The feeling had been building for some time. When he watched the news or read comments online.
American statements claiming that Denmark is a poor ally. That we might have contributed with something 20 years ago, but that it doesn’t matter now.
At first, it was a gut punch. But the criticism persisted and was also underlying the entire debate about Greenland. It simply hurt too much.
So on a work-from-home day during a break, 47-year-old Henrik Bager sat down at his computer and wrote a letter.
He is an officer at Høvelte Barracks and a veteran. Five times he has put on his uniform and gone out as a soldier on missions where he risked his life, shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers as his close allies.
»I’m not writing as a politician. Not as an analyst. I’m writing as a Danish Afghanistan and Iraq veteran. And yes – this brings tears to my eyes«, begins the letter, which he wrote as a private citizen.
It is written almost like a poem. With the clarity that only strong emotions like deep sorrow can create.
»When the U.S. calls Denmark a poor ally, it feels like a slap in the face to those of us who were actually there«, he writes.
White lilies on the coffin
When Henrik Bager first went on a mission with allied American soldiers, he was only 19 years old. It was in Bosnia. Later, at the age of 30, he went to Afghanistan, to the Helmand Province, »the most unpleasant place on earth«, as he says.
He was deployed in 2009 with Team 7. The team followed by the documentary ’Armadillo’.
»You may leave to fight for freedom and democracy. But when you’re down there in the trench or on patrol, the big ideology disappears. Then you fight for the guy next to you to come home«, says Henrik Bager, who was a squad leader.
»I found myself looking around at the others and thinking I was surrounded by some incredibly brave, skilled, and professional young guys. They were just so damn cool – and wow, I was one of them«, he says.
Since then, he has been to Iraq three times. Most recently in 2022, when he was part of the unit responsible for all movement in and out of the camp, which was part of a NATO mission involving 30 countries. He left his two children, who were 10 and 11 years old at the time.
It has been five different missions, but one thing has been common to them: Before you leave, you have to plan your funeral.
»It’s a pretty wild emotional range you go through«, he explains.
Henrik Bager had to describe his own funeral in detail. Down to the flowers on the coffin: white lilies.
And then he had to deliver farewell letters. To his parents, his sister, his nephews. To his wife and his children.
»These aren’t letters you just write. You have to go back and forth. I sat and cried because these would be the last words they heard from me if I didn’t come home«.
Not everyone came home
Three Danish soldiers lost their lives on Henrik Bager’s Team 7 in Afghanistan. 22 were wounded, he recalls.
»But we left without hesitation, even though we knew there was a price. We knew that we risked not making it or coming home in half. But we were loyal to the alliance we had agreed to in NATO. We knew we were a tiny country that would also want help if it ever affected us«, says Henrik Bager.
He explains that it is both those who lose their lives and their surviving families who pay the price.
»There were some we didn’t bring home. It’s fathers, mothers, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, and daughters who are missing. And there are children who have gotten a father or mother home with psychological consequences. They are not as they were before«.
He takes a deep breath and continues:
»Imagine losing your son in the war and now hearing that we are not a good ally. Ouch, ouch, ouch. It hurts deep inside«.
That was what he tried to write down. That feeling:
»We put on our gear. We said goodbye to our families. We kissed our children goodnight and hoped we’d see them again.
We stood side by side with American soldiers. We patrolled together. We covered each other. We bled together. And we lost people.
Danish soldiers never came home because we took the alliance seriously – not as words but as a promise between soldiers«.
And he knows that Danish soldiers would go out again if needed.
»If something happened, we wouldn’t hesitate now either. We would be at the airport in an hour and fly somewhere to help the Americans«, he says.
»When Denmark is called disloyal it doesn’t just hit a country. It hits those of us, who wore the uniform. It hits the fallen. It hits the families still paying the price«, he writes.
Along the way, he had to get coffee and make corrections. And wipe his eyes.
Mailbox shot to pieces
A bit impulsively, he decided to send the letter to the former American ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford.
Henrik Bager follows him on social media and knows that he often refers to what Danes have written to him.
»I’m not usually the type to sit behind keyboards and comment on crap«, he says.
His own letter could easily end up at the bottom of a pile, he thought. But then there was a reply.
»Wow, I had received a message from Rufus Gifford«, he says still with amazement.
They wrote back and forth, Gifford asked for permission to use the letter on his Facebook page, and Henrik Bager said yes.
Rufus Gifford writes in the post that he encourages all Americans to read Henrik Bager’s letter – and that Gifford, like Henrik Bager, got tears in his eyes when he read it.
It was Thursday evening. On Friday, likes and comments started pouring in on Rufus Gifford’s post. At the time of writing, the post has received 34,000 likes, nearly 1,000 comments, and over 4,000 shares.
Henrik Bager also heard from colleagues and former deployed soldiers. He had hit exactly the feeling they were sitting with.
»My mailbox was shot to pieces«, he says.
What he hopes the letter can lead to, he doesn’t know.
»I haven’t thought that far. I hadn’t even thought I would be talking to you now«, he says.
He can see that Americans are also reading along. Also American veterans who understand what he writes.
»It could have been any of us who wore that uniform who had written it. But now it was me«, he says modestly.
»We are a quiet people. We are quite silent and prefer to go under the radar. We don’t want flags on the table, thanks, or to be made heroes. We just want mutual respect. Those of us who know that there is a price to be part of such an agreement between countries, and who know that we keep our part of the promise«.
Henrik Bager concludes: »A soldier never forgets who stood by his side. Nations shouldn’t either«.
Now it has been said.
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