from aHero 2a0 Novel By: A. MandarinoRomance

Tags: romance, action, heroes, soldiers, space, black, hole, family, prision, government, nation, american, hero, science fiction, bio, drama, action "from aHero 2a Zero"

A story of a GI Joe with heart and soul! When the Country asked for his help He did fight for his countrymen! After many wars and numerous Black Ops. He came back home for the freedom he had stood up that ended too.He lost everything, his love, his family, his freedom too. Jobless and betrayed by his Country He end up in jail and afterwards he fought a new battle “Cancer” which became one of his big battle of his life. Until one day his Country came to him once again, asking for help! But this time the new frontier would take him out this world and test his family values and his honor.This book got romance, action and drama all in one.

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" from aHero 2a0" by A. MandarinoChapter 1THE FLOWERS GROW SO TALL WHEN THEY FEED ON BLOOD THAT FLOWED FROM THE TORN BODIES OF THE CHILDREN OF THE REPUBLIKA SRBSKA.GREEN GROW THE FIELDS WHERE HONOR GAVE WAY TO HOT STEEL AND COLD HATRED THAT WAS SPILLED UPON THE DEFENDER OF THE SERB TRADITIONS.

ANGRY AND CONFUSED, FEELING BETRAYED BY OLD ALLIES, DEFENDING THE RIGHT TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION NOT OPPRESSED BY THE YOKE OF MOHAMMED, THE SERB DIED A THOUSAND DEATHS.THROUGH STRENGTH, DETERMINATION AND A SPIRIT THAT IS AS THE TWO HEADED EAGLE, SEEING BOTH AHEAD AND BEHIND, THE FIGHT WAS BROUGHT TO THE EYES OF THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD TRIED TO HELP.AS GIANTS CHARGED INTO THE ARENA TO RESTORE ORDER FOR THE INNOCENT AND UNPROTECTED, THE EAGLE WAS KNOCKED TO THE GROUND AND BRUISED, BUT NOT BROKEN, ONLY TO RISE AGAIN, WISER AND STRONGER.WITH A CROWN OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE STRENGTH OF GOD, THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA WILL OVERCOME THE OBSTACLES AND PREJUDICES THAT THREATEN HER, TO BECOME A FREE AND INDEPENDENT ENTITY.BY USE OF THE MODERN SWORDS OF DIPLOMACY AND EDUCATION, DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALISM, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR TRUE LEADERS IN THEIR GOVERNMENT, WILL ENJOY FREEDOM AND LIFE FOR ALL.WHEN THE TEARS FROM HEAVEN FINISH WASHING AWAY THE BLOOD OF MARTYRS, AND STRENGTH HAS BEEN ATTAINED WITHOUT VIOLENCE, THE CHILDREN CAN BE RAISED IN PEACE AND WITHOUT FEAR.You ask who are yesterday heroes? First here's who they are not.They are not of one height or weight.They are not of one religion or race.They are not of one political party, nor economic class.They are never politically correct. Most important, they are not quitters.Now think on this, this is who they are.They will go to the EDGE and beyond, alone or as a group.When knocked down, they get back up and keep getting back up, until they win.When they have nothing left, they find more and share it.They stand ready to do the Bad Business of War.Yesterdays broken hearts, today’s GREEN BERETS! Death from above!!!

You leave for up to seven months at a time on missions that you can’t even tell your wife or your family about and when you are home most of your time is spent training for more missions. You’ve had years of the best and hardest military training in the world. You have the best weapons, the hardest missions and the best technology. You are part of an elite branch of the U.S military known as the Special Forces.

The Special Forces is actually not just one group but a group of different

specialized groups. These groups are: The US Army Special Forces which includes the Delta force and the Green berets. The Airforce Special Operations Command and The Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group.

The US Army Green Berets were created in 1947 after a secret CIA operation in Korea failed. They had many missions during Vietnam.

