On that horrid day many years ago,
I sat in those uncomfortable desks as a fourth grade student
not knowing that watching those towers fall
would be the turning point of my entire life.
Less than six short months after that tragedy,
my father decided that the resolution for the guiltyness
he felt for being alive was to join in the fight
against those who tried to destroy our country.
He left my mother and I for eight and a half months
while he served in Afghanistan and upon returning,
we had to drop the lives we had and pick up a new to be with him.
Moving away from everything I had ever known
up to that point, was the hardest thing I had ever done
but I did everything I could just to be with my dad,
and would have done anything-
as long as I could live with him again.
Not long after we moved in with him,
he left again, this time for Iraq,
and understanding that there was a possibility
of him dying, made it harder to breathe
every day we didn't hear from him.
He has been injured several times, and almost lost him
a few years back to a brain injury from an airborne
training mission. Now looking back,
I can see that he joined the U.S. Army
to fight for those lives that were taken.
To free those who were innocently killed on those flights
that day, and he fought for what he though was justice.
Author notes
My dad joined the military on May 9th following the September 11th attack. I was 11 years of age and thought that he wanted just to leave my mom and me, and didn't really understand what was going on. He was in boot camp for about 3-6 months and right after graduation from boot camp got orders to go to Afghanistan for 6 months. He was overseas for 8 and a half months returning to my mother, me, and my two week old baby sister. Then we moved to Fort Bragg, NC 2 weeks befor school started, leaving family and friends behind. A year or so after moving, we got orders to move to Alaska, but his orders to Iraq canceled us moving to Alaska. He left for Iraw for 2 months, and wound up staying for 4 and a half. He was home 2 weeks before my baby brother was born. During all of this, he had torn a muscle, broke a collar bone, and torn his rotator cuff in his shoulder, which he's had 3 surgeries on and still can't move his arm directly over his head. While training at Bragg, during a jump, he got three slipped disks in his neck and the bottom part of his brain fell out of his skull. When he got surgery, there was complictaions, causing him to be paralyzed from neck down. He had to go to rehab to learn how to move again. And now he is medically discharged from the army because of that last injury of his.
This is the past 6 years of my life in a nut shell.
A contest entry
- This Contest Is In Honor Of 9/11 by Kari.
1200 points, ended October 4, 2008, 35 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
-
Bravo
I salute you and your entire family for being proud , strong & brave enough to stand up to those terrorist as othrs run & hide or make up ecuses. Great write young lady & do not let any radical ideas turn you away from what is in your heart.
-
You've been through so much to be so young. Thanks for sharing your touching story
-
Incredible story. And what a wonderful way to honor him and those he helped. Because he did help. He has helped us all. Thank you for your heartfelt touching story.
-
Wow, your family has been through a lot. You are heroes.
Adding your comment:
