11 Years

People don’t normally make a big deal out of an eleven year anniversary, but I never miss this specific one. You could argue that celebrating death is abnormal, maybe even a little sick. In this particular case, I don’t care. I’d throw a party for this one every single year.

I was in Kabul, Afghanistan on this day eleven years ago. I was in the office at about 5:30am and opened my computer to a TON of messages and emails. I remember one specifically from my mom. All it said was “Yay! You all can come home now.” I had no idea what was going on so I checked the news and saw the initial reports that Osama bin Laden had been killed the previous night. The information kept coming over the next hour or so and we did get confirmation that US Special Operations had conducted an operation in Pakistan and killed bin Laden.

My boss was one of the highest ranking people in Afghanistan and we had no idea about the operation the night before. People throw around the word "Classified” in movies and television shows, but this was as about as classified as anything I experienced throughout my career. The entire headquarters was buzzing as word began to spread and then we all sat and listened to President Obama announce what had happened.

To me, this was a seminal moment in American history. You can argue whether or not it had any impact on terrorism around the world, or specifically in Afghanistan. It doesn’t matter. It had to be done. For the American psyche, for the betterment of the world, that guy needed to die. Period. You can agree or disagree. Judge my morals. I don’t care.

So, I will continue to celebrate May 2nd as "bin Laden is dead day”. A big salute to those that researched, planned, and participated in Operation Neptune Spear to kill Osama bin Laden. You people rock.