It is terrific to know that while 1,700 of us from the New York National Guard are serving here in Afghanistan, our recruiting numbers back home continue to go up. The New York Army National Guard is closing on its goal of 10,500 assigned Soldiers.

One would think that nearly seven years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, record service for homeland defense and deployments to Iraq and now Afghanistan that New York's Citizen Soldiers would be more than feeling the strain (which we certainly are). But the news is that many are remaining in the Guard and we are attracting more to our ranks. How can this be?

It is money for college? Is it because they are unemployed? Are they just adventurers or worse - "war mongers?"

After 30 years of Guard service and now more than 115 days of "boots on the ground" here in Afghanistan, I think I can sum it up with a high degree of accuracy. They get it - America is at war.

They answered the call. They are not war mongers, but they do possess a warrior spirit. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur put it, they exhibit "an appetite for adventure over a life of ease."

He also said something else: The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

Yes, there is suffering over here, and most of it seems to be experienced by Afghan citizens who live in poverty and constant fear of sudden death from an improvised explosive device, a suicide bomber or a night raid by the Taliban.

In my last entry, I offered a look back on how we got here and what was happening. In this entry, I want to pay tribute to the men and women who have volunteered to serve their community, state and nation. These are my friends and comrades, and I include those new recruits back home who have recently taken the oath of service.

In my personal view, the highest calling for a human being is to build, support, defend and improve a community. For me a community can be one family or a nation. My views are shaped in part by faith but also by our nation's founding fathers and especially by our Constitution.

For this reason, I hold people in the highest esteem who undertake military service, law enforcement, caregiving and teaching roles. I know people both right here in Afghanistan and back home who fulfill these roles with devotion, dignity and honor.

Here in Afghanistan, my comrades are working to help Afghanistan develop and grow their communities themselves and thus give birth to a new nation from the ashes of decades of war, oppression and misery. Back home in New York state, a new generation of young men and women are answering a call to step forward and serve.

They are a small fraction in a state with a population of nearly 18.6 million. They are choosing to make the defense and security of New York and America a personal responsibility. That is why they are different from ordinary citizens.

In my last entry, I referred to a video production that I produced in 2004 entitled "In the Arena." It is based on a quote from a famous former New York National Guardsman who made good, and I believe his words, though written nearly 100 years ago, fit well today. And so I will close this entry with this quote and offer some photos I took the other day of some of those over here who are "In the Arena." I want people to know that there are men and women from New York with courage, passion and dedication who are and will continue to resist the enemies of freedom, justice and community" so that the lives of friends and neighbors at home benefit from the security provided by these volunteers.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt, New York National Guardsman, New York governor, president of the United States and Medal of Honor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

To view photos accompanying this blog entry, visit the accompanying photo gallery, "Pictures from the Front," by clicking here.