Timothy J Steele

West Point, 2009

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Adam Nordin on May 29, 2018:

Tim, Another year gone my brother. My wife, Mandy and I are preparing to PCS. It's hectic- you never really get better at them, and the Army always has a way of adding a couple steps to the process that are not necessary. We are heading to Newport, RI to attend the Naval War College in lieu of ILE. This last year has been exhilarating, exciting, challenging, and humbling. I was asked to stay in my Battalion an extra year to command a Ranger company. I was honored to be asked, particularly since it came on the heels of a rocky transition period for my company. We finished up the training cycle, deployed, and I took them through about 4 more months of training before handing off the guideon. A very quick command, but nonetheless memorable. We also found and incredible house to rent for the year- on the water in a quiet town. Just pure serenity. On this last deployment, my company had 4 Rangers wounded. I was there for one of them, fortunately just a grazing wound. 1 guy had a bullet lodge in his neck. He's fine, thankfully. If I didn't know better I'd say it sounds like Afghanistan 7 years ago. Every year I wish to tell you we've put this thing to bed, but I'm sad to report I can't say that yet. I've deployed 7 times now. I counted the stripes on my blues. 5, and not far from 6- 33 total months in another country. Iraq and Syria are worse than Afghanistan. Tim, every so often the story of how I know you comes up- more frequently than you'd think. I still have that photo of you pitching me my first salute. Today, I salute you. Your sacrifice is not in vein. We still march on, willingly going toe to toe with our enemy, and we gather strength Knowing men like you have stood before us. -Adam

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