Lost 7 on 11 March 2013

[maineguy110]

We lost 7 soldiers on monday 2 up country and 5 from my brigade 1 from my Battalion in a helo crash. The oldest one was born in 81 the youngest 91. Dedicated fine young people. When we deploy some times parents ask you to take care of their kids and of course you say yes and you mean it and you do it to the best of your ability. But at times that is not good enough. This makes 5 friends I have lost in combat deployments 2 I was there 3 I was not.I lost 2 at the bombing of the embassy in beruit one was 19 the other 21. One in 2005 Iraq he was 44 . One in Iraq 2010 he was 24 and now afgan he was 28. So when you have a drink especially on memorial day drink one for the ones who gave all.

[Dan Morris]

TAPS....my prayers to all of you! Thankless job. Rest of you, keep safe.
Dan

[buckhunter]

My prayers go out to those fine young men and women. In my day loosing 7 would have been a good day. In my dads day loosing 7 in one day is unheard of. Watch yourself my friend and hope to see you in the fall.

[skeet]

I still don't think we NEED to be there.. My condolences to all who these incidents affect

[Rapier]

My son is here, sort of. He and three PJs plus another CRO are over at Andrews Institute. Andrews is probably the foremost sports medicine facility in the world. When you walk in to the huge entrance you are met by large signed pictures of athletes from all over the world, every wall ceilings to floor, who have been returned to active participation. Andrews treatments are expensive and they treat our repetitive injured GIs for free. My son is there because of his multiple fractures, neck x 3, arms x 3, legs x 2, hands x 2, wrist x 2, ACL x 3, vertebra x 5. Most are parachute landings in rocks, stumps or rubble. Marcus Lattimore is in his group undergoing rehab.

My son has lost a lot of men in his 23 deployments, most do not know this, but we have lost more Para Rescue men in Afghanistan than we lost in Vietnam and we are still in Afghanistan.

I was a member of the Honor Guard of the 101st during Vietnam. I literally buried 11 of my friends, just from my battalion. I will tell you what I told my son about his men as it applied to my friends as well; "they all died doing what they wanted to do, they could have died being run over by a taxi in NY City, but they chose to be paratroopers instead, and they died doing their job as an airborne trooper, honor them by carrying on."

Remember that, the words came from Command Sgt-Maj Huff of the 101st a MOH recipient. He and I were talking at a picnic one day and I told him I was having a problem. It might help you get through a tight spot, now and then, when the memories come calling.
Ed