A FORT CARSON FAREWELL

(The 3rd Armored Cavalry Brigade, 
The 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 
The 10th Combat Support Hospital and
The 571st Air Ambulance Med-Evac Company, located at Fort Carson 
have received deployment orders and are presently 
preparing for movement overseas)

Before long we must bid a sad farewell.
Deployment orders are now in hand,
And soon 11,000 brave courageous souls
Will be sent to serve in some distant land.

Our hopes and prayers go with our troops,
As they march off to heed their commanders’ call.
May their deeds be guided by righteousness,
And may they come back safely, one and all.

We pray the conflict will be swift and short,
If fate decrees that they must go to fight.
May their leaders be men of vision and quality,
And may their casualties be very few and light.

Let them not be victims of an unpopular war.
Let them not be subject to scorn and indifference,
As were those that served in Korea and in Vietnam,
Who had no one to speak out in their defense.

Our hearts go out to the families,
As they  anxiously wait with fervent prayers,
That their loved ones’ absence will not be long,
And that theirs will be among those that Heaven spares.

Our soldiers depart with pride and spirits high,
And if destiny dictates that they must face the foe...
That is what they have been trained to do,
And they will do their best, this we surely know.
                                                    
-Frank J.Montoya, January, 2003