LOUISVILLE, Ky. — They are the elite in the U.S. Navy, the group who took out Osama Bin Laden and countless other terrorists after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 — the day terrorism became America's biggest enemy.
Aaron Reed was a 24-year-old Navy SEAL, training in Panama City, Florida, when the World Trade Center fell.
"The hair stands up on the back of your neck and you have that tingle in your arms and legs and you think, 'Wow, that's not an accident, this is war,'" Reed said.
It wasn't long after, his team was in full-scale combat.
"We knew we were in for a long battle ahead and it's been 20 years," Reed said. "I've lost friends, a lot of sacrifice."
The Shelbyville native and father of six spent two tours in Iraq, beginning with a 6-month stay in April 2003. He returned home for about a year before heading back for the second tour.
"That was during Phantom Fury Two, in Fallujah," Reed recalled. "A pretty intense time. I live by God's word. He's protected me through a lot, I can't tell you how many times, where I could've easily been killed, end of story."
That was just a chapter in a decades-long battle that sent him into enemy territory in Afghanistan not once, but twice.
"The common misconception is we were at war with Afghanistan, which was not the case," Reed said. "It's been filled with insurgents, people from Pakistan and other countries who come over the border to fight Americans."
He recalled a story once told by his Afghan interpreter about the Taliban's recruiting process, geared toward fighting-aged men in their early teens.
"[Their leaders] had one guy, a younger leader, strap up with his suicide vest," Reed said "They all talked him up and he rolled out, with all the young guys watching. He's gone for 10, 20, 30 minutes and off in the distance, they hear an explosion. They're all excited and worked up — 'he's done it, he's gone to Heaven.' And then, the phone rings and it's supposedly the guy who just blew himself up and he's telling them how great heaven is. And the next thing you know, they're all strapping up and going out there too."
Reed said it is a major contrast from the people who call Afghanistan home.
"They're, for the most part, very friendly," Reed said. "They'll do anything for you If they take you in, and you make friends with them, they'll give their life to protect you."
It's what's made the last few weeks so difficult for Reed and many of his SEAL team members, watching America withdraw its last troops, leaving behind many of those who fought at their side.
"It bothers me to no end," Reed, now a Special Operations Senior Chief, said. "You had to leave at some point, but it could've been planned a lot better. The Taliban's going door to door right now, looking for friends of the U.S., interpreters especially, and they're murdering them."
The Taliban may be in control now, but Reed still calls the last 20 years a victory.
"9/11 had to have a swift response," Reed said. "We took out Osama Bin Laden. We took out a lot of evil in this world. We have no problem doing that. The problem is back here. We've got so many armchair quarterbacks and politicians who can't make a decision. That's really the biggest detriment to us. We would've been done the first couple years, if not the first year, if we were allowed to do our job the right way. We're very efficient at what we do."
Reed says he will always be ready to serve, ready to fight, no matter where the call of duty takes him.
"When you ask me if I'll go back, absolutely," Reed said. "That's what you do. We're patriots and warriors by trade and that's what we do. If our country calls us to do that, I'm going to go."
►Contact reporter Brooke Hasch at bhasch@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Hasch) and Facebook.
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