Retired Army Master Sgt. Christopher Spence was on the ground in Afghanistan with the 5th Special Forces Group just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
His mission was to help the Afghan people secure their freedom from the Taliban, the ruling government there at the time which was harboring the architect of the attacks Osama bin Laden.
On Thursday, the 24th anniversary of the attacks that would be forever known simply as 9/11, Spence visited cadets at the Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro and recounted his time as a “horse soldier” in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan.
While serving in Afghanistan, he took iconic photos showing special forces also on horseback. One of those photos was later used by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to show the special forces in action. Ultimately a book and movie about the horse soldiers were produced, and a statue of one of the soldiers now overlooks the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, where the attacks brought down the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and much of the surrounding cityscape.
Spence told the Fishburne cadets of the challenges special forces faced in Afghanistan.
“For us, 9/11 brought the same memories for us as our parents when JFK was assassinated,’’ Spence said.
Nearly 3,000 Americans died on 9/11 terrorist attacks in both New York City and at the Pentagon in Northern Virginia. President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas in 1963.
Spence recalled Afghan villages with no electricity or water, riding horses late at night and living in caves for a time.
He remembers vividly riding into Afghanistan when the country was free at last from the grip of the extreme Islamist regime of the Taliban.
“Oppressed people were free again,’’ he said.
Spence’s memories include Afghanis flying kites and women free to attend school, hold jobs and public office and travel freely without men’s approval — no longer second-class citizens.
The special forces rode into the city of Mazar-e-Sharif just weeks after their arrival, taking over. Weeks later, the Taliban surrendered in other areas of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s freedom was short-lived. President Donald Trump negotiated a full withdrawal of America’s military presence in 2020, working solely with the Taliban and not the Afghan government. The withdrawal occurred under President Joe Biden, during which 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghan civilian died.
The Fishburne cadets Spence spoke to were not alive during 9/11. And while they watched videos of the attacks before Spence’s talk, he had a greater mission than just teaching them history. He wanted to offer the wisdom of his experience of a quarter-century in the military.
“Know your path. Start now and plan early,’’ he said specifically to the youngest cadets in the room.
Had he not taken the first step by joining the Army, Spence’s 25-year career would have never happened.
When asked what he would have changed, he said, “Nothing.”
Fishburne’s academic dean, Adam Siler, said Spence’s appearance offered cadets something more than the day-to-day grind of going to class and reading textbooks.
“You are meeting a guy who wore a uniform,’’ Siler told cadets. He said Spence is someone who experienced the trauma of war post-9/11. “You will see part of yourself in this person.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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