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Taking care not to bump his busted ankle, Pvt. Michael Waskon pushed his wheelchair up to the barbecue serving line at the United Service Organizations Warrior Center, hoping for seconds.
A week earlier, Private Waskon, 19, an M240 machine gunner with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, was injured when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Southern Afghanistan.
On Sept. 11, volunteers from U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program treated Private Waskon and dozens of other injured troops to a cookout — just a small gesture among Soldiers to commemorate Patriot Day.
While convalescing at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Private Waskon watched newscasts focused on the Sept. 11 attacks. Just 10 years old when terrorists flew passenger jets into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, Private Waskon still remembers his elementary school teacher dropping her coffee cup as news of the events flashed across his classroom television.
“Remembering 9/11 has had a big impact on me,” he said. “It hit me right in the heart. That’s why we’re fighting.”
Although Patriot Day was established in 2002, few Soldiers recognized the term. Like many Americans, the term 9/11 was enough to start conversations.
“(Sept. 11) always reminds me of when the deployments started,” said 1st Lt. Nick Dordon, from the California National Guard’s 224th Sustainment Brigade, who went to the Sinai in 2002 and twice to Iraq.
Digging into a bowl of chili, Lieutenant Dordon could almost forget the pain from an injury he sustained at Talil Air Base in Southern Iraq. He arrived at LRMC just as volunteers ignited charcoal grills.
Behind the serving line, wearing a red BOSS T-shirt, Pfc. Brian Lamson served barbecue to his comrades — many who were bandaged or in wheelchairs.
“These wounded warriors already gave their time,” Private Lamson said. “We just wanted to show them how we appreciate what they have done.”
Some Soldiers grabbed burgers and hot dogs and watched films on the USO’s flat screens. Some talked quietly with visiting family. Others shared their stories about how they were injured and wounded.
On Sept. 6, when most Americans were celebrating Labor Day, Spc. Scott Gossett was on patrol in Afghanistan’s Zabul province. Specialist Gossett, an infantryman with the Vilseck, Germany-based 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, was part of a convoy resupplying a forward operating base.
Around dawn, Specialist Gossett awaited orders to move out. The convoy, made up of Strykers and Afghan National Army pickup trucks, spent the morning rambling over hot, dusty roads. By mid-morning, they reached an area of previous attacks.
Up ahead, an ANA truck exploded. Specialist Gossett’s Stryker moved forward for security. Specialist Gossett said he began to pray.
“I said, ‘Please God, don’t let there be a secondary device,’” he said. “But there was.”
The Stryker bounced, throwing Specialist Gossett forward. Shocked into silence, he saw an injured buddy through a dusty amber glow. Then, he heard the Stryker’s alarms, swearing and screaming. His legs were broken.
He spent the entire week on his back, flying first to Kandahar, then to Bagram and onward to Germany. Staff at LRMC found Specialist Gossett a wheelchair and mentioned the Warrior Center event. His wife, Jennifer, propped his bandaged legs up with a pillow and together, they made their way to the USO. Specialist Gossett said he was glad to be sharing Sept. 11 with fellow Soldiers
“Terrorism is designed to change the way people act. If we take this day, when a great tragedy occurred, and treat it like a funeral, then the terrorists win,” he said. “If we remember it as a time when patriots came together and fought back, then we’ve already won.”
Since 1989, BOSS has strived to improve single servicemembers’ quality of life. Members take part in social, recreational and educational events, said Spc. Rob Dickinson, president of U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s BOSS program.
Planning for this event began in mid-August, said Yanir Hill, acting director of the USAG-K director of human resources. More than a dozen BOSS volunteers, plus Air Force officers and Army civilians from the KMC, took part in the event.
Staff Sgt. Phalon Nelson, an NCO from the 1st Battalion, 91st Cavalry Regiment, escorted a wounded Soldier from Afghanistan and stopped in to the USO to show his support. Like others, Sergeant Nelson thought turning a negative event like Sept. 11 and making it something positive sends a clear message to those who carried out the attacks.
“By celebrating instead of mourning, we are saying, ‘You can do this to us, but look how we have pulled together,’” he said.
For more information on the BOSS program, call 493-4344 or stop by the next event, which is a gaming competition Saturday at the Jave Cafe on Rhine Ordnance Barracks.
