Dispatch from Afghanistan: Why he fights

Photo provided by Donald Wagner Wagner traveled in a Humvee on a mission in Afghanistan.

1st Lt. Donald Wagner is a 1997 Penn State journalism graduate. The former assistant editor Penn State sports magazine Blue White Illustrated, he is currently serving in Afghanistan with the 1-506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, based out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Wagner is sharing his experiences on the ground in Afghanistan in a series of dispatches for Penn State Newswire and Penn State Live. In his third installment, Wagner talks about how the events of Sept. 11, 2001, spurred him to eventually join the fight against terrorism.

For the first installment, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/34170.

For the second installment, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/34295.

Yesterday we remembered 9/11.

Seven years ago, like most of the nation, I sat in shocked silence in the front of the television in our office at Blue White Illustrated in State College watching as planes plowed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa.

At the time I had no way of knowing, but those events would start me down a road that would ultimately lead me here, to the country where the war on terror started.

In the days following 9/11, like most Americans, I was angered, shocked and saddened. I thought of all those people on those planes whose only mistake had been to schedule the wrong flight. In the coming weeks and months after 9/11 my anger turned to resolution.

I had an awesome job at the time. I was getting paid to cover college football (and Penn State football at that), but something was missing. I really started to question what I was doing. The things I was writing about just didn’t seem as important after 9/11. I felt like I was doing a disservice to my country by not volunteering during one of its lowest points.

While it took another four years for me to finally do something about those feelings, my decision to join the military was born on 9/11.

Some may say I am an idealist, but I’m O.K. with that. I believe very strongly in the things that make our country great and the things we as Americans stand for. I honestly think most Americans could use a couple of months in a place like Afghanistan to remind them how good we have it. The people here have nothing, not even a basic concept of what it truly means to be free.

I have said it before but it bears repeating, with all our great nation has given me and my family, it is the least I can do to give eight years of my life in its defense. I consider it an honor. If that’s too idealistic for some people’s tastes then so be it. I will not apologize for that.

9/11 burst the bubble most of us were living in at the time and brought our little worlds crashing to the ground. Suddenly we were faced with the stark reality that there are people in this world whose only goal is to kill us because of where we live and what we believe. Since being in Afghanistan I have seen what these same kind of people do in the name of their God and I can tell you, it is pure evil. They will kill their own countrymen, women, children and innocent bystanders, as long as it gets them closer to seeing their distorted world view come to fruition. It sickens me.

Ever since I was little my parents raised me to stand up for what I believe in, so I guess I was always destined to be here doing this. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

If you get a chance and haven’t done it already, take a moment of silence and reflect the events of seven years ago and on those whose lives were lost.

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They could play this one in the Carrier Dome parking lot and it wouldn’t matter… Penn State 63, Syracuse 10.