Over the last week, more than 200 New York Army National Guard soldiers “ripped out” from Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, having completed their one year active duty tour. In typical Army parlance, we have created our own verb from the acronym of R-I-P for Relief in Place.

They have been replaced by other Army National Guard soldiers from Illinois, who are now doing the job the New York team has been doing here in Afghanistan since last December.

As I write this entry, soldiers from the Hudson Valley, Capital District, North Country and Central New York are winging their way back to the United States in a series of flights. They will be arriving at an East Coast base for demobilization and then they will be sent home to be re-reunited with their families. They have already begun the next phase of this deployment, the return and then the re-orientation back to their normal lives as true citizen soldiers.

Before they left, many of these soldiers received medals for their service in ceremonies here at Camp Phoenix in Kabul. A few Purple Heart Medals and Bronze Star Medals were issued. There were many Meritorious Service Medals, Army Commendation Medals and Army Achievement Medals. These guys have seen a lot in a year and fortunately every New Yorker on this team has made it. Several have volunteered to extend their service to help out the new team from Illinois and are expected to come home with the rest of us sometime following the holidays.

Last September, almost 230 Soldiers from around New York were called up and deployed ahead of the main body of troops from the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team destined to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Five infantry platoons plus company leaders were organized as Security Force units that we refer to over here as “SECFOR.” Almost 40 percent of them have already served in Iraq and many served in New York City and at other locations in New York on homeland security duty.

Basically these troops guard and protect our bases, convoys and especially our embedded trainers and mentors who are working with the Afghan National Army and Police. These SECFOR guys are infantry – warriors – and they were “outside the wire” nearly every day, facing the threat of improvised explosive devices qnd ambushes and they were often used as instructors with the Afghan National Army and Police.

The fact that they are all going home does not mean they were unscathed. Some were wounded. But tragically, within days of the departure of some New Yorkers at one of the Forward Operating Bases in eastern Afghanistan, an IED strike claimed four soldiers – two Illinois National Guard soldiers who had only recently arrived, a Wyoming National Guardsman and an active duty Soldier who came from the Newburgh area.

And there are the wounds you can’t see. Near Memorial Day, a South Carolina Guard soldier was killed during a firefight with insurgents who had ambushed a team comprised of embedded trainers and New York SECFOR troops. Sgt. David Leimbach had volunteered to stay longer to help out the “Yankees” he had befriended. When the enemy managed to “get lucky,” the men from New York that had bonded with the newlywed from South Carolina could do nothing but witness his death from a mortal head wound.

It is the norm over here to hold memorial ceremonies at the base where the soldier was stationed and at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, which is the task force headquarters. Sgt. Leimbach’s friends hoped to attend both, but due to the distance, risk and difficulty could not get to Camp Phoenix. Whenever possible, the team at Camp Phoenix tries to include friends of the fallen in each ceremony, offering them the chance to speak about their late comrades, as well. In this case it was not possible, but the New York friends of Sgt. Leimbach were determined and they found the right person at Camp Phoenix to support them – my comrade and deputy, Maj. Kathy Oliver.

Kathy is a very experienced military and civilian professional who throws herself into her work, heart and soul. Though not originally from New York, she has an important job at Kodak in Rochester, a position she no doubt earned following more than 10 years active duty service with the Army and her can-do determination. She is a mom and also a tremendous organizer and go-to-person that always gets things done. For this reason, the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team leadership appointed her as director of the task force Joint Visitor Bureau, in addition to serving as my deputy in public affairs.

Since we first started to serve together for this deployment, she has given me countless reasons to be both grateful for her work and proud of the way she approaches each challenge. The support she showed to soldiers returning from “down range” and especially to the comrades of the late Sgt. Leimbach brings that to a new level.