Becoming a Green Beret is a long ordeal. One hundred men will try but only three will make it! First you have to pass the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course then the Special Forces Qualification Course. You must be a E-4 ready to be promote and speak minimum of 3 languages.

The Green berets are basically U.S. Armed Forces frogman and death to above. The Green Berets are talented in all terrain like forest, swamp, desert, air and water missions, rappelling, parachuting but the Green Berets specialty is reconnaissance and anti-terrorism / couter-terrorism. Delta a 2 men elite team supervise the Green beret’s black ops., usually use the same kind of weapons and they usually work together.

The second part of The US Army Special Forces and the most secretive of the US military is Delta Force the Pentagon will not even publicly admit that it exists. Delta’s selection process is very mysterious and strange.

Twice a year staff from Delta take a secret trip to St Louis to look at Army personnel records of the Green Berets, Rangers, Seal, Rescue team, Marines. Then they make up a list of names they have chosen. Those on it get a letter stating Delta Force is interested. Then they are given an interview then they have to pass a tough fitness test and swim test. Then they must pass the selection and assessment test of land navigation, swimming, psychological assessment, and enforced isolation. The Delta psychiatrists ask hundreds of personal questions to find their profile, they look for stable individuals. At the end of the psychological evaluation each trainee must write an autobiography. Throughout the 18-day process the students are put through mental and psychological mayhem. Most of any training in the Army stresses the importance of a buddy system but this training is done in complete isolation. Only a number and a color identify applicants. The Delta drill sergeants don’t say a word to them, they don’t tell them if they’re doing good or bad.

The students are told to wake themselves up by a certain time to begin a timed march to certain different points they do this all day then they go to sleep and are told to wake themselves up at a certain time. Instructors secretly watch the students while the students are on their individual marches to make sure they aren’t taking shortcuts the first time someone is caught they are warned the second time they are out. After 48 hours of doing that the trainees are taken back to their barracks for a shower and the last part of their test. They are given a couple of military books and they have to read and write a detailed report on

each one in eighteen hours. After this they go back to the psychologist for another group of psychological questions this time they are so tired that they tell the psychiatrist just about every lie or crime whatever that they have done. Once they have been selected they begin Delta Force training depending on what their specialty is some go to a special racetrack where they learn how to evade pursuers in a car and how to make quick getaways. Others learn how to read the blueprints of buildings and how to trace heating and air conditioning ducts. Some operators are sent to airports to learn aircraft repair baggage control and cabin cleaning so they can pretend to be maintenance crews during a high-jacking. In one exercise to move a hostage away to the third story of another building. The only problem is that the hostage was a goat and they weren’t allowed to take him up the stairs.

-The Airforce Special Operations Command (ASOC) is the Special Forces unit of the Airforce. The job of ASOC is to provide stealthy aerial transportation and fire support for the different special operations units. ASOC has many different planes and helicopters.

-The AC-130 Spectre is a C-130 Hercules with night vision targeting sensors and a mix of heavy weapons, which usually include a 105mm Howitzer, 40mm Bofors automatic cannon and 20mm 6-barrel Gatling machine gun

-The MH-60 is a helicopter whic7.62mm h is about 30 feet in length it usually is used for transport and support and it has 6 barrel miniguns that can fire up to 4000 rounds a minute. -The AH-6 Little Bird is just a smaller, faster version of the MH-60 it usually carries 7.62mm miniguns and rockets. -The MH-53J Pave Low is the most advanced military helicopter in the world. It is so advanced it takes six crewmen to fly it. This 40 million dollar helicopter is packed with some of the most exotic and classified equipment in the world .It is enclosed in top of the line armor plating and it is defended by 7.62mm miniguns and .50 caliber machine guns. -ASOC uses many other forms of aerial transportation many though are still classified.

The Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group (PSYOPS) is the special group that uses different forms of psychological warfare to intimidate the enemy.

