Deputy Secretary Work, Gen. Odierno, Under Secretary Carson, Sgt. Maj. Of the Army Chandler, generals and flag officers, brothers and sisters in arms, Gold Star families, my family, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
I've had nightmares before, but never have I had two at the same time and I'm living both of them right now. One, is having the entire senior leadership watching every single thing I do and the second one is speaking in front of a large group of people.
No offense, it's just, last time I saw this much stuff, I was usually in trouble for something.
I do have nightmares about my 09 November though. Fewer and fewer as the days go on, but sometimes I can be right back there smelling the gunpowder and burning hot metal of enemy grenades, tasting the air after my radio was hit. I can close my eyes and feel the whiz of the bullets as they pierce through my uniform, missing my skin but annoying the hell out of me, like mosquitoes at a barbecue. As I tried to get Sgt. Bocks out of danger, I can still see the puff of air jostle Kain Schilling's uniform pant leg before the pool of blood began to soak through it from the enemy round.
It was the worst day of my life.
That day, those smells, those sites changed my life, but at least I have a life. I was given a gift on 09 November, the gift that six of my brothers did not get, I get to go on. I get to be better than I was at the age of twenty, just a knuckleheaded boy from Seattle who wanted to jump out of airplanes.
In my eyes, those six men whose names I want everyone in the world to know, they can never be any more perfect than they were that day
On that goat trail on a mountainside in Afghanistan, fighting for their brothers. They were warriors. They were the best of us. I knew some better than others. My one regret is I didn't take enough opportunities to get to know them all.
In fact, I barely knew Sgt. Jeffery Mersman who served four tours in Iraq before his final deployment as my teammate. I have since learned he loved to hunt and go mudding.
And I only met Marine Sgt. Philip Bocks five days before the ambush. He was an expert in teaching others how to survive in mountainous terrain. He was a professional, tough, though he knew he was dying, he never once gave an error of fear. He was amazing.
I remember before deployment back in Italy. I would go to Lancour's barracks room to hang out, his roommate side, one side was all squared away, everything was the way it was supposed to be. On the other side, it would like a bomb went off. Back in his hometown, when our unit was attacked at ranch house, few months before 09 November ambush. He cared about it so much that it was all he can think about. While he was at home safe, it was getting back to us was what he wanted. He wanted to be there to protect us, no matter what.
Cpl. Lester Roque was the most amazing medic. He was a quiet professional. I remember…one of the things I remember most about him was that he always had these noodle bowls that his family would send over and I would just hound him on the daily for one of those because they were delicious.
Capt. Matthew Ferrara, I was his RTO so we were pretty close. He was always very by the books officer, but every once in a while he break protocol and just be one of the boys, like the time when he "acquired" a projector from supply and a sheet as well, and he hung it on the wall so we could have a massive Xbox tournament. That was probably the best few days of the deployment and sure others didn't feel the same as he tended to cheat and beat us all, but that's okay, but it was funny because we were real Soldiers fighting in a war. But we were more into a vido game about war.
And I save the best for last, my friend, Sean Langevin. People were just drawn to him.
He was just so funny and so mischievous. I knew full well that hanging around with him would land me in some kind of trouble, but I didn't care, I just wanted to be around him. He brought fun wherever he went.
It was one day on guard shift not too long before 09 November that we got to talking about what- if? We both promised to take care of each other's families if something happen. It wasn't too long after that random discussion that my promise was tested.
These six men were sky soldiers who gave their all to protect each other. They were a special few of America's young men who braved death and danger in search of something greater than themselves as part of the nation's military. They are part of the nine eleven generation 9/11, the data change lives of a daresay everyone in this room, so to say the six would give their lives in a different 9/11, nine November.
They were just boys when this very building was rocked by flight 77, when the twin towers came crashing down in the city I will visit next week. They were teenagers with acne and girl problems when the country was torn by terrorism on that terrible day. November, 9/11. but these boys from places like Troy, Michigan, Walnut Creek, California broke quickly and volunteered to devote their lives to help prevent that nightmare from ever occurring on this soil again. We owe young men like them so much gratitude. They knowingly left their future to chance indifference to a greater calling while my name hangs in the Hall of Heroes. The names of the six men will hang in my heart and of course on my wrist forever: Bocks, Lancour, Ferrara, Langevin, Mersman, and Roque. Members of the 9/11 to generation lost on 09-11-2007, but never forgotten. They gave so others can live. What better honor could I pay them, but to live each day to the fullest and be the best that I can be.
Everything I do is done to make them proud. Everything I am, because they are no longer here. Their losses taught me how to start to allow for no regret, seize the moments that are given and be better than you were the day before. I know that's what they would do. I hope beyond hope that I can one day be worthy of their sacrifice; these are my brothers and they are more than soldiers for life, they are Sky Soldiers for life. Let us not forget that these are six of 2,221 service members who died serving as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the war instigated by attacks on 9/11 2001. My name is just one of 3,488 names etched in the Hall of Heroes, the story of Chosen company is just one of the countless stories of bravery and sacrifice that happened and are still happening in service of our nation. This is just one story. There are others, I urge you each to learn the names that match these numbers so their second sacrifices can never be forgotten.
Thank you for sharing this special day with my family, my team members and myself.
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