At the 9/11 Memorial in New York, flowers and an American flag grace some of the panels containing the names of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Photo by Dominik Pearce on Unsplash)

By Merle Tullos

Eagle View Contributor

It began like every other day, or so it seemed. That would change in the blink of an eye, and the world as he knew it would never be the same. Greg Bodiford was a college student on Sept. 11, 2001, but he knew this was no regular day of class. You see, Greg was also an Army National Guard soldier, and he knew he would soon be called upon to defend his country. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 took only moments to unfold, but they would have effects that have spanned decades since.

“I watched the second plane hit on TV then drove to campus to see if we were still having class, just kinda in disbelief and unsure of what had just happened,” Greg remembers. “I got to class, and the professor didn’t show up, so I left and drove over to my Guard unit. Then I went home and spent the rest of the day glued to the news.” He said it wasn’t very long after that he was deployed to the Middle East for the first time. He would eventually end up in Baghdad and was also deployed to Saudi Arabia.

When I asked how 9/11 shaped his world at the time of the attacks, he simply said, “it was everything.” Those attacks shaped Greg’s entire existence during the next few years as he spent them mostly in the Middle East fighting. He tells me that he spent the first 18 months of his marriage in Iraq knowing that it would be one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Ultimately, the time apart made them stronger, Greg says, and they are still happily married today. He and his wife Jill have one daughter, Allissa, who just began her freshman year at the University of Arkansas.

It has been many years now since donning a pair of BDUs (Battle Dress Uniforms), but Greg still feels the effects of his time in the military daily at the age of 48. “I have PTSD, and I injured my knee,” he tells me. “I do think about it in some shape or form every day, I guess.” At that statement I can only nod in agreement as I personally cannot imagine the things he saw and did in service. I have heard many of his stories, most of which seem completely unreal.

Of course, 9/11 is a day I will certainly never forget. I can recall in detail the events of my day, and it makes for an interesting little story. Yes, there are ways the attacks have affected my life, but they do not compare to those who were sent to war. For those men and women, life was forever changed that day in the blink of eye. Let us never forget those who stood up in the face of terrorism and bravely defended our country during that time.

Merle Tullos is a student in the fall 2024 Media Writing class. He interviewed his friend, Greg Bodiford, for this blog post.