Navy Petty Officer 1st Class John Hagenbrock holds his 7-week-old daughter for the first time after USS Louisiana’s return from a strategic deterrent patrol in Bangor, Wash., Aug. 20, 2012. Hangenbrock is assigned to the ballistic missile submarine USS Louisiana.
Americans disagree plenty — sometimes fiercely — over which wars to fight, or not to fight; over how to fight them and over when to call it victory, or just call it done. But, overwhelmingly, Americans appreciate and honor the men and women who are called upon to fight those wars, to sacrifice — sometimes making that sacrifice the ultimate…
Here are some images of those heroes doing exactly that, along with the reward of finally coming home
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brett Wood, front, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Rogers, left rear, and Spc. Terry Mills, right, scan for enemy activity as they prepare for an urgent medevac operation to rescue two stranded soldiers from a mountainside in Afghanistan’s Khowst province, July 4, 2012.
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Paul Grimm, foreground, patrols in Sangin in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, July 3, 2012. Grimm, a rifleman, is assigned to Police Advisor Team 2, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6. The Marines were on their way to train Afghan Local Police recruits.
A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team heats noodles over a fire June 12, 2012, at Joint Security Station Hasan, southern Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. JSS Hasan is a remote outpost in southern Gilan District with no permanent electricity source or running water. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod, RC-East PAO)
A UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopter lands as U.S. Army paratroopers secure the area in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, July 23, 2012. The soldiers are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team and the helicopter crew is assigned to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade. The soldiers were evacuating a wounded insurgent.
Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Lawrence Brown holds his 9-month-old son after returning home from a six-month deployment aboard the guided-missile frigate USS Nicholas in Norfolk, Va., July 19, 2012. Nicholas was deployed to the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean to support Operation Martillo, a narcotics interdiction mission.
Marines release the ashes of Marine Corps Sgt. Brett Jaffe above Phillips Drop Zone on Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., July 26, 2012. “It was an honor and privilege to take this Marine on his last jump and give him a proper hail and farewell,” said Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Marty Rhett. The Marines are military free fall instructors assigned to Marine Detachment, Fort Bragg, N.C.
All photos DoD
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.