Twenty-five years ago, the air changed
Twenty-five years ago this morning, like most Americans, I watched the towers fall and knew the world had changed. I didn't yet understand how much.
That morning set a generation in motion.
Young men and women raised their right hands. Reservists like me eventually received orders. For the next two decades, an entire generation of service members deployed in answer to what happened that day.
But our generation's toxic exposure story didn't begin overseas. It began in Lower Manhattan. Firefighters, police officers, construction crews, and the families who lived and worked nearby breathed the dust from the collapsed towers.
They were told the air was safe, and many of them got sick. Today, more members of the New York City Fire Department have died from World Trade Center–related illness than the 343 who were lost on September 11 itself.
A few years later, the same story found us. In Balad, Iraq, I lived and worked beside a burn pit that burned day and night. I came home sick, and like thousands of veterans who later shared their stories with Burn Pits 360, I spent years fighting to be believed. Different place, same pattern: toxic air, and a long wait for anyone to listen.
One of the first people to show us that pattern could be broken is my friend John Feal. John is an Army veteran who was working as a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero when he was gravely injured during the recovery. He watched his fellow responders fall ill and turned his own pain into a fight for them, leading the push for the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.
When veterans exposed to burn pits needed that same fight for the PACT Act, John, NYC Firefighter Joe McKay and Jon Stewart stood with us.
I'm honored to share that John will be with us on October 17 at the Gala of Valor in San Antonio, where we'll recognize him for everything he has done for responders and veterans alike. Every attendee will receive a copy of his book, I Will Follow You Anywhere.
Today, please take a moment to remember the lives lost that morning and the ones we have continued to lose since. If you served, if you responded, or if you love someone who did, please know you are not alone. That has been our promise from the beginning, and it still is.
With gratitude and resolve,
Co-Founder, Burn Pits 360
Texas Highway Patrol
Governance Board Member
U.S. Army Reserve (Ret.)
P.S. If you'd like to be in the room when we honor John, tickets are $300 at galaofvalor.org until Sept. 30. Or you can buy a seat and give a veteran a night out.
If you or a veteran you love is struggling, the Veterans Crisis Line is available 24/7: dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.
