American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have for seven years now been fighting insurgents in distant lands.
Arguments about the course of the wars in Washington and in the media matter little to the men and women who put on the gear and head into the fight every day.
They laugh at the absurdity around them, but when their environment turns deadly, they turn deadly serious.
They are the personification of the common man made uncommon by their commitment to one another and to the task at hand. Their story is a study in how the Texan and the Tennessean learn to work with the boys from Chicago and Cincinnati, and distill into unity and fierceness, carrying on an American tradition that found its voice in Lexington and Concord.
Cindy Fisher spent time with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion on Okinawa, Japan, who were ambushed in the Jazeera Desert in western Iraq. They lost a Marine. The insurgents who ambushed them never saw another morning.
Thomas Ruyle caught up with the National Guard’s 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, leaving Fort Bragg, N.C., for another deployment to Iraq. What sustains them is the strength of their families, who understand the gravity of the situation and accept it with sadness but determination.
Kent Harris talked with the proud members of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment who endured a withering attack at Wanat, Afghanistan. They lost nine good men in the deadliest single battle for American soldiers since the U.S. invasion.
And the storm clouds will only increase in the days ahead.
Yet these soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors take their orders and move out.
In this section, Stars and Stripes, the newspaper covering U.S. servicemembers around the world, looks at the deeds that have earned medals of valor for the servicemembers. Those included stand as surrogates for the thousands of others so recognized.
Stripes focused on the highest honors given for valor in a war zone, irrespective of rank. This section pays tribute to the war-fighter.
It is up to us to remember the deeds of those who have been in the arena, faces covered in dust and sweat and blood, while we go about our daily lives.
This publication captures but a glimpse of the deeds U.S. servicemembers have performed in distant lands.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, as Winston Churchill famously said. This is indeed their "finest hour."
Seal of the United States Department of the Army
Staff Sgt. Christopher Barberi, a U.S. Army Europe non-commissioned officer, was sentenced Friday for sodomy of a minor and possession of pornographic photos of the girl following conviction on 2 July. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Barberi allegedly committed statutory rape of the young girl from the time she was 11 until she was 15, but could not be charged for his rape of the girl when she was 11 due to a statute of limitations. If the statute had not applied then Barberi would have faced a life sentence. Prior to the sentence, he was given a bad-conduct discharge from the United States Army.

The young girl said she tried to end the relationship several times, but was pressured to resume it until her 15th birthday. The girl said that Barberi told her "That's what little girls do."

The girl reported the sexual abuse in late 2006; at first to her mother; then later to law enforcement. She said it was because "It got too much for me to handle."

During this case the defense brought forward a 30-year-old woman as a witness, who testified that the young girl was lying. Prosecutor Maj. Jacqueline Tubbs cross examined the woman, and got her to admit she had lied a to CID investigator. That statement regarded the young girl's comments to the woman: "What she said was, 'You know he did this to you, too'", Tubbs said. The witness was also a relative of the alleged victim.