A Time to Reflect, Remember

Photo By Liesl Marelli | Service members based at Camp Ramadi, Iraq, hold a prayer breakfast to recognize the anniversary of Sept. 11.  

RAMADI, IRAQ

09.11.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Liesl Marelli 

3rd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery

CAMP RAMADI, Iraq - "[Sept. 11] marks an important anniversary, but today is no different than yesterday. It's just another important step toward [fighting in the Global War on Terror]."

For Soldiers like 3rd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery Commander Lt. Col. Al Morris of Centennial, Colo., Sept. 11 was by and large just another day in Iraq. But the memories behind the day surfaced as Soldiers reflected on the events that had unfolded eight years ago.

At 8:45 a.m., Sept. 11, 2009, the only difference in Camp Ramadi residents' usual routine was a prayer breakfast open to all wanting to join together and reflect upon what Sept. 11 means to them.

The prayer breakfast lead by Maj. Mike Wood, 1st Brigade Combat Team regimental chaplain, 82nd Airborne Division; Capt. Jeff Smith, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division chaplain; and Capt. Matthew Miller, 1st Brigade Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division chaplain, gave troops a forum where they could collectively reflect.

"It was a national tragedy that affected the world, which had direct affect upon the reason so many of us are in the military today," said Smith.

"It is important for everyone [to remember Sept. 11], but especially those of us in uniform, who at times question our mission and wonder why we are here," he said. "Evil exists - it has a vote, and someone must stand up to stop it."

The impact of Sept. 11, 2001, although not necessarily stronger than the yearly anniversary, is still felt in Soldiers' lives.

Maj. Clay Taulman, 3-157th FA executive officer of Parker, Colo., said Sept. 11 means three years of his 11-year-old daughter's life that he wasn't there to witness in person because of two deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"It means three years of not taking her to swim practice, not watching her ride horses, not having her around for a meal and not going to church with [my wife and daughter]," Taulman said about his daughter Mady and wife Angela. "You miss all the holidays and birthdays of all family members," he continued.

"But we [sacrifice time away from our families] because it's our job. We are called to do it, and we willingly do it because maybe the sacrifice of three years [with our families] is worth 50 years of peace [somewhere else in the world]."

"Maybe it's worth actively finding the bad guy in his neck of the woods so he doesn't end up on my city block," said Taulman. who acknowledges the hardships the distance takes on family - but does not regret his decision to serve his nation.

To others, Sept. 11 means recognizing Soldiers who were killed and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Chief Warrant Officer Stephanie Mann, an armament technician of Colorado Springs, Colo., said Sept 11th meant the remembrance of "all these Soldiers like Sgt. Reyes who will never get to go home."

Sgt. Luis Reyes of Durango, Colo., was killed when his vehicle rolled over on the way to Iraq while deployed with the 947th Engineer Company, Colorado Army National Guard in 2005. Reyes is one of the more than 4,500 troops killed in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Despite the costs of war, Sgt. Katherine Connelly of Annandelle, Minn., a human resource sergeant assigned to 3-157 FA, joined the Army before Sept. 11 through the Delayed Entry Program.

"I remember the recruiter asking me if I still wanted to go," Connelly said in the weeks following Sept. 11. "There was no doubt I still wanted to go."

"[In Basic Combat Training] the drill sergeants said that most of us would be going to the desert."

Not long after, Connelly was among the first group that invaded Iraq in early March 2003.

"I never thought about why we were going to Iraq. I never questioned it. It was for the people who passed away [on Sept. 11], so I didn't have a problem with it," she said.

"I guess now this day brings it back. Sometimes I lose focus why I'm here and this day helps me remember why we are actually here and what we are doing here."

As a Soldier, Connolly sees a deeper purpose of being deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"[My family] didn't know anyone in 9/11 who was hurt, but like the rest of the country, we were affected by it."

Like the call to patriotism that lead Connelly to join, Smith believes Sept. 11, "reminds us that beauty can come from ashes. The horrors of that day, though still vividly powerful in the hearts and minds of many, will not last forever. In time, with God's grace, we can and will recover.

"Though the emptiness for some will always remain, in time buildings will be rebuilt, homes will heal and lives will be renewed."

Before the sun set over the rubble where the World Trade Center towers once stood in 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the nation saying that the terrorist attacks "shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."

The American resolve lives on in Ramadi in the hearts of those who proudly serve in the U.S. armed forces.

Time may heal the pain from Sept. 11 but it is a day that will never be forgotten.

• Date Taken: 09.11.2009
• Date Posted: 09.25.2009 06:07
• Story ID: 39238
• Location: RAMADI, IQ