I am not ashamed to say that this hit me hard. This day definitely changed the course of my life, for better and for worse.
I have always believed in providence.
In the fall of 2002, my senior year of college, I felt the call. I came home from work one night and watched a show about an infantry unit fighting in Afghanistan. I asked myself that question that every young man asks.
What kind of man am I to become?.
The very next morning a recruiter cold called me and asked if I ever considered joining the Army. I said yes, just last night as matter of fact. He replied "I'll be there in 15 minutes." I aced the test and he said that I could do any job in the Army. My reply was "what's the hardest thing that you've got?" He said Special Forces, and having no idea what that really meant, I signed.
I had no idea what I was getting into, only that I would never quit on myself.
JFK gave us the Green Beret. His words rang true for me then and they need to be the clarion call for a new generation. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
Providence guided me in battle, God protected me, but I couldnt recogonize it. To many times I have uttered the words, "it should have been me", but it wasn't. I thought I knew better though. I thought I could rely on my own strength, my own will. After my friend and personal hero Dave Textor was killed on a filthy street in Mosul, the chaplain came to me and asked if I needed help. I remember thinking, how could you ever help me?
I cannot tell you how wrong and arrogant I was.
We get to wake up every day and choose the world that we will create, the kind of world in which we want to live, to raise our families. Choose wisely.
Almost 3 years of combat broke me. Broke my family. By the grace of God, I've changed, I've healed. I now only seek redemption in my families eyes and forgiveness from God for the pain that I brought into this world.
St. Michael the archangel defend us in battle.
25 years ago today, America's resolve was tested. Nearly 3,000 lives lost. A generation answered, "Send me." On this anniversary, we choose to remember what 9/11 taught us, not just what happened.
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