Today marks the 6^th anniversary of the attacks on the United States of America and all the free countries of the World. Today at 1600hrs local Iraq time the members of Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq took the opportunity to hold a remembrance service for the people who lost their lives in the Twin Towers in New York, at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. We also took the opportunity to remember those who have given their lives since that time in the war against terror. It was a nice ceremony during which Chaplain Terpstra spoke along with BG Phillips, LTG Dubik and an Air Force Master Sergeant.

BG Phillips talked of the American Flag he took from the Pentagon. He said it was the only thing he took from the Pentagon in the area where the plane struck killing everyone on the plane and in its path. These were his personnel and it was moving to hear him speak. The flag was to his right during the presentation. He uses that flag at ceremonies to re-enlist Soldiers and present awards. LTG Dubik spoke of the attacks and of our brave Service Members and civilians who have given their lives during this conflict. The Air Force Master Sergeant read a poem she wrote days after the attacks talking, as all Americans did at that time, about the need and desire to defend our country and stop this from ever happening again. We sang America the Beautiful and God Bless America together and remembered who we are and why we are here.

Most of us who are here do not need to be reminded of why we are here and what we are doing this for. Our Families do not have to be reminded, they know all too well as they worry about us everyday and every time they hear that another American, Coalition member or Iraqi Soldier or Policeman has died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Not everyone fully understands it and I am sure I do not, but I know that we have to defend our way of life. That way of life is Freedom. Freedom to choose to be whatever we want; to worship how we want; to live where we want; marry who we want; work where we want and say whatever it is we want to say. We, America and the World, have forgotten what this is really about, Freedom for all of us.

I wish none of this had ever happened but it did. It is here now and we, the World, have to deal with it. We cannot deal with it by hiding or wishing it away. We cannot say it is too hard and just quit. We cannot give up and walk away. This is not about Iraq. This is not about Afghanistan. It is about FREEDOM. Why can’t anyone remember that? This is not about oil or money. For some it might be lucrative but they are the few. It is about our way of life. Everyone should think about that when they are enjoying a latte and donut while a minuscule percentage of the Free World are doing the fighting and making sure they can enjoy whatever they want.

Two years or so ago I stood on a dock and watched young Tyler Brinkman take a drive around a lake in a race boat for the first time. His Family was scared and proud at the same time while all the boat racers and their Families watched with pride. I had to go stand alone because I was crying watching Tyler knowing that there were Soldiers dying somewhere in the World so we could all have the Freedom to race boats and be with our Families. I was proud to know they were out there keeping us safe while we all had fun. That is what Soldiers and Leaders do.

Ordinary people who got up six years ago thinking of it as just another day, not knowing they would never go home again since they were going to murdered by cowards pretending they were fighting a noble war. We have brought the war to them now and we have to finish no matter how long it takes. Remember that and stop worrying about how much it costs in money or human lives. None of us wants to die. None of us wants to be here. None of us wants to be away from our Families and Friends. We want them to be safe and never have to look over their shoulders again.

Some damn idiots are saying we are creating more terrorists by fighting this war and by being here. Could I please ask one of them to explain that to me? What kind of logic is that? What did we do to provoke the Khobar Towers, the Cole or the attacks on September 11^th? Were we over here fighting when those things happened? Were we creating terrorists then? What exactly did we do other than be a free nation with the greatest mixture of people of any country in the World? We didn’t do a damn thing except be free which is a threat to all of those who don’t want a Free World. Oh that’s right, we are the richest nation in the World too and that makes us the bad guy every damn time. Stop the madness. Stop saying things that don’t make sense. We did not start this, but we have to see it through no matter what. Remember what this is about, Freedom, not money.

Why do we have to be reminded of what happened six years ago? Why don’t we remember it all the time? Why don’t we remember all the things that led up to us finally doing something about the terrorist attacks against us for so many years? Why did so many people have to die before we did do something about it? Why was it alright when it was just Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen dying? Why did it take the deaths of all those civilians on September 11, 2001? Why, all the sudden, do the members of our government care about how many Service Members are dying? For years we let terrorists attack and kill them while we were not at war and now all the sudden they wave around the number of dead Service Members as a reason to quit. None of them should have died. None of us wants any of them to have died. Why would we want to waste their sacrifice? We have to honor their sacrifices. Not just the Service Members, but also everyone who has died at the hands of these cowards.

