4th ID Honored as 2004 Heroes by Texas Rangers
story by cherrybomb88
When I awoke this morning, I was filled with anticipation – today was opening day for the Texas Rangers, they were playing my hometown Angels and I was going to the game. Not only was I going to the game, but I was going in style—my work had reserved a suite with unlimited food and drink. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a ballgame.
We all arrived at the stadium an hour before the game was to start. Opening day at the Rangers game is filled with festivities. We also wanted time to bask in our temporary life of luxury. During the pre-game events the announcer stated that immediately following the singing of our national anthem by Cross Canadian Ragweed, there would be a fly over by a B1-bomber. I was ecstatic—the thought of seeing a B1 up close was awe-inspiring. Like an excited little schoolgirl, I ran to my cell phone and emailed my sweetie. A B1!!! I was “living large” today, borrowing an expression from my teenage daughters.
When the time came for the presenting of our flags, the stadium arose to their feet. A sense of pride washed over me as I watched the Navy and Marines in uniform presenting over a dozen American flags.
What happened next caused a wave of pride and emotions to wash over me. Two lines of troops in desert BDUs marched out onto the field. Then the announcer came on “Ladies and Gentleman, we are honored to have with us today 70 members of the 4th ID out of Ft. Hood Texas….” the announcer had to pause the applause, cheering, and whistling was so loud…”these troops were part of Operation Iron Horse and were present at the capture of Saddam Hussein…” again he had to pause. The applause and screaming cheers of the over 50,000 in attendance shook the stadium, “These troops on the field before you were sent to Iraq last April and just recently returned home after a successful mission,” again the applause rumbled through the stadium, “This year, the Texas Rangers are pleased to announce that they have selected the 4th ID as the 2004 Rangers Heroes.” The roar of the applause was almost deafening and I felt a shiver as goose bumps covered my body and I had to choke back tears. I looked around, the whole stadium appeared to be filled with the same emotions I was feeling. The announcer proceeded to tell about the operations and the troops before us. They represented 33 Purple Heart recipients. They were also representative of thousands of troops that took part in Operation Iron Horse. The only time the applause ceased momentarily was when the voice over the P.A. said “The 4th ID lost 79 members in Iraq during the last year.”
The troops stood tall and proud in perfect formation, making a v-shape from 1st base to 2nd base and then again from 2nd base to 3rd base, their Colonel standing on the pitcher’s mound facing them proudly.
They stood there through the national anthem, and then the B-1 bomber flew over and shook the stadium. As it completed its fly-over, they released thousands of yellow and white balloons above an American Flag.
The most moving thing was what happened next, the entire stadium stayed on their feet, applause not ceasing, even after the flags were off the field, until the last 4th ID troop marched out of the stadium.
I have never witnessed anything quite so moving and the rest of the game was anticlimactic. Or was it? During the 7th inning I received an important business call on my cell phone that I’d been waiting on. I went down to the smoking area below our suite to tell my bosses that I had solved a potentially large problem. Two young men walked by from the 4th ID. I was proud of my salesmen, everyone smiled, waved, and shouted “good jobs” and a couple walked up and shook their hands. I felt sheepish, but I walked up and said “could you please wait here while I run upstairs and get my camera, I’d really like to have my picture taken with you?” They laughed. They couldn’t have been more than 20 years old. I thought to myself as I ran up the stairs how much they must have seen at such a young age and how strange it must seem to them that strangers were walking up to them shaking their hands and wanting their pictures taken with them. After all, they were only doing their jobs in Iraq. But knowing that they probably had that attitude had me thinking of them as heroes all that much more.
I quickly reappeared with my camera and had a coworker’s wife take a picture. They were carrying the miniature souvenir bats you buy at the ballpark and one of my smart-alec salesmen yelled out “act like you’re hitting her with the bats!” They laughed and I laughed. They were really sweet.
Before they walked away, I told them I’d be posting the pictures I took of that day on trackpads.com if they wanted to download some. They said the name back to make sure they heard it right. I told them we would be honored to have them as part of our site. They smirked. I am sure they felt a little embarrassed by all the attention.
As I walked back up to our suite I smiled myself. I don’t think I could have had a better day at the ballpark.
