East Texas Quarterly Magazine Summer 2014 | Page 26

Most everyone would agree that the world
in which we lived for so many generations
once again changed forever the morning of
September 11, 2001 with the multi - pronged
attack on America by terrorists with evil intent.
As we have done in the past, America woke up
from the horror of those attacks on our country
and our American Spirit rose to the occasion as
we began taking the fight to our enemies.
Many of our men and women came to the aid
of our country by raising their hand and taking the oath that so
many before them
have taken to defend
our
nation
from
enemies both foreign
and domestic.
As
before, our national
treasure
traveled
to foreign lands to
engage those who
perpetrated the acts
of 9-11. Only this time,
the mission would be
so very different.
Men and women
of our military have
served our country well, though the average American citizen doesn’t see the hard work, the brutal
environment, and conditions that our
military have endured for over thirteen years.
If that isn’t enough, for the first time in our
history, our all-volunteer services have had
members who have served multiple tours of
duty to finish the work and get the job done.
One of those units has returned from their fourth
deployment from Afghanistan.
Stationed at Ft. Polk, Louisiana, the 4th Brigade

24 East Texas Quarterly