Today, November 11 2001, is Veterans’
Day. Exactly two months ago, on
September 11, I was onboard the U.S. Navy’s oldest nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier – the USS Enterprise - as it steamed south from the Persian Gulf on its
way toward a port visit in South Africa.
We had just completed six weeks enforcing the no-fly zone over Southern
Iraq. Having endured 120-degree flight
deck-temperatures, and at the end of a six-month deployment, we were all
looking forward to some time in port and
to getting home to our families.
At 3:45
p.m. local time, we watched the first of the attacks on the World Trade Center,
and everything changed.
The Persian Gulf and the North Arabian
Sea are a long way from Idaho and a world away from the United States. They are, however, common places for the men
and women of the armed forces of this country.
Following the successful liberation of Kuwait during Operation Desert
Storm in 1991, the U.S. has maintained a strong presence in the area. Aircraft carriers routinely operate there;
Army and Air Force units are staged in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
Unlike so many Americans who witnessed the
violence in the Middle East only through TV news, we were intimately familiar
with the geography, the politics, and the potential for conflict. Like those same Americans, however, we too
were shocked and horrified by the cowardly attacks on innocent civilians. And
like the generations of American combatants who have preceded us, we tightened our
belts and prepared to fight.
Today’s
military is both different
from and similar to the military of the past in several ways. We are
smaller today: whereas 12% of the population served in the
armed forces during World War II, and 5% served during the Vietnam War,
today
we constitute only about ½ of 1%.
In
order to be effective as a smaller force, we have to be smarter: most
of our members have high school degrees,
and many have been to college, including all of our officers. We are
well-versed in technology and place
more emphasis on education than ever before.
But we also retain a link to our predecessors.
Like the soldiers who
clashed at Gettysburg,
like the sailors who endured Pearl Harbor; and like the pilots who were
shot
down over Vietnam, we know instinctively that some things are worth
fighting
for and even dying for. We know that we
man the front lines of America’s defense.
On September 11, we knew that our country had been attacked and that it
was time to respond.
My own contribution to the Air War
over Afghanistan began almost immediately.
I fly EA-6B Prowlers – carrier-based radar-jamming jet aircraft – that
are based in Whidbey Island, Washington, and deploy to aircraft carriers on
both coasts. My squadron of four
aircraft is a small part of Carrier Air Wing Eight, a composite unit that
includes squadrons of fighter-attack jets, helicopters, and radar and tanking
aircraft onboard the Enterprise.
Together we can bring approximately 75 aircraft to the most remote
corners of the Earth and, with the other ships in the battle group, we
constitute an effective and lethal fighting force unmatched by any combat unit
in the world.
On September 11, as the
entire U.S. Air Traffic Control system shut down, we turned the Enterprise
around and quickly took station in the Arabian Sea, waiting for our
tasking. We were soon joined by other
naval units: the USS Carl Vinson carrier
battle group from the West Coast; the USS Kitty Hawk from Japan; and the USS Theodore
Roosevelt from the East Coast. About
5000 officers, sailors, and marines live on each carrier. With all these ships deployed, the U.S.
presence quickly rose to tens of thousands of people.
On October 7, we began our attack
on Afghanistan. We flew long distances
both day and night to hit targets and drop humanitarian aid on the
country. I personally flew several
missions and had to evade ground fire from Taliban forces hoping to down an
American aircraft, but, like most carrier pilots, I found the most daunting
part of the mission to be the approach to the carrier at the end: a boat is a very unnatural place to
land!
We continued the attacks for the
next two weeks until we were ordered back to the United States. Having left Norfolk, Virginia on 25 April,
the Enterprise had been at sea for more than 6 ½ months – the first such
carrier to deploy for more than 180 days in the last ten years. I flew home with my squadron’s airplanes on
November 9, and the ship pulled in the following day.
This
country is currently at war, and
I don’t know when it will end. I do,
however, take great pride in the people that I have served with and that
I am
currently serving with. For the most
part, we are not the sons and daughters of the nation’s wealthy or the
nation’s
powerful.
We join for many reasons: when I left Sandpoint High School,
I wanted
to serve my country, but I also wanted to see the world. I entered the
Navy by going to the U.S. Naval
Academy, where I graduated in 1990, and I was fortunate enough to
complete
graduate degrees at Johns Hopkins University and Cambridge University in
England. From there I went to flight
school in Pensacola, Florida; Meridian, Mississippi; and Kingsville,
Texas
before joining my squadron in Washington.
My story is not particularly unusual, however. My peers and
subordinates hail from every
state and city of the country. We are
pilots, mechanics, weathermen, journalists, soldiers, sailors, and
airmen. We are black, white, Hispanic and Asian. We are Catholics,
Protestants, Jews, and
Muslims.
But most of all, we are
Americans.
Today, on Veterans Day, I think of the
cemeteries that overlook the beaches of Normandy. I think of all the brave Americans who fought
in this country’s battles, from Bunker Hill to Kabul, and I realize that I am
part of an American fighting tradition that reaches back to the country’s very
foundations.
But when I think of the
Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, I realize that the call to battle is
still very urgent and necessary. So I
encourage you, on this Veteran’s Day, to take a moment to pay tribute to the
men and women who once were or now are in uniform.
If you are interested in military service, we
would be glad to have you join us – in whatever capacity. If not, then please don’t forget those who
stand the watch around the world in defense of your freedom.
And most of all, please don’t take your
liberties for granted. As we saw on 11
September, there are plenty of people who will kill to take them away.
Lieutenant
Commander Greg Parker, U.S. Navy
Electronic
Attack Squadron 141, NAS Whidbey Island, Washington
SHS
Class of ‘85
✈✈✈✈✈✈
From the blog, Dec. 29, 2013
Another sad time in Sandpoint as the community has learned that one of its own has paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.
Capt.
David Lyon (Lissy), a 2008 graduate of the Air Force Academy and holder
of several Academy athletic records, died Dec. 27 in Kabul when an
explosive device detonated near his convoy. 
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