Tonight Is Heartbreaking

My thoughts are with Paris right now. This is just a mess; so many innocent people being SLAUGHTERED.

I fully understand, now, why my brother enlisted in the Marines after 9/11, and fuck, it hurts. I was three when the towers fell; I don't remember it. Don't remember much afterwards, either, but I do vaguely remember all the driving we did back then. We went to South Carolina for my brother's graduation from boot camp, we went to Virginia. Drove all the way to California, 3 days going, 4 days coming back when my brother was in San Diego at Camp Pendleton near Miramar. We spent a week there. I remember missing him when he was over in Iraq both times. I remember sending him and his buddies care packages; we sent a lot of cookies.

And we thought terrorism was a huge threat then. We rejoiced here in America, for good reasons when Osama Bin Laden was finally killed by the Seals, but did we think the threat was over?

No. It has only grown. And now there ISIS. The terrorist attacks in these recent few months have proved it, and the attacks in Paris tonight have only solidified that they are a threat.

Osama bin Laden's terrorism is what my brother and his friends were faced with when they were around 20 years old. Now, ISIS is the threat that MY friends and I face.

And I have never been so afraid of what the future will hold after this year. I have a few friends who've already been enlisted for a couple years, and now I have friends who are getting ready to enlist in less than a year. There's one who's already taken his oath; he leaves out for Parris Island in June. There's another who wants to be an army ranger. Another who's going for National Guard, infantry. I havw another friend whose going into the Navy once he turns 18 the summer after gaduation. These are my friends, best friends. My family. They've been at my for the past five years, and we have grown to be an incredible force of honor and loyalty through JROTC.

The threat of ISIS grows larger every day, more violent with every attack, and I fear what the future holds for my friends because of the danger that awaits them. When my brother was in Iraq, even though he fueled choppers, the fear of losing him didn't not really cross my mind, even through missing him over Christmas, when he was in Kuwait where it's 112 degrees in the shade

But now that I'm older, for my friends, that fear is very much present and alive.

It hurts like hell.

And people wonder why I'm so particular about Veteran's Day.

Good night, Mibba. I'll be thinking if Paris tonight.

-Breanna
November 14th, 2015 at 04:41am