Saturday, Sep. 12, 2009

Fort Jackson trained 280,000 since 9/11

‘They have grown up only knowing conflict. Their commitment and resolve are absolutely remarkable.’

Almost to the hour eight years after terrorists crashed passenger jets into the World Trade Center, 760 soldiers on Friday graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson.

Within a year, about 80 percent of the new troops will head to Afghanistan or Iraq, following the footsteps of thousands of others who have fought America’s two wars since Sept. 11, 2001.

“We’ve got folks willing to put on this uniform ... and are willing to make the necessary sacrifice in order to preserve what we treasure the most, and that’s our freedom and our way of life,” Fort Jackson commander Brig. Gen. Bradley May told a group of graduates after the morning’s ceremony at Hilton Field.

Since 9/11, an estimated 280,000 volunteers have graduated from basic training at Fort Jackson and have entered the active-duty Army, Reserve and Army National Guard. Overall, about 800,000 men and women have joined the Army since 2001.

“It’s absolutely extraordinary that these soldiers have such a desire to serve this nation,” said Lt. Col. Dan Beatty, commander of the training battalion that produced Friday’s new troops.

What’s also interesting, Beatty noted, is that a number of the soldiers were just in fourth or fifth grade when the attacks occurred.

“They have grown up only knowing conflict,” Beatty said. “Their commitment and resolve are absolutely remarkable.”

Pfc. Naswana Moon of Dillon remembers that day in 2001, which was not unlike Friday as she and the other freshly minted soldiers stood in formation beneath sunny skies with temperatures in the 70s.

The school day had just started when the teacher turned on the classroom TV to watch the live reports from New York, said Moon, 18, who plans to work in Army human resources.

“We saw the twin towers falling down,” Moon said. “I couldn’t understand it then, but as I grew up, I realized that there were people out there willing to kill themselves to harm everyone in the United States.”

Pvt. Sean Randall of Piedmont also was in fifth grade when the attacks happened.

“The teacher came in (the room) and turned on the TV, and we just spent the rest of the day watching,” said the 18-year-old, who will be a mechanic in the S.C. Army National Guard. “It was hard to believe it really happened.”

Pvt. Deborah Adams, 19, said she didn’t know about the attacks until she got home from school. That’s because the teachers in her College Station, Texas, school wanted to “have a normal school day,” Adams said.

So no one turned on the TVs and no one mentioned the attacks. “When I got home and heard about the attacks, I didn’t think it was real,” said Adams, who will be a cook.

Adams, though, said she has always wanted to join the Army. At home, she has a picture of herself at age 5 sitting in a Blackhawk helicopter. “I was ready to fly that thing.,” she said.

Joining the Army when there is a war is nothing new for her family. Adams’ father, Paul, is a retired Army master sergeant who enlisted in 1969 when the United States was fighting in Vietnam.

“I’d rather do this than be in ‘Aggieland,’” Pvt. Adams said, referring to the hometown college of Texas A&M.

At 38, Spc. Denise Jorgensen also is fulfilling a dream.

She put off an Army career to raise her son, now 16 and a sophomore in high school back home in Johnstown, Ohio.

Jorgensen, who left her civilian job as a computer programmer to pursue a similar field in the Army, married a soldier, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Jorgensen, about a year ago.

“When I got the opportunity, my husband supported me in the decision, and my son, too,” Jorgensen said.

Her husband, whom she hasn’t seen in nine months because he has been in Afghanistan, was on hand for Friday’s graduation.

“I love my country and I care for my family very much,” she said, reflecting on the 9/11 anniversary. “If I can help anybody, I’d be more than happy to.”

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.

Get The State newspaper delivered to your home. Click here to subscribe.