Never Struggle Alone – The Atlantic

In 2006, I helped set up the NATO Special Operations Forces Command in Mons, Belgium. It included commandos from greater than 19 nations. Over the course of the following two years, we educated and exercised collectively, drank collectively, and spent household time collectively. In doing so, we discovered that our frequent values had been way more vital than our nationwide variations. We additionally developed a bond that solely males getting ready for fight can respect.

By 2008, I used to be again preventing in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, I used to be blessed to have the British Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) serving alongside my Rangers, SEALs, and Delta Force operators. The Brits took on one of many hardest missions in our counterterrorism struggle: the suicide-bomber community working in Baghdad. Their work unquestionably saved the lives of American troopers and our allies. And they paid a excessive value for standing alongside us. In 2005, British particular army models misplaced 10 personnel when one in all their C-130s was shot down outdoors town. We mourned their loss as in the event that they had been our personal.

Isaac Stanley-Becker: The sacrifice of the Danes

In Afghanistan, NATO special-operations troopers fought with great braveness and unwavering loyalty to their American counterparts. That dedication didn’t come and not using a value, both. I stood on the tarmac in Bagram and Kandahar many occasions paying my remaining respects to troopers from the U.Ok., Canada, Australia, France, Denmark, and Germany. Never have I seen such an outpouring of respect and admiration for his or her contribution to the struggle. I additionally mourned the lack of the primary Romanian soldier to have died in fight since World War II—simply one of many 27 who fell in Afghanistan.

Many different nations contributed to the NATO mission and misplaced younger women and men as a result of we requested them for his or her assist. We requested them for his or her assist, and most didn’t hesitate. They understood the worth of our alliance. They understood the ability of being united in a typical trigger. They believed in NATO and so they believed within the United States.

Anyone who would denigrate the service of our NATO allies clearly by no means spent a day in uniform. These NATO troopers had been as brave, as heroic, as patriotic, and as loyal as any soldier I ever served with. I, for one, am eternally grateful for his or her service and their sacrifice.

Robert Kagan: America vs. the world

Winston Churchill as soon as mentioned that “there is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.” If we proceed to indicate disdain for our allies, if we fail to understand their contribution to our nationwide safety and larger international stability, we might discover ourselves preventing alone sometime. And belief me, battle is rarely a contest you wish to struggle alone.