This was done to the most extent in The Gulf War where the Iraqi soldiers most of whom were ill-equipped and hungry, were commonly bombarded with pamphlets telling them the Americans were their friends, that Saddam Hussein was using them so he would get rich. After those warnings the pamphlets became more personal reminding the soldiers of their families and how the US was going to begin dropping the BLU-82 bomb the most powerful bomb dropped on Iraqi forces.

Despite their capabilities many commanders and soldiers of conventional US military units dislike the Special Forces they think that the Green Berets are nothing but a bunch of trigger-happy Super Joes who managed to pass through years of training . When the Special Forces are an elite highly trained group of specialists who get the most dangerous missions and aren’t mentioned to the public. If you think of the US Military as A spear the Special Forces would be the part on the tip that broke off and poisoned the enemy.

Chapter 2:We left the gates of Anaconda in Iraq about 10 a.m. The convoy was going fine and it was almost a regular day in Iraq; there were cars up and down the four lane highways and there were people everywhere in all the towns; it was a normal day. About an hour and a half into the trip, the people and the cars started becoming fewer. Then, the next thing I knew, my Captain - who is in the lead hummer - He comes on the radio and say, "We are taking rounds - everyone get ready!" then not even a minute later, someone else comes on the radio and says, "The Captain’s hummer just blew up and I don’t know where to go or what to do!" I looked at my driver and said "Oh sh** it’s about to get bad." Next thing I know, the truck about a hundred meters in front of us blows up right in front of us.It was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. We were in the middle of Baghdad on a main highway being attacked and our Team is looking at me to guide them thru it “Your are the Lt(lieutenant) and you are next to command! What should we do?”; twelve grown men … twelve Green berets we are suppose to be tough … we are suppose to be the best of best and no room for mistakes! Wow I better get a grip on myself and analize the situation since we have civilians with us. Okay I can do this… let’s see there were buildings all around us, and people in the buildings firing weapons at us. I looked off to the left at a frontage road and I saw nine cars in rows of three. There was a line of women in front of all the cars, and some of them had children with them. I thought they were just watching us

get attacked, and then men started popping up behind them firing at us - they were using the women as shields!! It took me a second to realize that. They were standing on the hoods of the cars behind the women and children; it shocked the hell out of me. Then we started getting hit with small arms fire, which sounded like golf balls hitting metal. I started firing back at them but I couldn’t get passed the women; they were all I could hit, and they started falling down. The men turned around and ran back behind the cars to fire.It was the first time I had ever shot anyone so I was extremely shaken up. We were going about sixty-five miles an hour, which was the top speed possible. After we passed the women and cars, we came to an overpass. It was loaded with people; they were everywhere, and they had black blankets with what looked like cursive writing; it was Arabic. They were firing down onto our ops vehicles from the bridge and attempting to drop the blankets on our windshields. I couldn’t fire back because of the way I was sitting in the truck. I told my civilian driver to keep his head down, don’t let any more than his eyes over the steering wheel. If he would have gotten shot, there would have been no way we could have gotten off the highway, and we were only 8 miles from our destination. The people on the bridge missed our vehicles with the blankets, but they shot the heck out of our cabs. Our hummers, bikes, and dun bugs were spewing out gas everywhere all over the highway. I told my driver to try to speed up, since if the fuel ignited we would be goners. We pulled up behind Hill’s hummer, now my WO(Warrant Officer) who was riding with a civilian also, but no sooner of his promotion his hummer swerving off the highway, down through a ditch into a bunch of buildings. It was one big ball of flames but they were alright . Later on, hill was seen on the Al-Jazeera network as a hostage, and is believed to be still in their custody. After his hummer exploded in front of us, we came upon another black ops vehicle that was laying on its side in the ditch on our left - it was a previous navy seal team wiped out. There were Iraqi civilian tankers on both sides of us, which the Iraqis use as roadside bombs - when you drive past them they blow them up. Behind the military tanker on the right, I saw a man lying on his stomach, popping his head up and down to look at us. He just kept popping his head up, I propped my weapon up on the side mirror of our truck and started aiming for his head; I was either going to shoot him in the head or the back, all I could think at the time was, "he is one of the attackers and he is going to blow up both of the trucks as we pass." I saw that he was holding something up in his left hand. It was white. I didn’t know exactly what it was, my heart was pounding so hard, and I was sure it was a remote detonator, but I kept looking and I didn’t fire at him. As we got closer and closer, I saw that he was an American civilian, and he was holding his ID up trying to let us know he was one of ours. When I was in the hospital later on, I saw the same guy on the news, it was Walter Jones a reporter, who later escaped his Iraqi captors when my team went back for him, outside the house he was being held prisoner in. That my friends was my first team leader assignment.

