I have begun to upload some of the images that I took while in Iraq for editorial use and as I go through them, even after being home since November, it seems like only yesterday I faced IED laiden roads and intermittent rocket attacks on our forward operating base. It has been therapeutic for me to go back and look through the images so I can kind of let it go and look forward, realizing that I made it through relatively unscathed. Some of my fellow soldiers were not so fortunate.

This Memorial Day I am making a vow to all my fellow comrades who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan that I will not allow their memory to be forgotten. I will use my photography to keep that memory alive. Even when there is only one OIF veteran alive (just like there is currently only one surviving WWI veteran), I am sure that people will always remember that brave men and women volunteered to fight for what they know is right and to support one another in some very dire straights.

Thanks to all the veterans that served before me and set a high standard of bravery, valor, and discipline that has made the US Army as successful as it has ever been. It is not due to technology, its due to guts. Without the example of men like 2LT Audie Murphy and MSG Shugart or MSG Gordon, our Army of volunteers would be lost.