It is Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. and on this final Monday of May 2016, we reflect on this remembrance.
In order to put it all in context, we looked back 36 months to our 2013 blog post here. It was only a few weeks since a fellow colleague from Team Rubicon had ended his battle at home, after several tours of duty with AFSOC. Neil had joined the ranks of those fallen heroes who survive deployment tagging and tracking the enemy in the Hindu Kush. He was also one of the 22 that day in early May, that could not defeat the legacy of demons he fought each night, as he fell deep asleep.
On Memorial Day 2016, we again honor Neil in Section 60 at Arlington Memorial Cemetery and all those other military members who have sacrificed and defended our freedoms for 239 years. Simultaneously, we do the same for the people behind the "Stars" on a wall in Langley, Va for those officers who have done the same.
Together we are on the front lines or inside the wire at the FOB. Whether you are in Tampa, FL, Stuttgart, Germany or Arlington, VA. Whether you are on your beat cruising the streets of a major metro USA city. Whether you are watching a monitor at IAD, LAX or DFW. Whether you are deep in analysis of Internet malware metadata or reviewing the latest GEOINT from a UAS. We are all the same, in that we share the mission that gets each one of us out of bed each day. Our countries "Operational Risk Management (ORM)."
The Operational Risk Management mission of the U.S. Homeland is vast and encompasses a spectrum of activity, both passive and kinetic. Digital and physical. It requires manpower and resources far beyond the capital that many developed countries of the world could to this day comprehend. There are only a few places across the globe, where a normal citizen would say that the mission and the capital expenditures are worth every dollar and every drop of blood.
Memorial Day in the United States is exactly this:
In order to put it all in context, we looked back 36 months to our 2013 blog post here. It was only a few weeks since a fellow colleague from Team Rubicon had ended his battle at home, after several tours of duty with AFSOC. Neil had joined the ranks of those fallen heroes who survive deployment tagging and tracking the enemy in the Hindu Kush. He was also one of the 22 that day in early May, that could not defeat the legacy of demons he fought each night, as he fell deep asleep.
On Memorial Day 2016, we again honor Neil in Section 60 at Arlington Memorial Cemetery and all those other military members who have sacrificed and defended our freedoms for 239 years. Simultaneously, we do the same for the people behind the "Stars" on a wall in Langley, Va for those officers who have done the same.
Together we are on the front lines or inside the wire at the FOB. Whether you are in Tampa, FL, Stuttgart, Germany or Arlington, VA. Whether you are on your beat cruising the streets of a major metro USA city. Whether you are watching a monitor at IAD, LAX or DFW. Whether you are deep in analysis of Internet malware metadata or reviewing the latest GEOINT from a UAS. We are all the same, in that we share the mission that gets each one of us out of bed each day. Our countries "Operational Risk Management (ORM)."
The Operational Risk Management mission of the U.S. Homeland is vast and encompasses a spectrum of activity, both passive and kinetic. Digital and physical. It requires manpower and resources far beyond the capital that many developed countries of the world could to this day comprehend. There are only a few places across the globe, where a normal citizen would say that the mission and the capital expenditures are worth every dollar and every drop of blood.
Memorial Day in the United States is exactly this:
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May.[1] Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.[2] Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service[3].So this weekend as we walk among the headstones, reflect on our colleagues who gave their service and their own lives, we will stand proud. We understand the risks. We know why we serve. In the spotlight or in the shadows. The tradition and the mission continues...
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