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Message From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the One-Year Anniversary of Operation Enduring Freedom
Monday, October 7, 2002
Gen. Richard B. Myers
U.S. Air Force
Commanding

This campaign has been one for the record books. It included the deepest amphibious operation in our Marine Corps history -- over 400 miles into hostile territory. It included the highest elevation that our soldiers fought a pitched battle -- at 10,000 feet above sea level. It included the longest combat sortie on record for our Air Force -- 44 hours in length. Most significant of all, it entailed the fewest war-combatant injuries and the least collateral damage of any major military operation in history.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
This week, we marked the first anniversary of the start of our combat operations against terrorism. The foundation for our success is no secret. The credit belongs to you who serve as part of our armed forces: our sailors, soldiers, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, DoD civilians and our military families.

Over the past year, I've visited hundreds of you overseas and around the United States. You are dedicated and determined. You have left your homes, your families and, in the case of our Guard and Reserve personnel, you left your jobs. Your service is an example of selflessness and sacrifice.

Those of you that I've met are no different from the hundreds of thousands of others nobly serving -- at home and abroad. All are doing the extraordinary.

Over this past year, our Nation's armed forces have achieved a significant measure of success in the War on Terrorism. A year ago at this time, few predicted the speed or the effectiveness with which we would eliminate the major terrorist haven in Afghanistan. It was a land-locked country. We had no military bases in the vicinity. We had no major war plan to remove the Taliban from power.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan