**World**

9/11: An American Soldier’s Experiences and His Afghanistan Mission  

**By Nazia Nusrat Adnin**  

*Published: 11 Sep 2024, 17:10*


**My name is Cody Cockrum.** I was born in Reno, Nevada, USA, in 1984. Raised in a loving family with an older sister, I had a typical middle-class upbringing. My focus as a kid was skateboarding, dirt biking, and enjoying life. I didn’t care much about school or politics, and I wasn’t interested in world events—I just wanted to have fun. What happened elsewhere never seemed to affect me.


But that changed on September 11, 2001. I was 17, a senior in high school. I’ll never forget my father waking me up early that morning. “Get up,” he said, “We’re going to war.” I stumbled into the living room, where I saw the news on TV—the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. Then, as we watched in horror, the second plane struck. The terror was real. I went to school, but no lessons were taught that day. Instead, classrooms tuned in to the news, witnessing the Pentagon attack and the collapse of the Twin Towers. Thousands of innocent lives were lost.


Before 9/11, I never considered joining the military. After that day, though, the thought crossed my mind more and more. It wasn’t until 2007, when I was 23, that I enlisted in the Army as an Airborne Infantryman. I wanted to serve my country and fight alongside my fellow soldiers.


In March 2009, I was deployed to Afghanistan. My year there was spent conducting patrols, reconnaissance, direct action missions, and kill/capture raids. We trained the Afghan National Army and built relationships with local communities. There were also mundane tasks, like guarding and improving our outpost.


**A Cultural and Emotional Shock**  

My deployment was a complete culture shock. Growing up in a stable middle-class family, I hadn’t experienced true hardship. But Afghanistan opened my eyes to real poverty and suffering. Life there was drastically different, depending only on where you were born.


After arriving at Bagram Air Base, my unit waited for transport to our base at FOB Sharana. Eventually, we moved south to a smaller outpost in Wazah Khwah, located in Paktika Province. That’s when the reality of war truly set in.


**The Dangerous Mission to Wazah Khwah**  

Our journey to Wazah Khwah should have taken just a few days. However, the area we had to pass through was heavily controlled by the Taliban. Our convoy was leading civilian trucks, transporting supplies to the remote region.


As we entered the valley, known for Taliban activity, our lead vehicle hit an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). We tried to recover and move forward, but it wasn’t long before we hit another IED. Then another, and another. It seemed like every move we made was met with an explosion. Terror filled the air.


In the midst of the chaos, a group of civilians became impatient. They got out of their truck and started kicking a ball around to pass the time. Tragically, one of them stepped on a secondary IED. The explosion was devastating, killing him instantly. Three others were gravely injured, and despite our efforts to save them, they also succumbed to their wounds. It was one of the most horrifying moments I witnessed during my time in Afghanistan.

That mission and many others left a lasting impact on me—one that I carry to this day.read more......