CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

“Why I Serve”

“I, Ernest Chainey, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Oath of Enlistment

September 11, 2001 I remember what I was doing that morning; do you? I was up getting ready to head out for PT, the TV was on and the news broke in saying that one of the Twin Towers was hit, by a jet.  I said to myself ”that dude must have been flying drunk or on drugs”. Not giving it another though I went off to PT.  When I arrived to the company the accident was all we were talking about (At this point everyone though that what it was). But some members of my company were calling it an attack from the start. After PT I came home to find my wife sitting in front of the TV, she looked up at me and said “The other tower was hit by another plane”.  I sat next to her “I think we have been attacked”

We all know how the rest of this tragedy went on with the news, newspapers, and the conspiracy theories. But if there were two things I did noticed in the months and years that followed 9/11. First; how resilient the American people are, and second; how fast American people forget.  I was angry, sadden, and sickened that human being could have such hatred, and malice to do what they did. But little did I know I was to come face to face with that demon. And that demon would follow me the rest of my life.

After that day the reasons why I serve changed, it was just not for my friends, and family but for all American families. For those people who lost their life and the loved ones left behind in that attack, that cowardly attack. They didn’t care who was in the towers, men, women, or children.  Didn’t care what religion they were Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, It didn’t matter the color of there skin; thousands of innocent people lost their lives, that day. I remember having this knot in my stomach every time I saw the jets hitting the towers, and when they came down. I still do to this day, and we should never never ever forget that, but people do.

I remembered all the people in our housing area got together that night to have a candle light vigil and pray for the people that lost their lives. We were all standing there and my daughter Lauren 7 at the time asked if she could sing a song, we said yes and she sang God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood, there was not a dry eye anywhere, with in the sound of her little voice.  And as normal Life went on for me; I was assigned to Camp Casey Korea for a year, and my next assigned to Fort Hood, TX where I would do 3 tours in Iraq, and my life was too changed forever.