WEBVTT

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Memorial Day is one of the most special

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days of the year for our nation . It's

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a time where we come together and we

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remember those who have given the

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ultimate sacrifice .

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Memorial Day to me is a day of

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deliberate remembrance that we have ,

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and I think it's our duty as a nation

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to go through and honor the people that

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were killed in action . It demonstrates

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the value we put on the cost of our

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freedom .

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Operationally , we pause and we get a

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chance to really reflect , to see how

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far we've come and who paved the way

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before us .

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As I think about Memorial Day and I

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think about the legends that have gone

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before us . I think of Lieutenant

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Colonel Chris Otis Rabel . First person

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that comes to mind is Brad Atwell .

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Once a Marine , always a Marine .

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I think back to the sacrifices that

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they've made and how we in the future

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will follow on in their footsteps to be

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able to fight and win the way they did .

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I met Lieutenant Colonel Rabel on my

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first deployment to Iraq . I was with

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VMA 211 at the time . He was VMA 223's

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weapons and tactics instructor . We

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formed a little bit of a connection

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there . He took me under his wing since

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I was the young guy .

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It was widely known in the community

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that he was one of the most tactically

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and technically proficient pilots that

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we had in the Harrier fleet . The

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longest part of flying with Otis Rabel

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was a debrief . There were people that

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would be in there sometimes till

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midnight and he would be debriefing for

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like 4 hours . He'd go through frame by

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frame of everything that you did and

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look at every single little detail .

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They made us excellent cast pilots and

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it made it safer for the marines on the

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ground and it made us more effective in

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engaging that enemy in close proximity

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to those marines on the ground .

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210 .

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There you go . There's there's .

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It reduced the risk of fratricide .

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I met Brad in Cherry Point . We were

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both in the same unit , same shop .

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Our relationship , the best way to

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describe it is like the brother and

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sister . As a technician , he was the

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person that was always able to think

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outside of the box . If there's ever

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anything that we needed help with , I

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would pull At Will aside and be like ,

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hey man , like help me work this out ,

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be like , oh yeah , look , it's this ,

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this , this , this , this , and then

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probably make fun of me for and

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afterwards . But still , you know , he ,

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he was just that go to person .

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Our workup for Afghanistan was an

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integrated training exercise in

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Twentynine Palms . It was about 5 to 6

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weeks long . Prior to going there we

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had to be proficient at everything that

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we were gonna do , so there was an

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informal build up cycle that was

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designed by Lieutenant Colonel Rabel .

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He created this document and it was

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Otis' expectations of us as his attack

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pilots squadron commanders still use

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that to this day . In his 6 tenants ,

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one of them was professional hunger .

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One of the things in professional

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hunger was that you can teach to a good

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attitude . You might not be the best

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pilot in the room , but if you had a

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good attitude and you had professional

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hunger , that's something that he could

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work with , and that's something he

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wanted to work with .

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Sergeant Atwell was finishing up some

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training . He calls me up and he's like ,

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Hey , guess what ? I got orders to

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Mao's 13 , and I'm like , Oh great ,

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I'm gonna leave here in a few months ,

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but we'll have a few months to hang out

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and catch up . One of the next

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questions that he asked me was , I see

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you've gone to Afghanistan already and

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you've done the deployment . It's my

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turn now . And we kind of sort of joked

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around about it , but then afterwards

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he was like , Hey , no , seriously , I

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wanna go out there . I wanna go out to ,

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as we called it at the time , the dirt .

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He's like , I wanna go out there . I

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want to volunteer . I spoke to the

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leadership and I said , hey , I got

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this Marine . He's a sergeant , he's

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inbound . He's great , awesome leader .

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You want him out there . Essentially ,

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I ended up being the one that put his

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name on the roster . I still think

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about that . I think about what would

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have happened if I didn't put his name

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on that roster . What would have

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happened if he went somewhere else ?

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Would he still be here ? But once I

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heard the stories about what he did in

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his final moments and how heroic he was ,

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it made sense .

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He had just come off an evening flight

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and he was eating dinner with the

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aircraft maintenance officer at the

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time , Major Greer Chambliss . We

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looked up the flight line and quickly

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realized that the airfield was under

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attack . There was maybe one second

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where we were thinking what to do and

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then Colonel Rabel sprang into action .

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There's an argument that an 05

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commander could sell himself in his

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head that he's the commander . He

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shouldn't be there . He should be in a

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place where he can be more strategic

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and take care of his squadron , but

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Otis didn't even consider that . I will

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tell you that there's only one thing

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that a hero fears . Letting down a

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fellow Marine . That day he

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did not fail . When they were

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being attacked , he went and looked out

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front and could see that there were

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people running around . He organized a

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counterattack , one led by him going

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out the northern door and the other led

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by Major Greer Chambliss going out the

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southern door . Otis was killed right

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next to the northern door . I was down

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south when all this was going on . I

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was already asleep . I was awakened by

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explosions .

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I could hear machine gun fire . I could

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hear RPGs , so I knew that it wasn't

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indirect fire . It wasn't an accident

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that it happened . I could tell that

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there was a fight going on outside . My

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decision to move up to the flight line .

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Wasn't really a decision at all . The

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jets on the line were all burned to the

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ground . When I got there ,

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Captain Smalley was there and he was

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tapped into ISR feeds that were

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overhead drones with cameras . He was

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communicating our situation to the

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outside world . He was setting the

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stage for everything . He went in there

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and he figured it out and then it got

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quiet and there wasn't much noise

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happening outside . I think that they

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knew where we were and they were trying

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to figure out how to get to us . So I

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decided that I was going to go get them .

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I got Staff Sergeant Jesse Colburn ,

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Lance Corporal Derek Jenkins , and

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Lance Corporal Weekly . I said , Hey ,

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everybody do a brass check , and they

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all did a brass check , pulled the

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charging handle back a little bit , and

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looked and made sure that they could

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see brass , and then they all hit their

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forward assist . You have 3 aircraft

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maintainers did the same thing without

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looking at each other , without asking

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each other . That struck me in the

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moment that every marine's a rifleman .

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These aircraft were either struck by

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RPGs or some kind of uh explosive

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device , uh , caused them to explode

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and go up in flames , and this is just

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the remnants of what's left of the

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canopies .

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Like a lot of Marines , I wear a

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memorial bracelet . My bracelet says ,

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Sergeant Bradley Wayne Atwell , USMC

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Enduring Freedom , 14 September 12 ,

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2012 , KIA for killed in action .

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Every single chance I have to talk

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about Sergeant Atwell , whether it's to

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my Marines , you know , anybody that

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even asked me a simple question is ,

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hey , why do you wear what you wear in

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your bracelet , masks are , I jumped to

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the opportunity to just mention

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Sergeant Atwell . It's all about

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their name . It's about saying their

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name . It's about telling their story ,

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and it's about helping keep that legacy

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alive . The sacrifice that Colonel Otis

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Rabel and Sergeant Atwell made that day .

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That's a sacrifice that we must hold

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and honor through courage and

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commitment . It's about the warrior

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family that takes care of each other

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even in the toughest times . Every

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decision that I make within the

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Thormarine aircraft wing is focused on

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them . It's focused on making sure that

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the men and the women that serve daily

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are prepared , ready to go forward and

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to do our nation's bidding when that

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time comes . It's about making sure

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that our families are prepared , that

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they understand the sacrifice , they

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love our service members , and I think

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that's what this is all about .

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Memorial Day is a day of love . It's a

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day in which we think about what we as

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a nation do for the world .