This is the first of two posts I will have following President’s Obama’s speech on the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This post is to the troops from me.

Thank you. God bless you. You’ve done everything you were asked to do, you’ve done everything you were ordered to do. Not only did you do the most difficult job an American can do, and be asked to do, you did it well. You did your job while the majority of the people supported the mission, but even when so many didn’t, including many of those who authorized the President to send you to Iraq.

We did what we could to support you; but considering the job you had to do, it wasn’t enough. You deserve more from us; you always deserve more from us, because you did more. Not only did you do more, the loved ones you left behind did more. We the people reserve a place in our hearts for you and your families, for your sacrifice, for your toughness, for being there to defend us.

You have a reason to be proud of what you did. You are part of the greatest, most effective, and toughest military that has ever existed in the history of the world. You not only defeated a conventional enemy, you fought incredibly hard to defeat a vicious band of war criminals with aplomb and dignity. You did so to help those Iraqis who had never before experienced a scintilla of the freedoms you have given us. And you did so to help us, the American people, to live with the freedoms you help maintain.

I can’t say it enough. Thank you. God bless you. God bless your families. And God bless the United States of America.