We are a Military at War but not a Nation at War. This was pointed out by General Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and is worth pointing out to everyone. BG Samir, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense Surgeon General, agreed with that after his trip to the United States last week. People in America go about their lives everyday as if there is not a war going on. It is not even the big story in the news anymore. The war and our Service Members are no longer front-page news. The American Soldier was the Person of the Year in 2003. Now we are creating terrorists according to the same magazine that honored us four years ago.

The fact that people in America don’t have to act as if there is a war going on should make them proud. They should remember everyday that we are here defending their Freedom. Even the most liberal person has to know that if we were not here doing this, they would never be safe. Can I guarantee that we will make it all stop? No, but I can guarantee that we are at least slowing down these cowards who would never consider facing us on a real battlefield.

We should be proud of our Soldiers and Leaders for taking a stand and we should be a Nation at War. Few people are alive who remember the last time we were truly a Nation at War. We did it in the Revolutionary War, World War I and World War II. We even did it during the Civil War. Look at those wars and what they have in common. Look at the Korean Conflict and Viet Nam. Think about what they have in common. We lost the last two because the people at home were not at war and did not truly support what was being done.

Of course this time we are not trying to influence a nation not to be Communist or to follow our way of life. We just want them to stop attacking us and let us live Free. I don’t care what religion they follow or what political affiliation they have. I just want them to take control of themselves and leave us alone. That is not going to happen if we run away.

When was the last time that ignoring a problem made it go away? Never. A problem that is ignored doesn’t do anything but get worse. It becomes a bigger problem. Quitting now will do nothing but embolden the enemy. Believe me, there is an enemy. I have spent enough time here to know that for sure. This is year number three for me. They will know that we do not have the backbone to fight for what we believe in. They will know that we really do not hold our Freedom that dear and that they can wear us down. Is that what we want? Is that what the greatest super power in the World should do? Do we really have to care what the rest of the World thinks of what we do to defend our way of life? Freedom is our way of life and we should not have to defend what we do to protect it to anyone or any country.

Are we supposed to be the Policemen of the World? No. We are supposed to be the protectors of our way of life. Freedom is our way of life and that is what we are here to protect. I keep saying it because we, free people, seem to forget it all too often.

The majority of the Iraqi people and the Afghani people are good people who don’t want to bother with us and they really don’t want us to bother with them. They also know that if we leave right now they will loose everything they have been working towards for the past several years. They want us to leave but not until they have the security they need. They have to provide that security for themselves but they can’t do it yet.

I work with them everyday trying to help them establish that security. My part is medical. I am trying to help them set up their medical system and the people I am working with risk their lives everyday to try and make their country a better place. They risk their Families lives by working with us but they do it anyway. It is not for money. It is for their future and their Freedom. Imagine that, a country that is at war and they are doing what they have to do to make their lives and their Families lives better and Free.

They frustrate the hell out of me because they don’t do anything the way we do or on the time-table we work off of but I respect the hell out of them because they risk their lives everyday and expose themselves to much more danger than I do. My Family is home and safe and I want to keep it that way. We should all want to keep it that way.

We should recognize that they are not like us and we should not want them to be like us. We just want the bad guys to stop bothering us and I can guarantee that will not happen if there is no security over here. We are not occupying this country. If we were, we would be dictating what happens in it and at what pace it would occur. Hello, that sure as hell is not what is happening. We are trying to work with them but our great liberal leaders want us to make it happen now as if it is magic or something that can be commanded. If we walk out on this fight now; it WILL all fall apart; the bad guys will take over; we will be attacked on our soil again; it WILL be worse and most of all, we WILL be back and more people will die. Suck it up, stick it out and do what has to be done.

I have heard so many people say there is no military solution to this. Yes there is. There absolutely is a military solution to this but I can absolutely guarantee you that nobody would be happy if we used the military solution that would work. We have done it before and it involved the deaths of an awful lot of people. It would make us look bad to the rest of the World and we can’t have that. It would also be wrong because most of the people here are good people. They are sheep but they are good.

There is another solution too. We could become true Isolationists. Now that can’t be done because it would make us look bad to the rest of the World and cost us a bunch of money. I already used that line but it is true and we have to hold up our image no matter the cost. Well, I guess that is not true. We could just run away and let the terrorists take over and slaughter whoever they want. That would hold up our image now wouldn’t it?

