Chopper pilot heads back to a riskier Iraq

Ok, now I have to tell you....I am sooo not a fan of the LA Times. I think their editorials are just bullshit. More often than not written by young punks who don't have a clue they have no issue with insulting the Troops and the Veterans that came before them.

I did like this article however..

Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. — EACH time he receives the order to fly a Black Hawk helicopter over Iraq, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Hector Echevarria tidies up the personal effects he leaves behind. Echevarria has completed two yearlong tours of Iraq since 2003, and he is planning a third. He has helped clean out a dead soldier's messy room before. If he is shot down, "messy" is not how he wants to be remembered. "People don't remember you for how you go into a situation," Echevarria said. "They remember how you went out." Link

Too often, too many people take for granted what the Troops do in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. How many of us clean our rooms and sort our belongings before going to work each day?? That's right, we don't need to because there are people fighting for our right to feel safe in our day to day comings and goings.

I feel so saddened that their families suffer so while they are away. The fear of watching the news, of every official looking car that pulls up out the front of the house. They have to live with that every day. They also have to live with the Anti Everything crowds protesting against their family members sacrifice, the governments doing their best to negate their efforts and what is probably worst of all, their countrymens complacency.

To me, it is unfathomable that people are still unaware of the sacrifices made by so many, day in and day out. And these are long days. These are days that seem to have no end for most of those fighting this war. Sleep never seems to come as soon as waking and yet they Soldier on.

A_C