These Guys Are Making a Difference

I'm sure their families aren't happy to hear it, but the reasons are clear. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit has done an amazing job in Helmand province. In late April when the Marines took Gamsir (also spelled Garmser), it moved up expected time tables for a region that most observers of the British sector had expected not to be taken until the paratroopers of the 16 Air Assault Brigade was ready. Success usually carries a cost though, and in this case the cost is an extended deployment.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has approved a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force request that the 2,200 Marines of 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit remain in Afghanistan a month longer than planned.

Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Dave Nevers said the Marines “have been doing an effective job” in Regional Command South.

NATO officials said the ISAF commander, Army Gen. David McKiernan, requested the one-month extension.

“The extension will allow these Marines to reinforce the success they have had on the ground,” a Defense Department official speaking on background said.

The unit is part of a one-time deployment to Afghanistan that began in March. The original orders called for the Marines to be back at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in October. The extension will move their return into November. Families began receiving notification of the extension yesterday.

There are still no plans to replace the Marines once their tour in the volatile area is complete. A total of 12 Marines have been killed fighting the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies since the deployment began.

I spoke to my father last week. While I speak to my mother all the time, my father is more difficult to get a hold of. He's unapologetically old school in every way, he still drives all over Arkansas to meet his clients in person because that is how he has always done it. Don't misread that sentence, few people of age to collect social security are as computer savvy as my father, but that doesn't mean he will change the way he does business. Last time I had spoken with him for any lengthy period of time prior to last week was early-mid April.

He shared a story with me about a trip he had taken on April 23rd to Bentonville, AR to meet his client there. Meeting for breakfast at 6:00am in the usual place, his client made it clear that he would not be available that day at the office, that he was going to be attending a service that morning. My father decided to cancel his afternoon appointment and join him at the service.

When they got to the church that morning, they were stunned to see so many people, my father suggested the number was somewhere around 1200, literally surrounding the church and filling every corner within. The service was for Cpl Kyle W. Wilks, a soldier of the 24th MEU who had died in Afghanistan, a name he said he would never forget. After the service, the streets were lined from the Church to the funeral home with what he described as thousands of people, as people in Bentonville had literally come from all over to support the family.

My father is a man not easily moved, but this moved him, and he shares his experience that day with passion and detail that this blog post does not do justice to. With his passion he tells the story towards a single conclusion; when thousands of citizens still come out to honor our brave fallen soldiers for several hours on a Wednesday morning, the American spirit still lives, and the heart of America still beats.

I live in a suburb of Albany, NY, and during an Independence Day BBQ today I shared this story with my neighbors. They reminded me that only a few years ago when a soldier from our town fell in combat in Iraq, the turn out was estimated at 5,000 by the local paper. I remembered of coarse, I had taken by oldest daughter with me to line the streets so she could see the procession, and get a feel for the magnitude and importance of what these men and women truly mean to Americans. All three miles from the Church to the funeral was lined solid with people to thank the soldier and support the family.

Independence came with a cost, as does our freedom, liberties, and way of life. To those who serve, thank you, we forget not the words "Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."