24 years and 8 months ago I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. In truth I didn’t understand what I was doing that day. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I was just a floundering 20-year-old with no direction. So, I volunteered 6 years of my life for something I couldn’t possibly fathom.
3 years and 9 months later the USS Cole was bombed killing 17 US Sailors and injuring more. Just a little over one month later, my ship (CVN 75 USS Harry S Truman) set sail on its first ever deployment. Every port we pulled into was exciting, but also concerning. The Cole was on our mind on every port, especially in the Persian Gulf.
We cancelled a port visit to Israel due to conflicts and concerns. We crossed the Suez followed by and military jeep with a 50 cal pointed at us the whole way. We settled patrol in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch (google it). We stopped in Dubai and Bahrain. 896 combat sorties were flown. We cancelled another port visit in Bahrain. It was hot, so hot they set limits on our time in the engine room, it was miserable, it was what we were there to do.
You might think a ship the size of an Aircraft Carrier was plenty big. Spend months at a time on such a ship and you will learn just how small it really is. A city that never sleeps and requires constant manning to perform its mission. A place where rest is something you catch when you can, meals are things you are grateful when you get them, and the world outside doesn’t exist. Though the occasional letter or care package will remind you that there is a place called home somewhere on the other side of the planet that you will return to someday. Every port visit is a short reprieve which rejuvenates you and prepares you for the next stretch of time at sea. And every missed port visit is a reminder that there is an enemy that wants to do you harm.
Your shipmates become your friends, brothers, and sisters. Those who hold you up and carry your through from day to day, hour to hour. So, you all can keep the ship moving, keep it ready, keep it on task and on mission. Spend countless hours at the bottom of a ship with the same people and you will form bonds that simply are unbreakable.
We returned home in May one week shy of a full 6-month deployment. September 5th, we docked at Portsmouth shipyard. And then I took my first leave in a long time.
September 11th I was still in the first week of my leave. I woke up on the sofa of one of my oldest and best friends. His wife shook me awake. She directed my attention to the television. I asked her what movie she was watching. I don’t even remember her response. But I can still see the second plane hit. Can’t say I remember much more about that day beyond that single moment. I watched videos to get the whole picture since then, but as for me, I only remember that moment.
All air travel was immediately shut down. My command told me to stay until I could fly back (being in the shipyard there was no urgency to deploy or find alternative ways to get me back to Virginia). The time I spent at home, while good to spend time with family and friends, was overshadowed by this attack on US soil. It was a time of gratitude to be spending time with people I loved, but always somber.
I served 15 more months in the Navy on board the Truman. I saw the transformation in how the Navy operated. I saw the transformation in air travel. I saw the transformation in a nation that was enraged and ready to face the enemy that attacked us.
December 5, 2002 was my last day on active duty. I sat on the pier with a friend and fellow shipmate who was also on his last day. We watched as our ship set off on its second deployment without us. Both of us grateful to know our service was complete.
The America I returned to (one again a civilian) was not the same. We had changed in ways that are hard to describe.
For two decades we have been engaged in war because of that day. At first the news was committed to keeping us informed. But as time passed the ongoing war simply became forgotten. You didn’t talk about the middle east conflict unless you knew someone that was deployed. But just because we no longer talked about doesn’t mean it wasn’t still going on.
I’ve had decades to think about my service and the service of others. To think about what it means to send young men and women into harms way. To think about not just the what but the why. To think about the two attacks that occurred against the US on my watch. To think about the oath I swore and grow to understand that my service may be complete but my oath is not. To learn to appreciate all of those who serve in the various roles and actions. To know that all military/veterans see through a lens that you simply can’t explain to those who haven’t served. And that our call to serve is never-ending.
On May 1, 2003 (just 5 months after my enlistment ended) President Bush declared victory in Iraq. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. But the war continued both in Iraq and Afghanistan. It continued through the end of his Presidency. It continued through Obama’s Presidency. And it continued through Trump’s Presidency. Regardless of what you think of President Biden or his exit from Afghanistan, the war that started 20 years ago is now over.
I don’t know what that actually means. In one way shape or form, the US has been involved in conflicts in the middle east my entire life. I suspect that we will be threatened again and will once again send our young men and women into harm’s way (not that we aren’t continually doing so at various places around the world). History will repeat itself. It always does.
My grandmother was born on December 7th. She once told me that her birthday was never the same after Pearl Harbor. My sister is born on September 11th. She has told me the same.
I am blessed to live in America at this time. To have been born into a time and place of freedom not often seen throughout history. And while I often cringe and worry about the direction we are headed, there is still no other place or time I would want to be in. God has been gracious to me and all of us in this gift. I don’t know how long this great experiment will last. 244 years is a short time in the age of nation. But for now, we get to push forward with this grand idea that freedom is possible and to be pursued.
I’m grateful for the lifelong friends I now have because of my time in the Navy. I’m grateful for the unity we all share in the life we lived together. I’m grateful for the combined wisdom and knowledge and understand we are all able to bring to each other. And I’m grateful we all did so during a dark time when evils of unimaginable nature occurred.
20 years ago, terrorist seized control of numerous airplanes intent on flying them into symbols of our nation. Almost all of them succeeded. 3000 people died. Some of them were the brave men/women who had one goal, to save as many people as they could regardless of the risk to themselves. Some of them were those who fought the hijackers and prevented them from being fully successful in their plans at the cost of their own lives. None of them thought it was their last day on earth. It was just Tuesday morning. There is still much mystery in the 9/11 story. I’m not going to dig into the various conspiracy theories that exist (some plausible, some not). But today, I admire and honor those who gave their lives that day, when I was just a young foolish lad in the Navy.
There is now a generation that doesn’t know the world before 9/11. For them this has just always been part of history. Just as my grandmother tried to help me understand what December 7th meant to her, we should continue to teach our children not just what but why 9/11 is a day most of us can never forget. We should try to show them the world we once knew and help them to understand that we are blessed with the great gift of living in America. That to this day people around the world make great sacrifices just for the opportunity to live in the nation we have been born into. And the gifts we are blessed with are not to be taken lightly, but to be cherished, defended, fought for. That there are those who have died in defense of those ideas.
I’ve heard the question asked, “Where was God on 9/11?” Well, He has been here all along. And His Grace and goodness will continue to abound despite efforts to hate, anger, terrorize and perform so many other acts of sin and depravity. After 9/11, for a short while at least, I saw a nation united. A nation that served a cared and supported each other. May we never forget that there is great blessings in the service of our fellow man.
My prayer is that God will continue to bless America with His rich graces. That He will use our home, our nation to further spread His gospel to the nations of the world. That my children and grandchildren will not face terror, but peace and prosperity. That the dream of our founding fathers may continue for generations to come. That freedom will continue to be paramount in our nation.
May God bless us this day of remembrance.
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