While too young to remember 9/11, new soldiers vow to help prevent another attack

U.S. Army Pfc. Jamie Udet of Myrtle Beach was born just across the river from Manhattan in New Jersey and was three years old when two hijacked planes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

On this 15th anniversary of 9/11, Udet and the vast majority of other new soldiers of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, who on Thursday graduated from basic training at Fort Jackson, have little or no first-hand recollection of the nation’s deadliest terrorist attack.

“I remember the anniversaries and talking to my mother about it when we would travel back to New Jersey and New York,” the 18-year-old said. “But it wasn’t why I joined the Army.”

The attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and the forced crash of American Airlines Flight 77 in Pennsylvania killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000 others.

In the decade following 9/11, many soldiers signed up to battle terrorists in retaliation for the attacks, much like people did in 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But to most new soldiers, 9/11 has faded into history, much like the Japanese attack that touched off American involvement in World War II.

The result of 9/11, however – namely the ensuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars that continue to this day and that the new soldiers could fight in – is as real as the most recent Facebook feed.

For Pvt. Devon Clarkson, 18, of Hopkins, who is from a military family and wants to make the Army his career, 9/11 itself wasn’t a motivation for him enlisting.

“What stays with me are the after effects,” he said “The wars that came after.”

Clarkson said part of his and other new soldiers’ motivation for joining the Army was to fight terrorists overseas, lessening the chance of attacks here.

Protecting others is also a strong motivation for Pvt. Xavier Ruffin, 17, of Bamberg.

Born in Yonkers, N.Y., he was two years old on 9/11, but he said he vaguely remembers seeing smoke rising in the distance as he rode with his grandmother in a car that was stranded in traffic after the attack.

“I didn’t join because of 9/11,” he said. “But it’s a motivation to help protect people around me.”

Ruffin on Friday flew to Fort Sill, Okla., to learn to be a crewman on an anti-missile battery.

Meanwhile, Udet was driving to Fort Eustis, Va., to become a cargo specialist.

“We’re not fighting for or because of 9/11,” Udet said. “But we would fight to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 7:54 PM with the headline "While too young to remember 9/11, new soldiers vow to help prevent another attack."