My silent freedom called me to serve my country and to protect the people. It took me to the war zone after President George W. Bush declared war against Iraq on March 20, 2003 at 0800 Zulu time. I deployed with the 101st Airborne Division, Air Assault (AASLT), and headquartered at Mosul, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom I (OIF I). Mosul was believed to be the final resting place of the biblical prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale and who warned inhabitants of the Assyrian city of Nineveh, now known as Mosul, that God would destroy them if they did not repent from their sins. During OIF I, it became a hotbed of terror, with extremists free to launch rocket-propelled grenades and air missiles against military facilities in Iraq. We were in Mosul pursuing the liberation of the Iraqis from the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein and the destruction of his weapons of mass destruction.