Why I traveled to Afghanistan on September 11th…
One year ago today, I started my journey to Kandahar, Afghanistan. I couldn’t stop thinking about the reason why I was headed there…
What happened on September 11th remains ingrained in our memories forever. Almost the entire civilized world knows exactly where they were when they heard about the attack on the Twin Towers in New York City.
For me, I was watching TV that fateful morning at my dot.com company when the news broke in with live coverage. Ironically, my dot.com was a pro-American company that sold only American Made products. Immediately, I knew what the magnitude of this horrible disaster could mean. But, the uncertainty it created in the days, months and years that followed would cause two wars and create a new era: A pre-9/11 philosophy and a new era where we could never go back.
Little did I know then that 12 years later, on September 11th, I’d start my journey to Kandahar, Afghanistan and shoot a short documentary with “America’s Tenor,” Danny Rodriguez. Danny was the New York City “Singing Policeman” that sang God Bless America after the attacks. Danny was on Oprah, Letterman, Leno and national talk shows at the time. Obviously, he has an amazing voice!
The travel itself was a bit unnerving because of the dates. I had just finished up a press conference in Temecula, California with two, triple amputee veterans at 11am on September 11th. Then, I raced to LAX to take a 4pm, 17-hour flight to Dubai. Once in Dubai, I met up with Danny who flew in from New York. Ironically, we met in the airport because our flights landed just 40 minutes apart.
From Dubai, on Friday the 13th, we flew to Bagram, Afghanistan and then on to Kandahar. In saying that we had no idea of what to expect, would be an understatement! When we deplaned, we were told to stay in a straight line and walk briskly/run to the bomb shelter, which was the Kandahar Airport. Earlier that day, they had two rocket attacks on base. In the mist of waiting for our escorts, we were perplexed by the fact that the Kandahar airport is still run by Afghanis. We didn’t understand, nor have papers to present. We waited until our escorts arrived.
Both Danny and I were amazed that Sgt. Sharmella Andrews, a spit-fire of a young, energetic and entertaining, petite African-American woman from Texas, along with a few others, were escorting us under her M-16. When we met Sharmella, we knew this was going to be an interesting trip!
Our first stop was the Public Affairs Officer’s building which would be our home for the next several days. This building had 20’ high concrete barricades that protected our building from gunfire and/or attacks. Immediately outside this small compound was a bomb shelter. There were no signs of greenery. The taste of dust in the air was always fueled by the hot wind, which contained blowing dirt, sand and dust constantly hitting your face. I won’t get into the smell, but it was truly awful! My first thought was why anybody would want to live in these conditions.
My job was to shoot video and photos to document our trip, all of which was downloaded by CBS Evening News within three hours of me returning to New York City. Most of the footage was also used in a one hour special by New York’s CBS local station.
Having spent fourdays in Kandahar, I now have a newfound respect for every member of our U.S. military that spends more than more days there.
I had so many misconceptions as to what I thought I expected. From a lack of preparation in travel attire, to the fact that this was not a U.S. military base, I was beginning to rethink my philosophies. KAF, otherwise known as Kandahar Airfield is actually a NATO base with 47 different countries occupying and facilitating services. Also, in this war zone, alcohol was prohibited.
Both Danny Rodriguez and myself got the royal treatment regarding tours of the base, meetings with the Commanding Two Star General, a tour of the KAF hospital and multiple rides along the steel line (the 12’ fence that surrounds the base).
As stated earlier, my entire job was to document through video and photos our experience in both entertaining the troops and raising money for those that were injured due to the war. In fact, we facilitated in hosting a memorial run in the name of Off Duty Firefighter Stephen Siller who ran three miles through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Ground Zero with all his gear on. Hence, the Tunnel to Towers Run (T2T).
On the third day of our trip, we woke up at the crack of dawn to facilitate the T2T run. Over 700 military personnel from countries across the globe participated in running in Stephen’s memory. Bomb techs ran the full three miles in their bomb suits, Firefighters ran in 65 lbs of turnout-gear and even the Two Star U.S. General ran.
Some people have asked me where I got the balls to go to Afghanistan. Others have wondered why I’d risk my own safety to tell the story. I don’t really have a good answer other than the story needs to be told. As a public relations professional, I got the opportunity, so I jumped at it! Some say I now have “Street Cred,” but I’d like to think I already had that prior to going.
There is one resounding outcome of my trip to Afghanistan. That outcome is that I have more respect than ever for those men and women that put on the uniform from any branch of the United States military, deploy on our behalf to areas around the world that any sane person would never consider going, and do it for the sake of democracy and security to our nation.
I truly respect everyone that spends more than the four days I spent there!
It was irony that I left the United States on September 11th to travel to Afghanistan! As my career evolved, I have been honored and privileged to help memorialize this day through events across the country. From turning over Juan Dominguez’s “Smart Home” in Temecula, California in 2012 to being in Afghanistan on 2013, today will always be a day that I will always remember, specifically because of what happened on September 11, 2001. To help honor those that perished, as well as survived, and to ensure that we NEVER FORGET, this video was another project I shot, edited and produced: 9/11 NEVER FORGET EXHIBIT.
