I just wanted to quickly express my thoughts prior to Memorial Day. Everyone should take a moment of silence to remember to all the men and women who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom that we enjoy today. Too many people these days take for granted what our fighting men and women have done for this great country of ours.

Since the inception of our country these brave souls and been unselfish on all levels and most of them did it voluntarily. While I do not agree with the war in Iraq, I do honor and cherish what the troops over there are doing and I know that most of them do not want to be there but that they also volunteered for this duty and that I back the soldiers and airmen 100%, without hesitation.

In Operation Desert Storm only one soldier in my Brigade lost their life. Army Specialist Clarence A. "Johnny" Cash, died from friendly fire in the Iraqi VII Corps bunker complex in southern Iraq on the afternoon of February 27, 1991, when the lead tank shot him and his Scout Platoon Sergeant's M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle. There is not a single day that passes that I do not think of this man. He was a driver and did not even know what hit him. A second lieutenant shot his Bradley during a refueling stop. While he was killed by fratricide, it does not take away from the ultimate price he paid.

My half-brother-in-law just recently joined the army as a tanker and is being deployed to Iraq sometime later this year. I hope and pray that I will not have to add him to my daily thoughts of soldiers that gave their lives, I do not want to have to remember him on Memorial Day, I would rather remember him on Veterans Day. Another outstanding American boy that has volunteered to put his life on the line to protect our freedoms that we enjoy.

To all of the men and women who have given their lives and to their families, I would like to just say thank you and that my prayers are with you on this day, a day for which we NEED to remember American Hero's. They are the reason that I enjoy the freedoms for which I have everyday of my life, past and present.