Those left behind

Today I would like to share with you a little piece of my heart and a story that begs to be told and remembered.  The little girl in the picture to the left is Kiley.  Kiley just celebrated her second birthday this past weekend.  She is like most girls her age, always smiling, playfull, taking naps in random spots in random positions, with little to no cares in the world.  She has an incredible ability to make the most adult like facial expressions questioning your validity with her eyes as she brushes over your words.  Kiley to the  passive onlooker would appear to be your average child, but this child by no stretch is average.

It was 9:30 am, my Mom stood by the door of my Clarksville apartment and waited for me to come out of my room.  I walked slowly around the room in a circle, ensuring I hadn't left anything behind.  In reality I was just seeing how long I could delay getting to the door.  Finally my Mom called how, "Hey Kyle, I think we have to go or your going to be late."  I made my way to the door and we left.  The busses were scheduled to take us over to the airfield at 10:30.  My mom and I made the walk from the parking lot to the staging area for the busses.  It was an overcast day but my Mom had her sunglasses on, I presumed to hide her eyes from the inevitable tears that were coming.  The van pulled up and an NCO said, "Ok guys, 2 minutes then we have to leave."  There were ten of us leaving on advanced party, mostly officers and high ranking NCO's.  My mom and I embraced, said our goodbyes, and as she surveyed the area she looked over towards a young family embracing and said, "Oh thats so sad" and began to cry.


Kandahar Airfield, commonly referred to in the military as KAF, was nothing that me, Todd or Jake ever envisioned it would be.  The roller hockey rink, and volleyball field were only surpassed by the quite comical TGI Fridays located on the boardwalk.  We watched as large soldiers, aka fat bodies, lumbered up and down the boardwalk in search of a pizza or maybe a donut from Timmy Ho ho's.  Back in our sleep area we joked about how crazy it was to have wireless internet even in Afghanistan.  Unsure of what conditions would be like, Todd and Jake had left their computers at home, so I was the only one of the three that had one.  My computer quickly became the local peace pipe and was passed around from person to person.  Jake would call Kelly on Skype and show off his large biceps, and Todd would call Emma and Kiley.  I remember sneaking a peak at the screen and smiling as Emma had set up the webcam on Kiley playing in the child pen so that Kiley and Todd could see each other and baby chat for a minute.  Todd would get off of skype and brag to me and Jake about all the cool stuff Kiley was being able to do.  Me and Jake would nod give the proverbial "Cool man" and then follow it up with, "So which DFAC are we eating at tonight?"  We'd all laugh and then head out.

0900 September 9, 2010-  I sat there in the tactical operations center of Dog Company and mulled over the task list for the day as our morning meeting came to a close.  I walked over to the mIRC chat computer, an aol instant messenger type system that allows different tactical operating centers to talk to each other without clogging up the radio.  Stewie, a 2009 USMA grad and our fires officer, was manning it and I asked like every morning, "Anything crazy going on Stewie?"  He mulled over a couple of the chat screens, scanning for any contact messages, and saw one, "Oh man, dismounted IED up the ARV (Arghandab River Valley), initial report says triple amp (amputee) but the 9 line is kinda weird so im not sure whats going on, no name given."  I said, "Damn man, alright."  I had been up most of the night planning for our next mission and visiting some of my soldiers on guard duty.  I walked back to my tent and fell right to sleep.

Noon, I get shaken awake and tackle the person shaking me.  It was a fellow platoon leader, but in country your always kinda on edge.  I said, "Damn man, you scared the shit out of me."  He said, "Hey man you have to go to the TOC (tactical operations center)."  The TOC was a good 7 minute walk from my tent and at 115 degrees outside one I didn't want to make.  I said, "Shut up Dude, what do they need."  He repeated, "Man just go to the TOC please."  This time I caught his drift, wiped the sleep from my eyes and said, "Woah no, whats going on."  He said, "Look man, just go to the TOC, Bryson needs to talk to you."  I said, "Fuck that just tell me."  After arguing back and forth about him not wanting to and me insisting he finally came out with it, "That triple amputee this morning, he didn't make it."  I said, "Ok."  He said, "It was Todd."

I sat there in the Adams house, surrounded by Army wives most holding young children and trying to make sure they didn't run into anything.  Little Kiley came walking out from her nap and surveyed the room.   She recognized everyone but my face was unfamiliar.  Those of you who know Todd and Kiley know this look.  They have an uncanny ability to give this look of questioning and the two do it in an identical way.  Emma, Kiley's mother, is the strongest person I have ever met in my life.  She takes care of Kiley full time and has done an amazing job of that.  She takes Kiley periodically to Todd's grave site at Arlington and the little two year old runs around with her "Daddy Doll" pictured below, not fully aware yet of her daddies heroism.  1591 soldiers have passed away in Afghanistan since 2001.  With every hero that has paid the ultimate sacrifice there is a Kiley or an Emma or a Mom who has to greet a uniformed personnel at their door and reach for something steady to keep from falling over as the news is given.  A little girl whose Dad will never see another one of her birthdays.  We must not forget that the Army is a family, and part of this family are the children and spouses of our soldiers.  While Todd certainly paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country, we can not forget those left behind like Kiley and Emma who live on.  Strong, they carry the weight of the world for all of us to enjoy this great country.  Thank you Kiley, Emma and Todd.  Happy Birthday Kiley.