DAY 16: Day of Remembrance

Sun, 11 September 2005
In the early morning hours, I head over to a location on base to gather in an outdoor formation to honor the victims of 9/11. Several chaplains – including a Romanian – speak and at the end a 21-gun salute ensues followed by a bugle playing “Taps”. At this moment, many of us are on the verge of tears knowing the enormity of our presence – we are here to fight in al-Qaeda’s backyard for those 3000 or so lives that were taken four years ago. Although I will only be here a short time, I am honored to be serving in this war on behalf of our fallen Americans. Some interesting comments from another captain…