Are These Your Soldiers Too?

Are These Your Soldiers Too?
Daggers Edge Magazine
By 1st Sgt. Robert Cook
July 26, 2007

So there I was, no kidding, right in the middle of Baghdad when I began to ponder, what is it that I can say or write about for our newsletter that has not already been mentioned? What was out there or what has happened that I can highlight and still bring credit to our hard working Soldiers? As I began to drive on with my daily workload of paperwork, I came across the Battalion Commander's "Command Philosophy". What stuck out the most to me were the three words that drive him daily and how he expects the Soldiers to internalize these same three words. The three words are: competence, confidence, and courage. I thought to myself for a moment and realized, our Soldiers are already living by and using these three words.

I believe our Soldiers are very competent. When we first learned of our mission prior to going to the National Training Center (NTC), I had a lot of doubts. Here we were, a new unit still training within our own field of expertise and we were going to have to switch our focus to becoming infantrymen. This required a lot of man hours and a lot of training and retraining, not to mention working closer to our infantry counterparts to acquire information on tactics not common to us. There were quite a few reasons to be doubtful and it had been clearly stated numerous times as we took on this mission.

As we began to go through the training at NTC, the worries lessened just a bit. It seemed as if the training we did prior to departing Fort Riley had paid off some. I mean, we still had areas we needed to work on, but we were able to see how quickly our Soldiers had adapted. Now, as they patrol the streets of Baghdad, they appear to be no different than the infantrymen who once trained us. Sometimes, and even quite often, they seem to do it better than the infantrymen we see out in Baghdad and on FOB Liberty. Our guys and gals are becoming more and more skillful by the day and are truly a force to be reckoned with, when and if encountered.

The word courage in the dictionary is defined as the "mental or moral strength to venture, preserve, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." This definition could not even begin to describe what our Soldiers display each and everyday. In fact, I will tell you what courage is. Courage is going across the seas to face an enemy who has no face, an enemy who can be anywhere at all times. Who faces such a thing on a daily basis? Your Soldiers do. Courage is going into a foreign city to bring peace to its residents. Courage is working in a place, day in and day out, where you encounter different cultures, languages, and people; people displaying the mixed emotions of relief and anger that you are in their city. Daily we send our Soldiers out to gain the respect and trust of people they do not even know in the hope that we will gain an ally or a friend who can help us defeat our enemies. Could you do a thing of this magnitude? Your Soldiers do.

Courage is moving from a semi-secure place into a dangerous city full of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), machine gun fire, rocket explosions, blocked streets, and harsh temperatures well above 110�. Who in their right mind willingly faces such dangers? Your Soldiers do. So, if you were to look at the dictionary definition of the word courage, I will bet it is incomplete because the true definition of courage includes the American Soldier.

Finally, if there is one thing our Soldiers have plenty of, it is confidence. They believe that they are bringing about a change in the area we secure, and why not when they see new shops opening and people openly cooperating with us? They watch the black marketers flee the area when their vehicles turn the corner. They hear the residents tell story after story about improved safety, they see more children outside without fear of violence, and they see more families moving home for the first time in months or years.

As our Soldiers ride through the city, they see the trash being picked-up, fences being repaired, and sewage waste and sewage systems being cleaned-up and redone. All of this is a result of their efforts to establish a safe and secure environment. So ask yourself, why not be confident in our mission or our accomplishments? I think that you would be and you would show it with as much pride as our Soldiers do. They are not the only ones who feel this way - leaders at every echelon of command talk about the work that our Soldiers do every single day.

The only thing extra I can say of our Soldiers is that they are relentless because they know if they do not do this mission, no one will. We are a field artillery battalion with less than half as many Soldiers as an Infantry Battalion, and yet, we make it happen. It has not been easy and there has been sacrifice. Our young guys and gals are drained, but they know they will be replenished. They are worn by exhaustion and fatigue, but they know that they will be re-energized when their mission is done. They fight complacency, shaking it off and returning to the basics to stay focused and vigilant. Our Soldiers endure all of this not for recognition or glory, or even some promised fortune or fame; they do it out of pure dedication to duty and the simple fact that staying loyal and committed to this fight may, one day, free this country from the tyranny of violence it has endured for over 35 years. They do it because they are American Soldiers, joined with others fighting for a cause, but most importantly, they do it because they are PROUD AMERICANS!