Without them, there would be no free and strong America...
I found a deeply moving and very recent tribute
from their command to our Night Stalkers --
RELEASE NUMBER: 050526-01
DATE POSTED: MAY 26, 2005
USASOC memorializes 23 fallen Soldiers during emotional Fort Bragg ceremony
By Walt Sokalski
U.S. Army Special Operations Command
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, May 26, 2005) —
"The Soldiers we honor today, could have chosen another profession - one that was safer, or less demanding, or more profitable."
The speaker, Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger, Jr., was referring to the 23 members of the special operations community whose names were added to the Memorial Wall outside the headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in a solemn memorial ceremony here May 26.
"But at this critical time in our nation's history," Kensinger, the USASOC Commanding General, said, "these selfless men and women raised their right hands and swore to defend liberty."
Nearly 150 family members of the fallen warriors traveled from across the country to participate in the ceremony unveiling personalized nameplates of the Army Special Operations Soldiers killed in action over the past year. However, Lt. Gen. Kensinger told the gathered crowd the honored Soldiers' real legacy was not the one rededicated at this ceremony.
“In fact, the Soldiers we honor today, and the thousands of other men and women who serve today in Iraq and Afghanistan, have built their own memorial – a memorial far more meaningful than we could ever hope to build.”
The general then went on to cite the hundreds of schools, hospitals and polling places opened by special operations units in the two countries.
The general concluded his remarks with a terse command, “Command Sergeants Major, Call the Roll!” And, as the sergeants major read each of the names, a large brass bell rang once sending waves of emotion through the gathered crowd of families, friends, and comrades-in-arms.
“No one can measure this wound,” remarked Yury Tarlavsky after the ceremony.
“It’s like touching a wound that never heals,” his wife, Rimma, chimed in. The Tarlavsky’s are the parents of 5th Special Forces Group Capt. Michael Yury Tarlavsky who was killed in August 2004 in Najaf, Iraq.
Both return to Passaic, N.J. with the feeling that their son will never be forgotten.
“Like the flag, he now flies freely over this country,” Mr. Tarlavsky said.
Michele Sanderson agrees. Her son, Cpl. William M. Amundson, died in Afghanistan in October 2004, while deployed with the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.
“All my son ever wanted to be was a Ranger,” the Montgomery, Texas, resident explained.
While today’s ceremony “leaves you speechless,” Mrs. Sanderson feels strongly that this ceremony is all a part of the Army “taking care of your own.”
“The Rangers,” she quickly added, “go over and above.”
The ceremony began drawing to a close with each of the family approaching the wall and laying a single rose at its base. None could resist a loving touch of their loved one’s named memorialized in bronze.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, everyone gravitated back toward the wall to once again touch a particular name or make a rubbing of it.
From the periphery, the general gestured toward the crowd at the wall and simply said, “That’s what it’s all about.”
“Each family knows that we will pay the right homage to their loved one,” he said.
The commander of troops for today’s ceremony, Col. James L. Holloway, looked back on his duties today as a great honor.
“This is the most important event of the year,” he said. “I’m glad that I’m considered good enough to be included.” This is the second year as COT for the USASOC Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.
The Memorial Wall originally listed Soldiers killed in action during combat in Vietnam, and was updated in the 1980s to include Soldiers who were missing in action or declared dead. The wall was later expanded to include all Army special operations Soldiers killed in action from 1983 to the present.
Today, the Memorial Wall displays the names of 916 fallen special operations Soldiers, including the 23 added today.
“This wall reminds us that each name belongs not only to a brave, talented Soldier,” Kensinger said during the memorial, “but also to a human being who was somebody’s husband or wife, son or daughter, mother or father, a friend…”
[List of names that followed not copied here]
Surely God has very special rewards for such warriors, who go not to conquor others, but to free the oppressed and downtrodden - -
I present to you from the same site, The Night Stalker Creed, unable to read it without weeping, understanding the heart of each one...
Read it twice to get the full effect of each sentence...
~ LadyX
Night Stalker Creed
Service in the 160th is a calling only a few will answer, for the mission is constantly demanding and hard. And when the impossible has been accomplished the only reward is another mission that no one else will try. As a member of the Night Stalkers I am a tested volunteer seeking only to safeguard the honor and prestige of my country, by serving the elite Special Operations Soldiers of the United States. I pledge to maintain my body, mind and equipment in a constant state of readiness for I am a member of the fastest deployable Task Force in the world – ready to move at a moments notice anytime, anywhere, arriving on target plus or minus 30 seconds.
I guard my unit’s mission with secrecy, for my only true ally is the night and the element of surprise. My manner is that of the Special Operations Quiet Professional, secrecy is a way of life. In battle, I eagerly meet the enemy for I volunteered to be up front where the fighting is hard. I fear no foe’s ability, nor underestimate his will to fight.
The mission and my precious cargo are my concern. I will never surrender. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
Gallantly will I show the world and the elite forces I support that a Night Stalker is a specially selected and well trained soldier.
I serve with the memory and pride of those who have gone before me for they loved to fight, fought to win and would rather die than quit.
Night Stalkers Don’t Quit!
"The Lord knows the way I take, and when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" JOB 23:10
Please observe a moment of silence for all our military members, and pray for them...
~ LadyX