Today marks the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. During this time, cadets in the Army ROTC remember their actions and decisions following that tragic day.
“I walked into a U.S. Army recruitment office for an interview exactly one year to that day,” Cadet Command Sergeant Major Christopher Buys said.
“I remember sitting down at breakfast and seeing the (World Trade Center) on the news, and I was just in shock…that something like this was happening in our country. It affected (our) identity as American(s).”
After graduating high school and enlisting at a young age, Buys went on to serve overseas in Iraq where he learned skills and lessons for life.
“I spent 15 months in Iraq,” Buys said.“At 21 years old, I was a sergeant so I was in charge of at least two people. Being in the Army gave me a big responsibility at such a young age. I could point my finger on a map of Iraq and honestly say that this place is better because of the efforts we made, and I would go back in a heartbeat.”
Like Buys, other cadets who were young adults at the time of the attacks. Cadet Brenton Jumper was a freshman in high school, sitting in his algebra class when his principal issued an announcement about the World Trade Center.
“I couldn’t comprehend what was going on until I was much older,” Jumper said. “As months went on and we saw all these news reports about what was going on in the Middle East, there was a lot of tension.”
Jumper decided to enlist in the Army a few years after graduating high school when he met an Army recruiter while working at a restaurant.
“It was just by chance that I met a recruiter at work, and he asked me what I wanted to do if this happened to people I cared about,” Jumper said.
In October 2007, Jumper was shipped out to initiate his basic training. Once he finished basics, he spent two weeks at home before he was deployed for 13 months to Mosul, Iraq to battle insurgents.
“If something like this were to happen again, I would be one of the first ones over there,” Jumper said. “If anything, I can honestly say my only regret was not enlisting earlier, right when I turned 18. I have to do what I have to do to keep that from happening to people I care about. That’s what motivated me the most.”
