Have just read that, sadly, nine US soldiers have been killed in a battle with the Taliban in Kunar, Eastern Afghanistan.

Rest in peace my American brothers.

Remember me as I walk away
for you I lived and died this day
And in this moment I can recall
that as I fell I still stood tall
Into the falling night I cry
tell them I love them and tell them why
I am not there to see them grow
or curb the wild oats they sow
I am the one with arms held wide
even in death not stepping aside
For god and country I am here
your pain I hold I feel your fear
Freedom is my gift to you
as I left, this price I knew
I am so cold and so afraid
and as the fear begins to fade
I think of those to follow me
to give their lives to liberty
As I taste death's embrace
I pray for strength and a bit of grace
Let me die as I have lived
leaving nothing to forgive
My eyes are heavy let me rest
I know now I have done my best

Thanks, Lance.
Do you mind if I post this elsewhere? I have some relatives who are retired military and a good internet friend who lost a nephew early on in Iraq. I think they would appreciate the poem.
saltwn

__________________
Frugal tip: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

How to Fold a Shirt

Salty's Blog

More of an update on the story that seemed to get pushed aside for more conventional news.

Thanks Lancer at first I was worried that it was the 2nd batt. of the 173rd Airborne. But yet it cost 9 lives. And the base was only 3 days old.

It is a shame (to me) that we pass over this type of story for others that mean much less.
This is the reality of our lives continuing as we live them. If the good guys lose our lives might change a lot. Just maybe we and our guest need to think about that point a bit more!

9 Americans killed in attack in Afghanistan By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 14, 11:21 AM ET

9 Americans killed in attack in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. troops on Monday reinforced a remote military outpost after well-armed militants got inside and killed nine American soldiers in the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years.

Sunday's assault has deepened doubts about the U.S. military's ability to contain Islamic militants. Attacks in Afghanistan are becoming more complex, intense and better coordinated than a year ago, U.S. officials say.

Militants with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked the remote base in the village of Wanat in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, with insurgents firing from homes and a mosque.

It was a "concerted attempt" to overrun the small base near the Pakistan border that was built only about three days ago, said an official with NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, estimated the attacking force was several hundred.

An unknown number of militants got inside the outpost, the reason the fighters were able to inflict such high casualties, said a second military official who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

After the breach, U.S. troops pushed back against the invading militants, and attack helicopters swooped in. The second official said more than 40 insurgents were killed in the fighting. Fifteen U.S. soldiers also were wounded.

"Instead of looking at it necessarily from the perspective of the Taliban or terrorists being more aggressive in coming after NATO or U.S. forces or Afghan forces, in this particular case it was an example of NATO, U.S. and Afghan forces being aggressive in combatting cross-border infiltration," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The latest assault came at a time of rising violence in Afghanistan.

Nice poem Lancer not one I have seen before... Thanks brother.

The peom's called "A Soldier's Prayer" by Heather F. Kready.

__________________
~
~
~

Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."