This weekend, was a pretty good week. I had the opportunity to sit down for coffee with CSM(r) Bart Womack. CSM Womack was the CSM of 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) to which I was assigned in 2002 - 2004. We have met and worked on different projects before but this weekend's meeting was different. We got to talking about the Soldier-on-Soldier attack that our unit went through during the early hours of 23 March 2003; an attack that CSM would later document in his book "Embedded Enemy". I've had a copy of the book for some years but could never bring myself to relive that day. So it sat there until this past Saturday. After I met with CSM Womack, I went home, dusted the book off and told myself "one page at a time". As I read the book, I started to smell the dust of Kuwait. I could hear the sounds of the huge fest tent that served as the DFAC for 4,000 plus Soldiers. The pages started to feel like the sand and my memory started to bring back flashbacks of our tents, the laughter, the nervousness, the overwhelming feeling of "are we ready for this?"

On Saturday, I got through just two chapters of the book but I told myself that I would pick it back up on Sunday and continue going. Quickly, I found myself turning the pages, putting myself back there. I could remember the smell of the burning tents the next day. I can remember the fear I had for my Soldier who was in the Commo truck just outside what I would later learn was the kill zone. I remember the sound in his voice when I called him on the radio, told him to lock the door from the inside and pull the trigger if anyone didn't respond to his challenge. Thankfully, Akbar's hate-fueled attack was aimed more at the officers and senior leaders that night. He must not have realized that the little box on top of the HMMWV was the camps primary source of communication with the world outside of Camp Pennsylvania. Sadly, Army CPT Seifert and Air Force Maj Stone would not make it through that night.

I'm glad I read through the book. I felt that I owed it to CPT Seifert to understand parts of the event that I wasn't aware of and now coming on 16 years later, Akabar still sits in prison. His appeals are exhausted. We sit, waiting for the POTUS to sign the order that will make him pay for his crimes.