldiers were coming towards me and I asked the kid that manifests the flights
what was going on. She said, “Oh, sir, the next leg of this flight is a VIP flight.” Wow, a VIP riding on the same helicopter I just got off of. Then, I saw the vehicle approach very slowly and realized the VIP was a Soldier who had been killed in action a few days earlier. As the vehicle backed into place, about 100 Soldiers formed two lines from the back of the vehicle out to the door of the Blackhawk. No one had called a formation, the Soldiers take it on themselves to escort their fallen comrade to his place of honor. More and more Soldiers join in as the procession moves down the block to the terminal.
As they pulled his body out of the vehicle and carried him to the Blackhawk, each Soldier raised
his hand in salute as he passed by. The Soldiers in line and all about the LZ remain at Present Arms until the body is loaded, secured and the Blackhawk takes off. Then, they hold their salute and slowly turn in the direction of the departing helicopter as it moves beyond the horizon. Finally, when the bird is out of sight, the Soldiers drop their salute and slowly meander, silently, in a hundred different directions, back to work. It was the first time I ever saw this unscripted and graceful routine.
It turned out that I got to see two more VIP flights that same day. Each time, I broke down and cried for those 4th ID and 101st Warriors. I could not help but think of the families who, a few days earlier, had been looking forward to the return of their loved one, by Thanksgiving. May God give comfort to those families and peaceful rest to those Warriors. And please, celebrate them home.
awe
The Multi National Security and Transition Command – Iraq (MNSTC-I), pronounced “min sticky”, finally approved my leave request. Looks like I’ll be home for Christmas; that is, if there are no lock-downs or revocation of travel orders for that period. I have to admit, it’s hard to stay focused knowing that home is just a few weeks away.
A couple of weeks ago, I went down to Rustamiyah (Rusty) to do some work with the NATO advisor to the Iraqi Military Academy – Rustamiyah (IMAR). He’s a British “chap” that I’ve gotten to know pretty well over the past few months. Also, he and I hit it off like long lost friends, so I always look for a reason to visit with him. The other good thing about going to Rusty is I get to see one of my best friends, LTC Eddie Palmer. Eddie is the Senior Coalition Advisor to IMAR and works hand in hand with NATO.
This is Eddie, outside the Military Academy where he works.
I got my leave approval just before I left for Rusty, so on my flight over, all I could think about was home. I can’t wait to get on that Blackhawk that will be the first leg of my trip home.
When I got to Rusty, I jumped out and ran over to the pax terminal. I noticed a bunch of 4th Infantry Division and 101st Airborne Soldiers just hanging around, but I did not see Eddie and my ride. The 4th ID and 101st are in the process of rotating out of Iraq. They share the Rustamiyah base, a real hot spot, with the Iraqis. They’ve been here a year and now it’s time to go home. They will be replaced by units form the 1st Cav, 1st Armored and even some 1st ID soldiers who have just begun arriving in theater.
More and more Soldiers were coming towards me and I asked the kid that manifests the flights
what was going on. She said, “Oh, sir, the next leg of this flight is a VIP flight.” Wow, a VIP riding on the same helicopter I just got off of. Then, I saw the vehicle approach very slowly and realized the VIP was a Soldier who had been killed in action a few days earlier. As the vehicle backed into place, about 100 Soldiers formed two lines from the back of the vehicle out to the door of the Blackhawk. No one had called a formation, the Soldiers take it on themselves to escort their fallen comrade to his place of honor. More and more Soldiers join in as the procession moves down the block to the terminal.As they pulled his body out of the vehicle and carried him to the Blackhawk, each Soldier raised
his hand in salute as he passed by. The Soldiers in line and all about the LZ remain at Present Arms until the body is loaded, secured and the Blackhawk takes off. Then, they hold their salute and slowly turn in the direction of the departing helicopter as it moves beyond the horizon. Finally, when the bird is out of sight, the Soldiers drop their salute and slowly meander, silently, in a hundred different directions, back to work. It was the first time I ever saw this unscripted and graceful routine.It turned out that I got to see two more VIP flights that same day. Each time, I broke down and cried for those 4th ID and 101st Warriors. I could not help but think of the families who, a few days earlier, had been looking forward to the return of their loved one, by Thanksgiving. May God give comfort to those families and peaceful rest to those Warriors. And please, celebrate them home.
awe
posted by AWE, COL, USA | 12:00 AM
1 Comments:
Nice post. Very touching. Great news about your leave. Make sure you get on the right flight this time....re post of October 30th. I was going to give you a hard time over it but I can see how you can make that mistake with no departure gate info, flight attendant announcements and all.....
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