"We Are Going Home."

From the prepared remarks of Lieutenant General William Hawthorne, Commanding General, V Corps (U.S. Army), European Theater, delivered November 15, 2000, just prior to the departure of Task Force 34 from Bremerhaven, Federal Republic of Germany: 

We have fought, bled, and suffered together through the worst war our nation has ever seen. We came to Europe as the vanguard of American strength and, for years, we held the line. But now, our mission here is over. The order has come: we are going home.

Some of you may be asking why. Why now, when there are still battles to be fought? The answer is simple: America needs its soldiers. The war left deep scars on our homeland. Cities burned, families scattered, and the institutions we once took for granted are struggling to stand. We are no longer just warriors; we are builders now. Protectors. The fight ahead is not one of trenches and frontlines but of restoring order, defending our people, and ensuring that the nation we swore to serve does not crumble in the face of anarchy.

This will not be easy. The country we return to is not the one we left. The rules have changed. The faces in charge may not be the ones you remember. But our duty does not change. Honor does not change. We stand for the United States, not for any one man or council. And whatever shape the future takes, it will be built by those who refuse to give up on what America stands for.

Some of you have doubts about what lies ahead. I won’t tell you not to. The road home is uncertain. But I know this: wherever we go, whatever comes next, we go together. You have fought beside your brothers and sisters in arms through hell itself. You have carried each other through the fire. That is what will see us through the storm ahead.

So pack your gear, say your goodbyes, and steel yourselves for the road home. Our duty is not finished. It is only just beginning.

Soldiers: let’s move out.