Please don't misunderstand this email. I commend the people who try to understand the patriotic emails that have been sent. But please don't underestimate the toll that combat takes on the souls that experience it. Whatever the political persuasion you have, whatever the understanding of war you have, please understand that it taxes souls to participate in combat. I am alive, but some did not survive. Some of the men I knew did not live through the hell that we had to endure, but I don't ask for your support and certainly don't ask for your sympathy. I ask that you understand that we lay our lives down initially because we have an idealistic idea of what it means to die for our country, but when reality weighs down on our shoulders it is only then that we realize what we are actually fighting for. They call us heroes, but we only did what we needed to do to survive. So please understand that when you use the term hero it only leaves us with a sense of guilt. I survived, but my brothers did not. We lay down our gun because we can't come home till the last shot is fired. You don't have to send this to anyone; it is not a chain email, but when you watch the fireworks explode on the 4th of July I want you to feel that we celebrate this holiday because we prefer to celebrate freedom when we can. Please experience the happiness that our freedom represents...for it is what truly honors those who did not survive the hell we lived through. But please also understand that the men and women who survived feel that their sacrifice was not enough; that they did not do enough. Say a prayer for peace for our daughters and our sons; set my spirit free; let me lay down my Gun. Lord I'm so tired...but I can't come home till the last shot's fired. If you can please listen to Trace Atkins song during the ACM's, It tells the story well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge9zXIQq5HI. Please celebrate our freedom...but don't forget it was earned with blood.
Sgt Harland
USMC
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