I was staying in the hotel on base last night.  I was sitting on the tailgate of my truck, smoking a cigarette, and reading The Long Road Home.  The book covers a firefight between 2-5 Cav and insurgents.  The events in the book are true.  It also takes place in Sadr City.  I spent much of the first year of OIF there.  It also covers some of the events that took place with my unit, 2nd Armor Cavalry Regiment (2 ACR).

                A quick side note, there are many different bugle calls played over the public address system on post.  There is Reveille in the morning when the American Flag is raised.  Other bugle calls include Mess Call, Retreat (the American Flag is lowered), and Tattoo (basically Lights Out).  The final bugle call is Taps.  Taps is commonly known as the funeral bugle call.  It pays respect to fallen military members.  The bugle calls date back to the frontier days when soldiers were in forts.  The bugle call was the best way to notify everyone en mass of events.

                It was slightly ironic, yet soothing that Taps played while I was reading about a soldier that I knew who was killed in Sadr City, Iraq.  I sat my iPad down, dropped my smoke, stood up, and saluted.  The book does have one error in it however, more than one soldier from my unit was killed in the first year of OIF in Sadr City (all in the same battle). 

                Im not sure how much I can discuss here about that firefight.  I do know that one of them fough heroically while mortally wounded.  Im sure if he had survived, he would have earned very high honors.  Rest In Peace my brothers.  May God keep your families close and give them comfort.  Thank you for protecting our brothers.  There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down his life for the sake of his friends.