The Global War on Terror stretched at least from 2001 to the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, a twenty-year span that overlapped with more than one generation of soldiers, and still impacts the service of many of the younger troops who still serve today.
"I was in first-period science class. Someone walked in and told the teacher to turn on the television news. We saw the aftermath of the first plane that struck the north tower," said Army Reservist Jason Stoterau. He was 13 years old at the time. "We saw smoke billowing out of the tower. The teacher was more shocked than anyone else because the teacher understood the severity and gravity of the attack more than we did."
Like the rest of the country, he followed along with subsequent events that day as they unfolded, from the towers collapsing to the attack on the Pentagon.
"We planted flags at the city’s Veterans memorial and went back to school. There was a sense of heightened patriotism across the country that bled into the towns and cities," Stoterau explained. "Before planting the flags at the Veterans memorial, I never had any exposure to the military other than playing Soldier. It was my first real awareness of what veterans and military service members were doing for our country."
He continued high school and then college as the Global War on Terror unfolded, but he always had a feeling that he should be joining the armed service. When his uncle re-enlisted in the Navy after a 14-year service break, he knew his time had also come.
In 2020, he commissioned as a field artillery officer and served in the 82nd Airborne Division. Today, he serves as an operations staff officer in the 85th U.S. Army Reserve Support Command.
"If 9/11 never happened and we didn’t go to Afghanistan or Iraq, I don’t think I would have joined the Army. 9/11 planted the seed in me wanting to serve in the military, but it took a lot of water for the seed to grow," Stoterau said, reflecting back on the experience. "If you don’t take care of a seedlin,g it won’t blossom into a tree."