"My Whole Squad is Gone"

After the explosion Thursday, the battalion chaplain couldn’t get here soon enough. A line of Soldiers needing him waited late into the night, and early the next morning. For many, the tears pushed out in waves. For others, solace came in the form of a quiet stoicism.

“I don’t know what to do right now. My whole squad is gone,” Pfc. Jeremy Urzua said. His squad leader, Frank, was among the Soldiers killed in the blast and had given him a rare day off Thursday.

“I didn’t see it at first, but he just saved my life,” said Urzua, who was back at COP when the attack occurred that morning. Since the attack, Soldiers have been remembering the best of those who were killed Thursday.

“They’re what the infantry is all about. They were just willing to do anything for you, for each other,” Urzua said.

The Soldiers of Company C have forged an alliance known only to the infantry Soldier. They share the misery of extreme suffering, the filth and the physical and emotional scars earned together.

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h/t Bouhammer