I remember being in the canteen having breakfast with friends at Perry Point Veterans Administration Medical Center September 11, 2001. The Medical Center was an old hospital with tunnels leading to various wards. The beautiful Chesapeake Bay surrounded the hospital. Friends and I meet regularly for social visits and experience many deep conversations. During one of our casual conversations with friends eating breakfast an unimaginable harrow and shock hit us as we watched two aircraft plummeting into the two twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, New York City. At first, we denied that such could not be accurate. We came to our senses quickly as the News verified that America was under attack.
Immediately, we rush in different directions. I ran to my mental health patients suffering from PTSD and polysubstance abuse. They were speechless, and some entered the world of their flashbacks of the Vietnam War. Others imagined the medical center being under attack. The shock wave exhausted the Medical Center staff with concern after another plane hit the Pentagon and one crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The anticipation expected other attacks would happen until all aircraft were grounded. The hospital police heightened security and checked all identification cards of all who entered the grounds. Other patients felt the onrush of combat. Some even stayed hunkered down for a secondary attack. Living in the circle of New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., many panicked. Most calmed down after the FAA verified that they had grounded all aircraft in America at 9:45 a.m. Many remained angry and grieving, not knowing if their family and friends were safe in the areas of attack. The enemy created indescribable horror on this day of the attack on our American soil.
I could hear war drums as my Senator sang “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps in union with the Senators and Congress. Democracy was under attack, and most political biases disappeared as no one attacked America without severe consequences. War began to brew. My friend received orders straightway in early 2002 to report to his Military Police Battalion at Fort Meade, Maryland, between Washington D.C. and Baltimore. He spent nearly a year providing ministry at Fort Meade, guarding the National Security Agency.
Many units began to prepare for war. An engineering battalion targeted me for deployment. My friend, who was serving at Fort Meade with the Military Police, approached me about the unit deploying to Iraq in 2003. He told me his church would fire him if he deployed a back-to-back tour. I told him that I do not believe the exemption exists in churches from the Uniform Services Employment Act for serving your country in times of war. A church cannot legally fire you in a time of war. He said Rhett, I do not want to go to war and lose another year with my church. You know churches can fire you for any reason. I agreed and asked him to take me to your commander and see if he would let me take your reserve slot for war. The commander and I spoke at length. The mission sounded more exciting than the Engineering Battalion. The Military Police commander and I fit well together. I accepted my friend’s slot and trained with the unit until our latest arrival date to land in a combat zone. I was excited about Detainee operations. In In 2003, when were certified, fully trained, and ready for combat we boarded a Bowing 777 to Iraq as our final destination.
