On September 11, 2001, I was in a military lecture hall with over 100 service members of all branches and all ranks. After coming back from one of the breaks, we witnessed one of the World Trade Center towers on fire on the big screen and soon saw the second aircraft hit the other tower. The moment the second plane hit the second tower, I said out loud, “This is going to be the longest and hardest thing that this country has ever had to do.” Ten years later, the war on terror has become the longest war in this country’s history.

There were as many as 124,000 troops in Iraq and 68,000 in Afghanistan by the end of 2009. As the involvement in Iraq scales down, the Pentagon is expecting as many as 98,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year.

As of March 2011, over 4,400 American service men and women have lost their lives in Iraq with well over 46,000 seriously wounded. The war in Afghanistan has caused nearly 1,000 deaths with 2,500 seriously wounded.

We currently have between 20 and 25 AirTran pilots on long-term military leave at any one time. Many more of our fellow pilots are engaged in regular shorter deployments with their reserve units. All are contributing greatly to our safety and security. Please take the time to thank our military personnel for their service and sacrifice.

First Officer Bill Hughes, Chairman, AirTran MEC Military Affairs Committee