As we passed him, I looked in the rearview mirror saw the truck behind us explode, then it rolled side over side down the highway. I had never seen anything like that in my life. Hollywood doesn’t prepare you for that … for the real deal! We kept going, and came upon five or six Iraqi tanker trucks that had been blown up and were on fire; there was black smoke everywhere. We drove right through it, praying that we would not hit any debris in the fire; we couldn’t see anything. It was extremely hot in the fire and there was so much black smoke everywhere that I couldn’t breathe. Finally, we saw light and pulled out of the fire. It was a horrible experience. There was one more truck in front of us going very slowly, about twenty miles per hour. Its trailer was on fire. We decided to try to help them, and slowed down to pull up next to them. I yelled at the driver to stop, we would pick them up. It was two civilians; they slowed down and we pulled ahead of them a little ways. Tragically, at that time their truck exploded and blew us sideways. My driver kept our tractor under control luckily for us. We kept going towards our destination; neither one of us were sure where that was, but we were trying to get there. There were semi-trucks everywhere blown up and on fire. It was phenomenal - there is no way to exaggerate what was happening and what it looked like, the most horrible thing you could imagine is what it looked like; bodies everywhere, trucks on fire and exploding, so much weapons fire. Finally, we saw the overpass we needed to reach. At this time, there were only three other trucks remaining with us. One truck was traveling over the overpass, and two were behind us. The one behind us was about a mile or two back, and there was a Hummer behind it. We went up the onramp to the overpass, but as we were turning left to head towards BIOP, my driver started yelling. I leaned forward and looked out his window. I saw a smoke trail heading toward our truck; it was an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). The next thing I knew, our hummer rolled onto its passenger side. I had my seat belt on so I couldn’t move, but my driver didn't, and fell down on top of me, kicking and screaming trying to get out of the Hummer. He was all over me. I started hitting the windshield with the buttstock of my weapon until I broke through it. He ran out through it, turned around, and started pulling at my vest. He was trying to pull me out of the hummer by my vest, but my knee was stuck between the seat and dash, and my seatbelt was still on holding me back. He continued pulling on my helmet really hard, and at first I told him to get down and take cover, because we were still being fired at. But then it got to the point that I couldn’t breathe. It felt like my head was going to pop, he was pulling so hard. Finally, I unstrapped my bullet proof vest and he fell backwards off me. I yelled at him and told him to get back in and lie down, but he was not listening, instead he came after me again. I unstrapped my seatbelt and pulled my knee out of the dash, falling down on my behind as my feet went out the window. Next he started pulling my ankles to get me out of the truck. I kept yelling at him to get down but he wouldn’t listen, so finally I kicked him in the chest with my left foot, and in the face with my right. As I kicked him in the face, he fell backwards. Before he hit the ground, blood splattered all over his face. I thought he had

