Soldiers from the Army Reserve's 314th Public Affairs Operations Center raise the flag over the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad, Iraq.

Of course, the Fourth of July is in our hearts and minds on this special day, but in so many other ways, this is just another day when Soldiers are on duty and working to defend America’s national interests.

Do we have anything special planned?  Thankfully, our Army Reserve Family Readiness Group back in Birmingham, Alabama, sent us decorations for our unit area.  By tomorrow morning — July 4th — our overnight crew will have hung streamers and put miniature U.S. flags and red, white and blue candies at our work areas.  It will likely only remind us that it is another holiday when we are away from our loved ones.

My “independence day” is still a few months away — so instead today I reflect on those NCOs who came before us.  Whether it was our fight to be an independent nation, our struggle to hold that nation together, or our promises to protect our nation or our allies, those Soldiers of yesteryear gave all Americans a gift that billions around the world long to enjoy.

Today’s Soldiers have given that gift to Iraqis.  I hope they realize the ultimate sacrifice that so many of our nation’s sons and daughters have made over the past six years to secure their freedoms and confirm their independence.  However, June 30, 2009, is now in the past; they can no longer be spectators to their freedom.  

I have spoken to many Iraqis who wonder (and sometimes fear) what will happen when we are gone in the very near future.  I think Jerry Kammer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who recently visited the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad, addressed those concerns best.  He told a group of Iraqi journalists they cannot think only about themselves as they work to protect their freedoms in the face of possible danger.  Instead, he said, they must think about the world they want to leave their children, and let that guide their actions.

That sounds like good advice for everyone.