On August 6th, 2011 a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. In the dark of night, America lost 30 of its finest soldiers while they defended the freedoms Americans enjoy daily. SOC Jon Thomas Tumilson was one of those brave Warriors who laid it all on the line that fateful summer night.

While most of us were going about our lives and anticipating the comfort of another summer weekend; Jon and his team-mates were going about their lives in anticipation of another successful mission. The only comfort they had was being with each other and the knowledge that the night's task would make us safer at home. Many of us took our ease in our favorite chairs that night as the evening's meal melted in our stomachs. Jon and his team-mates settled into their places in a dark and uncomfortable bird without a home cooked meal and set off into the dangerous Afghan night. At the closing of the door their fates were sealed. Yet to a man none would have left the sides of their brothers had they known how the mission would end. This is why we call them Heroes. Warriors, who without regard for their own lives, put themselves willingly into danger because of the love for their families, their team-mates, and for the United States of America.

May God bless and protect our soldiers.