Hillsborough memorial service honors US troops who served in Iraq, Afghanistan

TAMPA, Fla. - It has been 20 years since US troops invaded Iraq to eliminate Saddam Hussein and hunt for weapons of mass destruction.

Since then, more than 7,000 troops were killed in the Global War on Terror, and most US forces have been removed from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those service members were honored Monday during a ceremony in eastern Hillsborough County.

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Maj. Lewis Layton, who served in Ramadi in 2003, was one who had an up close view of the effort to drive Saddam Hussein from Baghdad. He sensed what would come next was going to be even more difficult.

"You can just pick up a weapon, shoot it a few times and put it down. Blow up an IED that you can't see. That's hard to deal with," Layton said.

It was an IED that took out his friend, Jeremiah Savage, a 21-year-old who left behind a wife and children. He remembered Savage during the memorial service at Veteran's Memorial Park.

"I am a godfather to [someone who is] not a little girl anymore, she's 20, who my buddy never saw," Layton said.

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More than 52,000 service members were wounded and 7,057 were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 30,000 have died by suicide, according to a Boston University study in 2021. 

There's also the untold damage to US politics as weapons of mass destruction were never found and no link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda was ever established.

Although President George W. Bush insisted Saddam Hussein needed to be done away with, the post-9/11 moment of bipartisanship faded quickly.

"The American people are devoted to our national defense," said Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa). "They understand we have to defend ourselves. They expect us to work every diplomatic angle, every economic angle to avoid going to war."

Monday's ceremony included a flag folding, a wreath laying and speakers who stressed the importance of honoring those who serve, no matter the politics of the moment. 

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Sgt. Michael Chiasson said it only feels like a moment since he was there, under fire.

"They learned the lasting impact of war on the personnel on the ground, the people who actually have to deal with the nightmares that they bring back," said Chiasson. "I try not to."

The global war on terror is to this point, unfinished, and 2,500 troops remain in Iraq.