C/1-506 IN Commander's Letter to the Company

They say if you go to the well too many times, the well will run dry. But for this company, performing combat operations in a faraway place, this was never true. Again and again over the course of this long year the Company and Battalion leadership went to the Hardrock well and found it ever full. Through hundreds of combat missions, back to back shifts, extended shifts, QRF missions when you return to the FOB only to turn around and roll right back out into sector; day or night in the blazing, merciless sun, the cold of winter, or in an icy rain; whether moving by ground, water, or air; mounted or dismounted; despite the loss of beloved brothers, and the grievous injury to a cherished, looked up to NCO, a wise-cracking subordinate, or a best friend, this Company never showed anything but the best it had to offer. And your best was always good enough. You, the soldiers of Hardrock, accomplished every task and mission put before you, achieved every end-state and intent.

No level of leadership from me could explain this spirit of excellence in this place, with this mission. Rather it is something that has come to reside in each and every one of you, born of a spirit of brotherhood that binds us together in difficult times. You may have been born with it, you may have seen and admired it in the example of those around you, and so sought to emulate it for yourself. It does not matter. It does not matter what you thought when you rolled out on countless missions, or for countless hours on OP; that you hated it here, that you wanted to go home, that you would rather be anywhere but in this place, that you didn't like the people we were here to help, that you were afraid to die. I know these thoughts. I have had them. I heard the endless complaining, and the bitching, and the moaning. I've done that too. I expect it and relished it for the sign of the fight that was still in you. None of that matters. What matters is that when it was time to go into the breach with your brothers, and to do what was right, you went. Again and again and again.

I ask myself what fosters the courage and passion to put yourself in harm's way, to expose yourself to enemy fire, not just for those you loved, but even for those whom you did not love. What fosters the sense of mission and brotherhood that a man, wounded in action, fully knowing the hazards of his chosen profession, chooses to stay in this place, or leaving, chooses to return and rejoin his brothers. Perhaps it is something as simple as "it was the right thing to do," and what an awesome thing it was to behold.

And so as we prepare to leave this place behind, I thank you for the courage I have witnessed, for the sacrifices you have made, and for the lessons of life and death, courage and honor, duty and selflessness each and every one of you have taught me through your daily example, and in your own way. I thank you for the honor and privilege of leading this Company in combat, and ask that as you move forward in life, you always remember this place and the lessons it has taught you, and to remember and embrace the knowledge that the best within you will always come out when things are at their worst.