gotten shot, I thought "d*** he’s dead “ But he fell back on his behind and just sat there. I thought, "that’s weird he’s not dead." I was sure he had been shot in the face, but then his eyes got big and he said, “oh my G** you’ve been shot, I’m going to die I’m going to die … you are here to protect me … you can’t die and leave me here.” I looked down and didn’t see any bullet holes. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I looked at him and said, "Lay the f*** down and do not get up," just to keep him safe." Then I stood up to get out of the hummer. My right foot hurt so bad I thought it was broken. I looked down and there was blood all over my foot. Then I realized the blood on his face was from my foot - when I was kicking him I got shot! I found out later that one of my toes had been shattered. Looking down and seeing the injury, I realized how badly it hurt. But there was so much adrenaline pumping through me that I could still stand. I looked back towards the rear of the truck to see if it was on fire. There was about a six foot hole in the tanker , fuel was spewing out everywhere, and a small fire was building inside the trailer and on the tires. I turned and looked towards the front of the hummer, down the bridge. But before I turned my head all the way toward the front, something hit me in the chest. It hit so hard it felt like Joe diMaggio hitting me with a bat. It knocked me off of my feet, back into the hummer. As I laid there, I looked down and saw a round (bullet) buried in the vest on my chest smoking. It smelled awful. I pulled it out of my vest (thank god for double vest lol) and it burnt the hell out of my hand. I pulled myself back up and got out of the hummer. I looked down the bridge in front of my hummer and saw two little kids on the bridge, about a hundred to a hundred-fifty meters away. They both had AK-47s; one kid was about ten years old and the other was about seven. The seven-year old was holding his weapon upside down by the magazine, and the ten-year old was firing three rounds at a time at me. His first round hit the driver's side windshield on the truck - right next to my head. I turned around to grab my babe (50 cal.), and when I did, he shot me two more times in the back; the rounds went through me and into the cab of the truck. It infuriated me as he kept shooting me. I grabbed my weapon, jumped out, and fired two rounds over their heads; I didn’t want to shoot them - they were just l'il kids. After I fired over their heads, they turned around and ran down the bridge. Then I fell down onto my hands and knees; I couldn’t breathe or move. I had been shot four times! I looked over to where my driver had been lying down. I looked back and saw him running behind the hummer, the opposite direction from where we were supposed to go. There was no way I could stop him, he was just running frantic. So it was just me on my hands and knees but I had babe with me at this point, all alone. I couldn’t breathe nor move, and my head was pounding very hard. I knew it was over with; there was no way I was getting out of there alive. I would either die or be captured. I still was not going to give up though. I got up, grabbed my weapon, and walked over to the guardrail to look down on the highway. I stood there looking at all of our trucks blown up everywhere; the whole highway was scattered with our

semis and our civilians. There was fire and black smoke everywhere. It was horrible. The last I remembered, there were two vehicles left on the highway, but I didn’t see them anywhere, so I figured they had been blown up also. While I was standing there looking at the destruction, about twenty or thirty rounds hit the guardrail next to me. I fell backwards and lied down. Then I started low crawling towards the end of the bridge in the direction we were originally going. Bullets followed me the entire way. Then, I realized I was headed the wrong way on the bridge - into the middle of the city (Baghdad). I was just going to get shot again, and I probably wouldn't be so lucky the next time around. Bullets were striking all around me as I got up and made my way back towards our burning hummer. It sounds crazy, but at the time that was the safest place. On my way back, the last semi I had originally seen on the highway started coming up the bridge from behind our truck. It was almost demolished. All of the tires had been shot out, the trailer was burning, and it had bullet holes everywhere. It was losing fuel in multiple places. The tractor was completely trashed because of all the bullet holes. It slowed down just enough so I could jump up on the side. I jumped up on the steps of the passenger side and told the driver to speed up. There was a driver and passenger inside the truck, both my guys SFC Morales and SSG White. White was wounded, but not badly. And mo Money my best friend was hyperventilating; he had been shot in the right arm.

