What a difference 2,190 days makes

[Still being posted via Dad and Louisa.]

I, like the 300 million other Americans, can recall the exact moment when I heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was 6:44 (PST) and I was living in Spokane, WA. The phone rang and I just had that gut feeling like something was wrong. Fast forward 6 years and I am stationed at an Army base located 100km south of the where the attacks were planned and shaking hands with the Secretary of the Army.

If I hadn't explained it already, 9/11 played a major factor in my decision to join the Army. 60 years earlier, another generation had experienced an attack on a similiar scale and planning. Both were nefarious and deliberate attacks, but this time the enemy was different. During World War II, the military needed numbers. It required large amounts of people to fight another large amount of people. These soldiers needed to be intelligent, but most importantly, they needed to be able to fight. Now, the conflict calls for soldiers who need to be able to fight, but also need to be culturally and political intelligent and aware of the world politics that are involved.

The conflict we are engaged in now is one of the most broad spectrum campaigns in the history of the human race. In previous conflicts, the mentality was "kill the enemy dead". The logic was that if we kill enough of our enemies, eventually they would fold. Now, the fight requires so much more. PsyOps, Information Ops, Intelligence, Special Ops, Humanitarian Assistance. All of these are now necessary components of the fight. It's not a conventional war in the sense of tanks and guns. It's now hearts and minds.

I've gotten sidetracked a bit so let me rezero my sights. I joined in order to prevent another 9/11. I wanted to make sure that my brother and sister (and someday my children and their children) will be able to live in a world that is free of ideological thugs and terrorists. To clarify, the Taliban here are thugs and gangsters. The methods that they have used here are far from ideological. They attempt to push their influence through kidnapping, murder, theft, coercion, racketeering, drug running, and general intimidation. The Taliban that was initially destroyed was a religious movement. The Taliban that we are fighting now is a crime syndicate. They want chaos in this country so they can continue their operations here. The encouraging thing is that now, the people are not allowing it to stand. They are beginning to take efforts into their own hands and rid their areas of these criminals. There is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

Al-Qaida utilizes those same methods but on a grander scale with a different overall ideological purpose. Their goal is to create chaos and unrest in hopes of implementing a hyper-conservative 15th century interpretation of Islam. That interpretation includes opposition to any manner of modern development, banning education of women, and using brutal tactics against those who have different ideas. As an American of sound mind and able body, I cannot let that stand. I know my friends and family have wondered why I decided to join the military, when I share a different set of political ideas and opinions from that of my commander-in-chief. All I can say is that despite the differences, the job needs someone to fill it. I am able and interested. Plus, 50 years from now when my grandkids asked me about what I did in response to the attacks, I want to be able to say that I took the fight to the enemy. I tell them I stood up and did something.

As most of you know, I don’t really do much in the grand scheme of things over here. It sucks, but is a necessary evil. My next step, hopefully, will allow me to actually have some say in the manner that my enemy is defeated. The draw of that career field is so strong, I wish my deployment was over now and I could get started on it. They are able to fight the enemy on their own ground and inflict damage and confusion on an incredible scale all the while engaging and training the local populace to defend themselves once we leave. I’m not there yet, I have to start somewhere and this deployment at least gives me an insight into the bigger picture of things before I move onto something more specialized.

All grand things aside, the 9/11 attacks played a huge role in my decision, I think I have established that already. I felt the need to serve my country and the Army offered me the best opportunity to do that. Plus, they are paying off my college loans and telling me that they will pay for a Master’s Degree. And besides, what other job do you know of that allows you to jump out of aircraft at high altitudes, blow stuff up, and look so sharp and professional in a uniform that random people will thank you and pay for your dinner?

Stepping down from my soapbox, the days are getting cooler, shorter, and closer to my leave date. September 11 was indeed an interesting day for me. It gave me reason to ponder what had gone on in my life in the past 6 years and why we are here. It also gave me the opportunity to run a 5k. When religion says that God creates man in His own image, it is apparent that God is not a distance runner. Sprinter, yes. Distance runner, no. I had actually had a decent pace going and would have finished with a semi-respectable time had myself and running partner not stopped after the first lap because we thought we were done. Five minutes later we realized we were not done and started again and subsequently started to cramp up.

I imagine there were several factors at work that contributed to my less-than-stellar time. Perhaps it was the elevation. Perhaps it was the fact that I hadn’t run that much since I have been here (that’s my fault). Perhaps it was the early morning (it was 0530 local when the run started). Or perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve got legs like a throughbred Clydesdale that are designed for short sprints not extended periods.

I mentioned earlier that the Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, came to Salerno. He came to the TOC where he had an impromptu picture (yeah, right, he’s the SecArmy, nothing about this guy is impromptu). I was pulling guard shift as he left so I got to shake his hand, so that was kind of cool. It's weird. People like that travel with such large entourages and it's nothing to see a one-star general and full bird colonel with them. Also, congratulations to my aunt Patty Link for winning a seat on the Des Moines School Board. Please save the celebration until I get home so my Army induced vow of sobriety can end with a bang.

All the Way.