|
|
||||
|
Unfortunately, late this afternoon I determined I would be unable to attend
the reunion this weekend. I was very much looking forward to visiting with
all of you, but the events over the last few weeks have impacted my plans
(as they have all Americans) and I will be unable to slip away.
Thanks for the inquiries for the many of you who have called my parents to
see if I was okay. Although I was previously stationed at the Pentagon, I
departed for Fort Lewis, Washington, last Summer. My personal connection
to the horrible events comes from the point of impact at the Pentagon. The
section of the Pentagon where the plane struck is about 200 feet from where
my old office was located on the D-ring (second ring in from the outside).
Fortunately none of my former office mates were killed although I did know
several of the names on the Pentagon casualty lists. Mom and Dad have
fielded may calls from people who thought I still worked there.
Although shocked by the Pentagon attack, I was absolutely stunned at the
brutality of the attack upon the World Trade Center. Steeling yourself for
combat is part of my profession. That said, there is absolutely no
justification for the brutal attack upon innocent civilians which occurred
at the WTC.
I am currently commanding the 1st Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment.
The "Bobcats" are a 566 man strong combat unit stationed at Fort Lewis,
Washington. My soldiers know their jobs and are prepared to execute any
missions they are given in a professional manner. My soldiers are
powerful, steely-eyed warriors. These are soldiers you send to combat, not
put on parade. That said, I have no idea what the future holds. I do know
we have several upcoming training deployments in the near future. The
brigade to which my battalion belongs is one of the best trained units in
the U.S. Army (1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division). We train often and we
train hard.
I will miss seeing all of you. I challenge you all to have fun at the
reunion and hope there is a 30th. I have put my mailing address on the
bottom in case anyone has a stray picture or two they'd like to send so I
see what a great time I missed. A great part of spending the last 20 years
in the Army is the many parts of the world I have visited and the wonderful
people. The biggest down-side is not being able to get back to Oklahoma
more often.
I challenge each of you to in the Class of 76 to stand strong for the
future. This evil of terrorism will be crushed and it is important we are
strong for our children, our families, our friends, our communities, and
our nation. If we give in to fear, we are allowing the terrorists to win.
Our children will judge us by how we handle this darkest hour and the
course we chart for their future. At the 20th reunion I was very proud of
how well each of us has done. I believed at that time we had met the
challenge laid before us at graduation in 1976. Two weeks ago, our world
was turned upside down and now our biggest challenge still lays ahead. I
know we'll meet this one with the same tenacity. God Bless each of you and
God Bless America.
With Warmest Regards,
Barry
Lieutenant Colonel Barry N. Tyree
2318 South 2nd Street
Fort Lewis, Washington 98433
253-964-2662 (H)
253-967-7244 (W)
bnt@att.net (personal)
barry.tyree@us.army.mil (work)
|
||||
| page created with Easy Designer |