Written by someone who has been there, the following is a “guest” posting from a dear friend:

During the past decade since the attacks of September 11, 2001, we have been a nation at war.  In Afghanistan, our enemy has been the Taliban, Al Qaida and countless foreign fighters whose only goal has been to kill Americans, in great numbers.

It has–and continues to be–a long war.  Against an amorphous, enduring enemy.

The centerpiece of that war has been a single, elusive icon of terror who personally directed the mass killings of innocent people around the world.

From the first day, we fought back.  And we continue to fight.

We have lost friends, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers.  We have heard the sound of Taps echo and linger in the distance.  Many courageous men and women have returned with grievous wounds—sometimes invisible to the naked eye.

Despite the many obstacles, dangers and threats, we continue to fight.

In a long war, the sacrifice is often spread across generations.

Many of those operators who raided that compound 30 miles outside Islamabad were likely too young to drive when the 9/11 attacks occurred.

And yet, these volunteers most certainly remembered that fateful day, and were thinking about it as they were being transported into Pakistan via Special Operations helicopters in the dead of night.  The images were likely decisive in their decision to take their oath– to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Fueled by adrenalin, a healthy dose of fear, and a supreme confidence in their equipment and training, warriors like these know well that things can and likely will go wrong.  That’s why they rehearse.  Whether they are on their target or supporting from afar, it’s why they look after one another, and will never leave a fallen comrade behind.

They are the best living definition of a team. Because they operate as a single unit toward a common, understood objective.  They never quit.  When the conditions change, they adapt.  They can communicate intuitively, with silent hand and arm signals through the green glow of night vision goggles, or single syllable transmissions spoken into a whisper mike. They often follow orders delivered a continent away.  They are brothers–closer to one another than their own immediate families.

When they are in pursuit of a target, political boundaries are irrelevant.  Moving as a synchronized team, they act decisively and selflessly, and inform their hosts later.

Mission first.

Fortunately, these operators are ours.

It is these remarkable men who are deployed forward in a land they do not seek to permanently occupy, and who, in the most desperate circumstances, continue to fight — for all of us.

– John Fenzel, May 2, 2011

John is a dear friend, a patriot who wears the uniform and author of the outstanding book  “The Lazarus Covenant”

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