On the 14th Anniversary of 9/11, Joint Base Lewis-McChord's 2nd Ranger Battalion received two valorous unit awards for combat actions in Afghanistan.

The first recognized the members of A Company for actions during Operation Bulldog Bite in November 2010. They were supporting members of the 101st Airborne and the Afghan National Army in a dangerous mission in the mountains of Kunar province. Seven Americans and three Afghan National Army soldiers died during the operation.

For five days, the Rangers were engaged in nearly constant combat striking at high value targets. At several points, A Company operated well into Taliban territory without direct support from conventional ground forces.

The entire second award recognized the entire battalion's actions in support of heightened combat operations during the Afghan surge in 2011. Both these awards for the unit carry the equivalence of a Silver Star for acts of valor for individuals.

The 2nd Ranger Battalion Leadership also recognized several honorary members into the battalion - individuals who have supported the Rangers.

The Rangers recognized Mark Steiner, who founded the Holtz-Cerros Scholarship, Point Du Hoc Foundation member and Ranger Spouse Melissa Miletich, the Battalion's Human Performance Coach Jeff Carol, and the Battalion's longtime Maintenance Automotive Tech Danny VanGulder.

"There's no higher honor as a commander than to recognize excellence," said battalion commander Lt. Col. Jay Bartholomees. In addition to the unit awards and honorary, Bartholomees awarded 14 Bronze Stars and dozens of Joint Service Commendation Medals for overseas service as recently as 2014.

In recent years, Ranger deployments from JBLM have involved smaller elements rather than the entire battalion, in order to meet the high demand for Special Operations troops for counterterror and counterinsurgency operations around the globe.

It's a demand that still persists.

Though the United States officially declared an end to combat operations in Afghanistan last year, for members of the special operations community, it never ended. Members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion are still deploying regularly even now.

"It's still real," Bartholomees said. "The 75th Ranger Regiment remains engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan as long as we're invited by the (Afghan) government."

Ranger veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. First Class Leroy Petry was also on hand to honor the occasion. Petry received his award for his actions during a firefight in May 2008. Badly bleeding from enemy gunfire, he continued giving orders and directing fire.

When a Taliban militant hurled a hand grenade at his team, Petry grabbed it and attempted to throw it back at the enemy. His actions saved his men, but the grenade exploded and Petry lost his right hand. Despite his injuries, Petry remained on active duty until retiring in June 2014.

In his retirement, he's kept busy traveling as a speaker and veterans advocate. He even made trip to Afghanistan early this year-this time as civilian instead of a soldier-and met with current President Ashraf Ghani.

He reflected on how both Afghanistan and the Battalion have changed over the years. Many of the young soldiers he led when he first deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 after 9/11 are now leaders of the in the battalion, while many of the new crop of Rangers are barely old enough to remember the war's beginning.

Petry mentioned chatting with Bartholomees about a mission he remembered and how he noticed that only a few soldiers from that mission still remained. "He told me ‘that mission was 12 years ago' and I said ‘don't say that, you're making me feel really old now,'" Petry joked.

During the early years of the war, Petry recalled the challenges of operating in Afghanistan's rugged mountains. "We were learning the enemy's procedures," Petry recalled "It was learning their culture still and to some degree still learning how Afghanistan worked."

Petry said that he's come to have a better appreciation for Afghanistan and has come to understand the land it's people much better. He walked away from his most recent visit and his meeting with Ghani feeling optimistic. "They're starting to stand on their own two feet," he said. "But I'd like to see us brace them for a bit longer on their walk."