Dear friends, colleagues, Commander. Families of the fallen. I stand here today, joining in pain with all of you. Nobody expected such a tragedy. How much damage on man can do. How many lives he can take away, just one desperate human being. No one could knows.
For years, we were trained for task, like that. But no one thought, that one day we will hate to pass this exam. And despite a thousand mistakes, misunderstandings, losses, we have passed it. Everyone. All of you contributed to this success but in a different extent.
I pick up myself to normal, but only physically. There, inside, part of me, died. In that day, my world shall fall in ruins. Good choice of words. There's been several hours since the first bomb blew up. And then I already knew that my son is there, in the rubble, waiting for me. I will not forgive myself if I had to bury him here today. But God saved him, He didn't take him away from me. He gave me another chance to spend more time with my boy.
But He took my friend Donna. He took her in a brutal way. She's just had been doing her job. In that day, I saw her smiling, just thinking about return home to her husband. She always want to do her duty. She died on a duty, guarding the safety of others. And whenever people ask me how I deal with this, I say a simple sentence. " I don't. I'm not fine"
I can't close my eyes and don't think about her. I can imagine that she's gone, that she is no longer with us. I see her, I feel her, I hear her. It's not fair that someone took her from us, he had no right to do it.
That day, several times I thought I had lost my friends. Sam nearly blew up. Jules almost got killed at the rubble. Greg could die, of the irradiation of the dirty bomb. The worst thing in all, was the powerlessness. You may say that it's too much for one man. But each of us survived that day more.
A few hours after death of Donna, my best friend Greg was fatally shot. He was the greatest hero of Team-One. He defused the last bomb, paid with his life. Marcus Faber, killed my best friend, only because he wanted to keep the peace. Greg lay on the floor in his own blood. I held him in my arms, he looked at me, straight in my eyes. And I didn't know what else to say.
I saw fear in his eyes and I couldn't help him. I looked at him, knowing that he was dying. My best friend just died in my arms, and I was helpless. His last words…he said "You more than fine, buddy". He always supported me, even when he knew that I was doing wrong. When he asked me how I'm doing, I always replied "I'm fine". Because of that stupid answer I didn't have time to talk with him about my problems. Now he's dead. He died in my arms, on the bloody floor.
Dear friend, today we farewell Donna and Greg. Many words I would use, but they will told me to shut up. I never have to say anything, enough silence, and they knew. If you don't mind I would like to pay them respects with a minute of silence.
Silence will make that we again will heard their laughter, their tears. Feel their breath on our backs. I know Greg will always have his hands on our shoulders. Donna, I hope you will find the peace.
Greg…you son of a bitch, you left me. Now you have to watch over me, as I always cover you.
Rest in Peace.