I continued to stand on the side of the truck as we went only about twenty-five to thirty miles per hour; there were no tires left on the truck, it was driving completely on the rims. As we entered Baghdad, I fired into the city buildings and just about everywhere trying to keep the suppressive fire down. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working. The more I fired, the more rounds were fired at us. And I couldn’t stabilize my weapon; I was attempting to hold onto the truck with one hand while

firing with the other. I decided I would be more stable on the hood of the truck. I grabbed the side mirror to get up on the hood, but the mirror broke off. As I was falling off, Morales had enough sense to grab the handle on the back of my flak jacket to keep me on the truck. Since he was hyperventilating, I don’t have any idea how he did it! I tried again. I reached back, grabbed the truck's passenger window, pulling myself back up onto the truck, then I jumped up onto the hood and lied down. I fired left and right into the city. There were people everywhere with weapons firing at us, it was horrible. I have no idea how I did not get shot. I heard a weapon fire really close to us, closer then the others, coming from my right side, which was the driver's side of the truck. I looked over and saw the two little kids that were on the bridge earlier, they were firing at me again. The older one, who had shot me earlier, was firing at the trailer and the semi, and the younger kid was firing two to three rounds at a time directly at me. I fired another round over their heads but they didn’t budge, and apparently they were not about to. Then I aimed at the younger kid's chest and fired the round. It went into his throat and out the other side, and he dropped to the ground dead. The older kid looked down at him, then up at me, and started laying into it; firing twenty to thirty rounds at a time at me. I rolled over, trying not to get hit, then I aimed at his head and hit him just like we learned in sniper school …one shot , one kill ! I knew he was dead, both were. Then the truck started slowing down more and more until it came to a dead stop. I rolled off the hood and lied down in front of the truck. As I lay there, I realized all the bullets that were being fired were landing around me. A couple of strays were hitting the semi where my comrades were. I knew that if a round hit them, they would not make it; they were already in bad shape. I turned around and grab babe about fifty to seventy-five meters,and showtime. I fired into the buildings wherever I saw anyone. At that time, to me everyone was the enemy except my the rest of my team and I. I looked back at the truck and saw the Morales getting out. I knew if he got out, it would draw attention to him and he would end up being shot. I started yelling, telling him to get back in the truck, but he wouldn’t listen. I know I should not have done it, but I aimed and shot a round into his door handle. I knew I would not hit him, and I hit where I intended. He jumped back into the truck and shut the door. They both sat there looking at me. I hope they didn’t think I was going to shoot them. I was just trying to keep them safe. We were stuck there for about ten minutes when a Hummer appeared coming towards us from the bridge. It was Hill with an recruiter Hummer weird. That Hummer was our last chance. I jumped up and flagged it down. I helped my guys out of the semi and into the Hummer, then I jumped in. We took off towards the north gate of BIOP Safety. We were still about three miles away though. It was a long shot, and the Hummer had been shot up pretty badly. We drove a little ways and picked up two more guys from our group; one SSG Gregory Goodrich, and our linguistic specialist SFC Jones. We were really packed into the Hummer; there were about ten people in this four-person Hummer and with that on my first act as a commander of the toughest group our casualties were down to three.

