“We were doing some training on radios, on how to approach close quarters combat, and learning to send blueprints via radio equipment,” remembers Brown, now a student at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden.
But there wasn’t anything routine about that day. It was Sept. 11, 2001, a day that would change the lives of those members of Navy SEAL Team 8 as it would thousands of American people all over the country.
Brown says the training was interrupted when he and the other members of his platoon were ordered to return to their platoon huts on the compound.
“We were watching the attacks on TV,” he says. “At first, no one was sure if it was a terrorist attack. Then, it became evident that it was. There was no doubt after that plane hit the south tower.”
Brown, a Mount Laurel resident who spent eight years in the Navy and five on the SEAL team, says he knew he would be pressed into action while he watched the World Trade Center towers crumble on television.
“Watching the attacks that day, we knew what it meant for us,” he says. “It wasn’t just going to end with watching what was on TV.”
While Brown was going through his SEAL training, another current Rutgers–Camden student was considering the effect the Sept. 11 attacks would have on his decision to join the military.
“It made my decision to join the military much more difficult,” says Bryan Adams, a Palmyra resident and Palmy
“Joining the Army Infantry in a time of war was a choice that weighed heavily on my conscious,” he says. “I understood that there were risks, however, I felt that I wanted to do something greater with my life. I wanted to continue the tradition of military service in my family and push myself as an individual. I chose to dedicate myself to a life of service to our country.”
Adams, a marketing major at the Rutgers School of Business–Camden, served in the Army from 2002-05. A Purple Heart recipient, he was wounded in combat on Oct. 21, 2004 when he was ambushed and shot in his left leg and his left hand.
“This event galvanized a generation of soldiers,” Adams says. “The attacks on 9/11 were a wakeup call for our country.”
Brown was deployed overseas three different times.
“It had a tremendous impact on me and my family because for the next several years, I wasn’t home,” he explains. “On one hand, I felt privileged that my country would ask me to defend our country, but on the other hand, I was scared. I was scared for my well-being and for how it would all affect my family.”
Brown and Adams are both members of Rutgers–Camden’s student-led Veterans for Education group, which is dedicated to help veterans transition to academic life and is an advocate for veterans’ rights.
Approximately 200 veterans are currently enrolled at Rutgers–Camden, and many more alumni served in the armed forces before continuing their education at Rutgers–Camden.
As we reach the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Brown and Adams want Americans to continue to remember that nearly 3,000 lives were lost that day.
“Right after 9/11, we came together as a country,” Brown says. “There was a tremendous sense of pride in our nation and I don’t want people to forget that. We’ve endured through this traumatic experience, and it’s OK that we’ve been able to move on and enjoy life. But every time the anniversary comes up, it serves as a little reminder and we should never forget.”
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Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse
(856) 225-6759
E-mail: ejmoor@camden.rutgers.edu