Never Forget (As If I Could)

      That morning. The sun was out, shining over the harbor. Planes were taking off from Logan and passing over Boston’s North End. I donned my blue uniform, as I had done all those years, not knowing what was set to happen later that day. While working in Aux I of a 270’ cutter, one of my shipmates had lowered down the watertight hatch, dogging all the corners, the change in atmospheric pressure danced upon my eardrums. Wondering what was happening, I opened the center of the hatch, poking my head through. I walked out to the messdeck, where there was an image, one of which I will never forget, playing on the television. The whole ship seemed silent, without the usual banter between shipmates. 

      My crew was ordered to return to our shop on base where many had tried to call family members, only to find the cell phone towers were overwhelmed. The look upon the faces of those who surrounded me was one of disbelief. There wasn’t anything that covered this in our Bluejacket manual. On the walk back to our shop, I decided I would tell my chief that if they needed anyone, to please send me. I didn’t care where, when or for how long, I wanted to go. Knowing that one of the planes had flown right over our base seemed to irk and rile me, fueling my desire to do something.

      The next day I was in New York. There was still an enormous amount of confusion as to what happened, who was responsible and what needed to be done. We had a makeshift base set up, the Red Cross was dispatched to provide food (in addition to tasty MRE packs) and we had brought our portable tool shop. We were ready…for what, we didn’t know, but we were ready.

      What followed was a month of long nights, seeing things that I didn’t want to see and a massive intake of alcohol to numb the feelings. That event changed our lives. When I was stationed on the East Coast, I would make a trip to NY for each anniversary. When I transferred, I would still watch the coverage on television, however, a couple years ago I found myself getting mad and crying, so I stopped watching. 

Instead of watching, I plan on doing. 

      Later on this month, I am participating in a Tough Mudder (http://toughmudder.com), an event I have been training for over the course of the past year. Proceeds from the event go towards an awesome cause that brings tears to my eyes…The Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org). I also have completed my BS degree and have started on my MS in Counseling so I can continue to help those who have been affected by some of the events that also affect myself. 

My cause, my mission, my passion…