Next thing I knew, I felt a thump – Jones had been shot. He started yelling, "ah..ah..ah..I got hit, I’ve been hit!" I pushed him forward so I could help him. I went into the back of the Hummer and pulled out my first aid pouch. I leaned back up to help him, but blood was coming out of his mouth and he wasn’t moving anymore. He didn’t make it. We were rolling about ten miles an hour at top speed. Then the Hummer died, I believe it had been shot in the radiator. It was not going anywhere. We were still about two to three miles from the gate, and we were under heavy fire. There was no time in this entire attack that we were not under small arms fire, RPG’s, or IED’s (improvised explosive devices). We sat in the back of the Hummer looking at each other. We all knew we were not going to make it.. We just sat there listening to the bullets bounce off the hummer, hoping no RPG’s hit us, since it would certainly be all over then. But we all knew it was already over; the Hummer was our last hope and now it was out of commission, and it was too dangerous to try and run for the gate. We sat there for about few minutes. Then we heard a loud screaming like a banshee. Three of us stood up and looked out the roof of the Hummer. We saw a Bradley tank coming towards us, it drove into the city firing at anything that moved, and two more tanks were following behind it. They pulled up on both sides of us, and two armored Hummers pulled up in the front and back. They boxed us in for security. Life is good ! The soldiers got us all out of the back of the broken-down Hummer. I was put into the back of one of the armored Hummers with thereof my guys. We were taken up the road about a mile, and then told that we were going to be put into a tank. I got out, and along with Hill, helped the Moraless hyperventilating walk to the tank. Unfortunately, he also was shot in the back and dropped. I dragged my friend to the tank and stay with him until we got to Medvac.The tank took us to BIOP to the hospital there. And I did brief Intel and Delta force as well and told them three of our group were that dead included our Captain. After that I can’t remember much of what happened there; I was in so much pain. I believe I passed out. I spent two days in BIOP Hospital, then I was sent to Balad for a night in that hospital. The following day, I was sent to Landstahl Regional Medical Center in Germany for two weeks treatment . After that, I returned to the U.S., to Fort Bragg., where I spent another week getting clear by the doctors. The doctors there thought it might be best for me to resume to work . So now I am Group 10th Special Forces Acting Commander (same rank … same pay!) but much more paperwork.I’m finally back home after nearly two weeks on the road and it has been more than a week now since I jumped into Iron Mike Drop Zone in Normandy, France to commemorate the 66th Anniversary of D-day  I’ll never forget the experience – not just because of the historic significance, but also because of those that jumped with me that day.  As you probably well know, British, Canadian and American forces jumped to secure the Allied flanks on D-Day, but personnel from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland also took part in the landings.  On D-Day 66, I hit the ground, collected my parachute, and then walked off the drop zone with

British, French, Polish, Dutch, German and fellow Americans paratroopers surrounding me.  On my aircraft alone, we had Dutch, German and Polish paratroopers and I earned both the Dutch and Polish jump wings that day.    

German and Polish paratroopers sit amongst SOCEUR Soldiers on the aircraft prior to jumping onto Iron Mike DZ in Normandy, France, June 5, 2010.Whoa!  Come again you say?  Tucked in that list was…German paratroopers?  Yep, they jumped with us!  It goes to show how far we’ve come that we can jump with those who 66 years ago would have been shooting at us as we descended from the sky.  Why were they there?  Well, one of their special operations officers explains it best here during an interview with LCDR Taylor Clark of the EUCOM Public Affairs Office.Immediately upon my return from the D-Day anniversary, I headed straight to Krakow, Poland to prepare for the upcoming Jackal Stone 2010 exercise. Jackal Stone is a multi-nation partnership building exercise designed to build Special Operations Forces’ capacity.  While there, I really was able to appreciate the significance of the camaraderie built during events such as the D-Day anniversary jump as I met up with one of the Polish jumpers I had exchanged wings with in Normandy. 

British, French, Polish, Dutch, German and American paratroopers float to the ground during the 66th D-Day Anniversary jump onto Iron Mike DZ, June 5, 2010.As we worked at Polish Special Operations Command Headquarters with special operations leaders from Poland, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, and the Ukraine, we talked about jump-day memories and the relationships we built in Normandy.  It transcended beyond just the U.S.-Polish bonds and was a precursor to the relationships we will strengthen when we all gather in Poland and Lithuania this upcoming September.It all goes back to why we (U.S. forces) are here in Europe – so that we can cooperate better with our partners and allies.  I wrote about it previously here, but it is so cool to see it in action.  Common experiences bind us together like nothing else, and in times of crisis, it is these common experiences that will pay immeasurable dividends. Oh yeah I was forgetting got finally my promotion and the group is happy with their new Commander (Me).

Honored with a bronze sculpture at Fort Bragg, General Yarborough, was an airborne hero of World War II and one of the founders of the Special Forces.