I remember it like it was yesterday - the day when the planes hit the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. I enlisted in the military in October of 2001, just one month later, and began basic training in February 2002 in the United States Army - Airborne division. Stationed in Fort Richardson, Anchorage, AK, I was deployed twice. My first deployment was to a small Italian Forward Operating Base Salerno in the south eastern province of Khost, Afghanistan. I can still remember the whistling sound and the subsequent boom of the rockets that would come in from the mountains, which happened often and in the middle of the night. A six month stay quickly became ten months. After returning from Afghanistan, I was promoted and moved to 172nd Stryker Brigade, where I became a Team Leader. My second tour was about a year later in 2005 to Iraq and lasted about 16 months. Starting in Mosul, we worked with other government agencies, as well as patrol missions. We were tasked with helping to rebuild the communities we were staged in, and often came across individuals and families in need of dire assistance.
Seeing the things I've seen, experiencing those moments, quickly made me realize how fortunate we are as Americans. We are lucky to live in a country where although expensive, we can generally find and receive necessary medical aid. We have the freedom to choose where we go and when. We retain the right as human beings to speak up and protest without fear of repercussion. Many individuals in our world do not have such basic freedoms as we possess in the United States of America. We should not forget those who have and continue to sacrifice for the freedom of all American citizens (and many others across the world). Soldiers, police, firefighters, nurses, doctors…we are eternally grateful to all people that provide a service for our country to keep it free and safe from evil. I was one of the lucky ones to make it home safe in March 2007. I have been and will continue to use my experiences to better my life, my family’s life, and the lives of those around me. I will never forget.