Independence Day 2023

11 December 2006

About that day, Jim said later: “I remember Mack lying in the palm grove by this tree with bullets flying over, a few feet away from me. The look on his face was one of excitement and calm. I remember thinking, this second, this moment in time is what I’ve trained for my whole life. It was exhilaration. It was an opportunity for my men to show bravery and courage. In order to fight you have to expose your throat. You have to be willing to die. . . . “There’s not much to say after you’ve been through something like that. Neither one of us had any right to be alive, and there we were. . . . “That feeling never left me.”

-Ann Scott Tyson. American Spartan.

Today is a glorious day. My life is centered around another kingdom, one that is here but is not of this world. With that being said, I am so thankful for being an American. Never, ever take for granted that you did NOTHING to be born an American. It is a gift that you were born with. Cherish it.

I am so thankful for all the men and women I fought alongside and the myriads of ones who fought long before me and will fight long after I am gone. I am also so thankful for the wonderful citizens of our country who make our nation something worth fighting for.

Today, I will say thank you to – Mohammed Lateef Moustafa Al-Sheikh…aka…”Mack”.

I have no words, dear Brother. None.

I would be long since dead had it not been for YOU.

Experienced more with you than any man walking on this earth.

Mack and I often laugh because we don’t tell people what we experienced together – because it wouldn’t be believed. But we lived it.

Mack, thank you for being YOU.

Thank you for always calling me and texting me and checking up one me.

I love you so, so much.

You are the best American that I know.

Your Brother in this life and the next,

Jim

Proverbs 18:24

Mack and I in Iraq, 2006…in a few weeks the vehicle we took this picture in front of would be blown apart by insurgents near Balad, Iraq. We would barely survive. But we would hunt down those responsible – and they paid dearly…