He was one alone among many. He'd served with his brothers since 2001, since the day after that fateful horror descended on his country. The man, Mohammed Ahmed, was a devout Muslim, had been reared in the faith his entire life. He was also a second generation American, born and raised in the Great State of Georgia. Others had always looked at him differently, but he considered himself a Georgian. A Southerner. An American.

So, on September 12 Mohammed Ahmed became Pvt. Mohammed Ahmed, United States Army. He served willingly in Afghanistan, and hesitantly in Iraq. But, he served and with honor. He was at Kabul and Baghdad, took fire when the militants hit his convoy in December of '03. But, it wasn't the fire that got him. No, the bullet merely took his arm. Like his hero, the great Stonewall, Pvt. First Class Mohammed Ahmed died of pneumonia. He was buried with his brothers, a single crescent amongst a regiment of crosses.

He was alone among many, but he was amongst his brothers.