Marking the 10-year anniversary of the start of the U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, many want to remember the sacrifices so many American have made so others can know freedom.

Veteran's advocate Dick Tobiason says he wants to be mindful of those Central Oregonians who paid the ultimate sacrifice by volunteering.

"We have 6 veterans from Central Oregon who have lost their lives in Iraq, guaranteeing those people the freedom of elections and democracy. Tommy Tucker from Madras, Dale Peterson from Redmond, Randy Newman from Bend, Jessica Ellis from Bend, Zachary McBride from Bend and Cody Eggleston from La Pine."

Tobiason says these folks wanted to serve; it was a volunteer service, they were not drafted, this their sacrifice should always be remembered. 

He believes that the U.S. did the right thing by getting involved in the Iraq war, because the Iraqi people needed to be liberated from a tyrant.

"What kind of a world are we, if we allow tyrants to run it. 70-million people were killed in World War II, and the same kind of thought in practice in Iraq. And what do we have 10 years later? We have a country that has no occupation by foreign military, we have a few advisors there, but it has returned to some degree of normalcy, but we have to give those people a generation, perhaps to be able to do the things they always wanted to do. They know what is going on in the free world."