The
Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He
leadeth me beside the still waters.
He
restoreth my soul:
He
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His
name' sake.
Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I
will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy
rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies;
Thou
annointest my head with oil; My
cup runneth over.
Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the
Lord forever.
The
valley of the shadow of death is Pech.
The
Western Pech River Valley was cleared in
October. The Eastern Pech
River Valley was the focus of a full battalion of the 101st Airborne
Division. They began their work two
weeks before Thanksgiving and finished one week before Thanksgiving.
On
Thanksgiving Day I will rise at 0300 and drive my wife, daughter and grandson
to Canton, Ohio for a grand feast with my many cousins. On the day before Thanksgiving Day I will
ride my motorcycle, flying my 5 by 8 American flag, to the funeral of a soldier
from that battalion.
The
firefight took place 11 days before Thanksgiving and lasted 6 hours. Scott’s platoon was patrolling when they came
under mortar attack which the enemy followed with small arms engagement. Scott’s platoon was able to positively
identify the enemy firing positions – a requirement of counter-insurgency to
avoid civilian casualties – and responded with mortars and guided missiles.
Scott
Thomas Nagorski was one of the five United States
Army soldiers from Company A, 1/327 who were killed. In addition, there were so many wounded from
his platoon that the remaining eight able soldiers were divided between the
other platoons of Company A. Scott’s
platoon ceased to exist. About three
dozen Taliban also died in the Watapur Valley of the
eastern Pech.
Finally,
after six hours of struggle, two fixed-wing aircraft dropped one
precision-guided bomb each and resolved the issue.
The
day before Thanksgiving, temperatures in Milwaukee will be in the
thirties. Rain is expected. I expect to be cold, wet and miserable the
day before Thanksgiving. And I expect to
be tired on Thanksgiving Day. But what
does that matter?
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/11/49_taliban_fighters.php
http://www.dvidshub.net/news/60429/afghan-coalition-force-thwarts-insurgent-attack
(The First Sergeant of Company A is Curt
Balance of Kinmundy, Illinois which is east of St.
Louis and south of Decatur.)
Robin,
meeting me in the driveway: I was worried.
Me: I was
going to check my cell phone for messages as soon as I got home.
Robin
turns and walks away.
M: I
haven’t eaten all day.
Robin: That’s
your fault.
Home.
I am as cold as I thought I would be, but not quite as wet and not
nearly as miserable. In any case,
discomfort is transient. What we did
today is eternal.
I’ll
do more when I can. For now, just a few:
In my lifetime, I think I have said
the Pledge only in grade school and with the Patriot Guard Riders.
A couple thousand times in grade
school, then nothing for 40 years.
Then a couple hundred times with the
PGR.
Governor Jim Doyle, lame duck.
Nobody can say he came just to gather votes.
Chuck offered to store my bike and
drive me home if the weather turned bad.
The detail at 1100.
This was one of the rare occasions when
Old Glory does not fly at the top of her pole.
Brian Layer has been Deputy
Commanding General at the Rock Island Arsenal for two months,
but he took some time for Scott.
The detail at 1500.
It hadn’t snowed since last winter.
It didn’t snow during the wake. It didn’t snow during the funeral. It didn’t snow during the procession to the
cemetery.
And then it did.
Scott Nagorski
was a great soldier who died heroically.
He deserves better than I have done with this page so far. I guess I am distracted by my Thanksgiving
trip and the chance to see my cousins. It
will be feasting and football. It will
be fun.
Scott has had his
last Thanksgiving.
The people who love
him will never have another Thanksgiving with him.
That is the price of
my Thanksgiving. The price was Scott and
others like him.
I promise to remind
my cousins.
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