Is Isolationism such a bad thing? Probably and it would be pretty bad for the World economy if we did it. Last time I checked we are the largest consumers in the World and if we stopped buying everything from every country we import from, they would be screwed. Sure it would cost us more to produce things and hurt some companies badly but we could just defend our borders against everyone and take care of ourselves. I am pretty sure that is not a good idea even if it sounds good sometimes. It would also make us look bad to all the other countries of the World.

Looking bad to the rest of the World seems to be a common theme. No matter what we do, we look bad. We just need to get over that. We need to do what it takes to protect our Freedom and right now that means we have to be here fighting this war.

We have forgotten what has to be done for Freedom. We take it for granted. America is the greatest country in the World but we have the worst memory in the World. We get fired up about something and support it all the way until it is no longer convenient. I can tell you that these people have great memories and they don’t forgive much. If we run out on them, we will be creating enemies who will never forgive us.

Remember everyday why we are in this fight. Remind your children what happened on September 11^th 2001. Remind yourself how bad it hurt to watch the towers fall knowing that everyone inside died just because they were there. Remind yourself what it felt like to watch the Pentagon of fire. Remind yourself what it was like to hear the cell phone calls of the people on the plane in Pennsylvania before they all died to save others lives. Remind yourself where the cowards who did it came from. They may not have come from Iraq or Afghanistan per say but we know they came from this region and we know they will keep coming until they get what they want. What they want is not for us to leave them alone. What they want is for all of us to die or give up our Freedom and do as they say. Remember that we ignored them for a long time and they still attacked us for being Free.

I will never forget where I was or what I was doing that morning. I was in the weekly General Surgery conference at Brooke Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Kristi paged me to tell me a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers. I told her I was in conference and could not talk about it right then. She told me to interrupt the conference and turn on the TV. I did not really want to but she paged me again to tell me another plane had hit the other tower. I was picturing small planes not passenger aircraft and really did not grasp it until I asked Dr. Martin to let us see what was going on. None of us could believe what we were looking at. It just did not register. Then they showed the Pentagon and what looked like people falling out of the Twin Towers. I was paged to see a post-operative patient and went to see her with Dr. Fiala. When we returned to the surgery clinic we were just in time to see the towers fall in real time. I almost fell to my knees seeing what happened. What happened? What provoked it? Who were we at war with? I remember it like it was yesterday and I always will. Every one of us should.

For days I was sullen. Travis’ birthday is on September 12^th. We had a birthday party planned for him with some of his friends and none of them came. I will never forget or forgive that. I don’t mean the Families who were afraid to let their children out of their sight for fear of what could happen. I will never forgive the cowards who ruined my son’s 7^th birthday and the lives of so many other people. Then there was the anthrax scare and none of us would let our children even get the mail for us. I was terrified that we would continue along the path we had followed all the other times and do nothing. I was so proud when we went to Afghanistan to fight for ourselves and our way of life. I was even more proud when we came to Iraq to really deal with the problem. Iraq is a key in all of this. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Secure this country, provide stability here and it will provide stability in the region. It will not happen quickly but it has to happen.

I was proud of our country because we finally decided to make it stop after doing nothing for so long. Now we just want to go back to doing nothing again. We Have Forgotten.

Our elected officials come here for a few days at a time, get some briefings and return home knowing that they know everything there is about the situation. Knowing that they are now armed with the knowledge and power to tell us what we should be doing. All our generals are idiots and our elected officials are the brilliant ones. They know what has to be done and will be sure to tell our generals how to do it. Didn’t those generals train for a long time to know how to fight a war? Don’t they have years of experience leading troops? I think all of us know this has not necessarily been done right but it is not the kind of war we have all trained for. The military has adapted and we are doing what has to be done. Let us do it and give us the support we need. Our nation has forgotten how this started and we are too impatient to let it be done right. Remember why we are here.

My brother died one month before I came here for my third year-long tour. My Father, Richard Ellison, died two days before I deployed. My Aunt Barbara died shortly after I got here and one of the most influential men in my life, Buster Sheahan, is not in the best health right now. My Mother, Jackie Sheahan, sure could use my help right now just by my being home to help out. All my Sons, Michael, Kevin and Travis, are teenagers and growing up without me. I have been gone more over the past four years than I have been home. I miss my wife, Kristi. I miss my Friends. I feel bad about these things everyday. I don’t regret it because I believe in what we are doing and why we are doing it. I would stay here for the rest of my life if I have to in order to protect the Freedom that allowed me to live the life I have with my Family.

I know why I am here, why doesn’t the rest of the World remember why all of us are here?