The Last Patrol"Only the dead have seen the end of war"-Plato
BULLSHIT, you know who else has seen the end of war? ME! Today my platoon completed it's last patrol.
Reflections on the war:
In July 2004 I got the phone call to prepare to mobilize for Operation Iraqi Freedom. A hundred emotions went through me that day. On one hand I experienced dread and fear. On the other I was anxious to finally put all that training to use. Given the choice I would have opted out of the deployment, but the choice wasn't given so I went
August 2004 we landed in Texas and began training for war. Opportunity to see family was few and far between, but every moment was needed to prepare for what we would face ahead. The training was so rigorous that we began to despise battalion command. We knew that other unit that had mobilized through Fort Bliss hadn't trained half as hard as we had and Battalion Command was behind the extra drills. On top of that Lt. Colonel Frye was eccentric at best, a lunatic at worst. But we met these challenges because we had no choice. A soldier doesn't get to choose which orders he obeys, just like he doesn't get to choose which wars he wants to fight.
After 5 months of training we landed in Iraq on 14 February 2005. For the first time in my life I loaded a live round into the chamber of my rifle without being on a range. Over the next year I load and clear my weapon thousands of times. But it's never quite the same as the first time. When we arrived at our Forward Operating Base we were joined by several other components from other branches and services. Armor, scouts, military police, Navy EOD, and psyops combined with the 1st Battalion 184th Air Assault Infantry Regiment to form Task Force Nightstalker.
In July scandal rocked the Task Force. Alpha Company was being investigated for abusing detainees and Bravo Company was investigated for extorting local nationals for "protection money". Both investigations bore fruit and several people were court martialed and sent to military prison, several more were dishonorably discharged from the military. A and B company commanders as well as Lt. Colonel Frye were relieved of command. It an enormous blow to the Battalion. Those of us organic(original) to the battalion wanted to rip the patch from our shoulder and burn it. Many times honor is the only thing that drives us to leave that gate, honor to each other and to the oath we took when we enlisted. We felt as if we had no honor, we felt betrayed by those responsible. We didn't want to be Nightstalkers anymore, we just wanted to fade into the background.
By October we had lost several men to ambushes, snipers, and Improved Explosive Devices(IEDs). For the first few months things had been quiet, no one was even attacked. But things really started to heat up in July and they got progressively worse as the months went on. Some missions we'd be getting hit 4-6 times, each time picking up and moving on after the enemy had fled. I remember the first raid we ever went on. We spent all day training for it. We practiced room clearing, urban combat, hand to hand, and detainee ops. Our weapons were spotless and everything was triple checked. Images of Blackhawk Down replayed themselves over and over in our heads. But by October raids and strike ops were as normal as picking up the laundry. We had really begun to work as a unit, minimal communication was needed, we were finally a team.
Late October was the worst month for us. We were losing so many soldiers we were having 2-3 funerals a week and each funeral was for at least two soldiers. We cried so much that we ran out of tears and just stood there while the bugler played taps. Morale was at it's lowest point, even lower than the Alpha and Bravo company debacle at the beginning of the year. Our Battalion Commander Lt. Colonel Wood decided we needed some time to unwind. So he arranged for the Iraqi Police to surge operations for 12 hours so the entire battalion could have some fun. For one afternoon 600 men played football, soccer, and baseball. We ate real barbeque while Green Day and Radiohead rocked in the backround. At a formation right before lunch, Lt. Colonel Wood told us that during our operations before the elections in October Task Force Nightstalker captured and sent more insurgents to Abu Graib than the entire 2nd Brigade combined. Finally we felt proud to be Nightstalkers again. He told us that we had lost a lot of troops and it was his personal mission to see to it that we didn't lose another soldier if it was within his power. The next day he honored that commitment. Alpha Company was ambushed by an IED strike that killed their commanding officer, Captain M. Our Battalion Commander responded to the call with his personal security detail to help evacuate the wounded. While the BC was directing his troops, a secondary device triggered killing him. Lt. Colonel Wood would be posthumously promoted to the rank of Colonel, thereby making him the highest ranking soldier to be killed in combat in Iraq.
A few days later we initiated a battalion wide raid. Nearly every single combat capable soldier and almost a thousand Iraqi Commandos swept through large portions of the Nightstalker Area of Responsibility to look for the insurgents. During the operation we were engaged in three firefights, one of which left another captain and a specialist dead. When we had the funeral there were four men we mourned.
Sometimes I wonder how history will remember us. Will we be disgraced by the few that perpetuated the crimes against Iraqis. Or will we be remembered as the students, police officers, carpenters, fire fighters, construction workers, teachers, and business men who answered the call of duty and fought honorably when their country needed them. Will we be forever linked to the scandal at Abu Graib for abusing detainees ourselves, or will history remember the ultimate sacrifice that so many of our brothers paid.
"Men fall, but the line holds steady" -Colonel Willian W. Wood(Deceased), Commander 1st Battalion 184th Air Assault Infantry Regiment "Nightstalkers" California Army National Guard | 