The soldiers learned that she was the one preparing the memorial ceremony program and was gathering materials to be shipped to Sgt. Leimbach’s family. They reached out to her by the usual mode of communication here in Afghanistan – cell phone. It is another story to tell about the efficacy of cell phone service here, but these soldiers talked for almost three hours about their friend and what happened and why he meant so much to them. They changed phone batteries several times. They moved to different parts of their base to obtain a signal. And when they lost contact, they called back.

Kathy stuck with them. The next day, she crafted a eulogy for these guys from the many notes she had taken and delivered it on their behalf during the ceremony in Patriot Square at Camp Phoenix. It moved everyone. It was genuine and from the heart. We video tape all the ceremonies for the family, and this was included.

Eventually, Kathy got to meet them. From time to time, troops down range come through Camp Phoenix for operational reasons, and these soldiers sought her out when they did. They came back through as their team was getting ready to leave, and one in particular was a frequent guest. As I covered the award ceremonies, I was pleased to note that this soldier was among the recipients and I took photos. Later, I made sure he got the digital photo files of himself and friends. He even gave me a chance to help him, too.

The major was out of the office when he came around. Something was troubling him, and I knew he wanted to talk about it, so I offered to listen. He told me that Sgt. Leimbach’s mother wanted to speak with him. She had reached out, probably through the chain of command, and asked to speak with him, and he was unsure of himself now.

After he had spoken, I paused for a moment and then told him that I had some experience with this topic that may be helpful, and then I briefly described my past efforts to support family members of the fallen. I also told him that I had recently given advice to another soldier in a similar circumstance here in Afghanistan.

After pausing just for a moment, I looked him in the eye and told him that this was an opportunity. I told him that it was clear to me that this is something he wanted to do; otherwise he would not have brought it up. I told him that I was sure that the reason she wanted to talk to him was because he was clearly close to her late son and speaking to him will bring her closer to her son, even though he is gone.

I explained that he was in a unique position. Because of the relationship he had developed and the fact that he was there at her son’s final moments, he could offer her a gift no one else can. I told him that he can help the mother of his late comrade as she moves through her personal journey of learning to live with her loss, but with the realization that she is not alone in her grieving.

I told him that he needed to take it easy on himself first. I told him that if he wanted to do this, to take some time for himself and think about what he wants to cover with her. The Army has already told her what happened. She knows that he was there, so she will ask him about that day, but I stressed that what he needs to do is to tell her about her son and how he served and not about how he died. I gave him some specific suggestions, and it seemed to hit home for him. He thanked me and said he would come back later to see the major.

With the ceremonies done, the last night for the SECFOR Company at Camp Phoenix had arrived. The major got an invitation to join them all down at the PX area where a karaoke machine was set up. The guys wanted to celebrate – I think all 200 were there, taking turns singing their favorite songs and joking with each other. And Major Oliver was there, sitting with the same guys, and all the others were close by.

The guys left very early the next morning, and Major Oliver and I had a few moments to talk in the middle of the next day. She said the soldier decided to visit Sgt. Leimbach’s mom after he has seen his own parents. I said that he brought it up to me when he came looking for her a few days back and that I thought that was what he wants to do.

"These are really all good boys, all of them. They saw their friend die,” she said, and talked about the details of the incident they had shared with her. She also brought up that the Navy corpsman that was lost just a couple of weeks ago was also close to them.

"They feel guilt about the enemy they have killed," she said. "They lost friends and still they feel remorse. They are just boys."

"No, not anymore. They are much more than that," I said as she nodded.

"I wouldn’t feel guilty for the Taliban, knowing what they have done to so many … What a strange relationship I have with [these soldiers],” she mused.

“It’s not strange at all. You were there for this guy and others when they needed you,” I told her, knowing that the strain of so much over here was showing - as of now, we have lost 35 service members from the task force since the end of April.

“Good for you, Kath. Good for you and for them.”

Lt. Col. Paul Fanning is submitting photos to accompany this blog in a gallery, "Pictures from the Front." To view the gallery, click here.