In September 2001, I had a job on campus running the gym for the 0400-0800 crowd. After I closed the gym I walked to my dorm on a quiet campus. My roommate had the TV on; he usually slept until right before class. I looked at the screen and I saw one of the Towers already smoking from what the announcer could only assume was an airplane of some sort. She was conjecturing about how such a thing could happen. Then I nearly screamed as I saw the second plane plow into the other tower.

I grew up in a family full of service members and veterans - Vietnam Infantry, Long Range Reconnaissance during Bush’s war on drugs, Naval Radio operators and Black Hawk pilots. My younger brother was in a STA platoon already. My own dad was a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne when he was wounded by a grenade in Vietnam. WWII, Vietnam, Korea, and OIF/OEF. I knew what I wanted; I also thought this war would end before I could sign up. So I decided to finish my degree before I enlisted as a Rifleman in the United States Marine Corps. Who could have known that the war would last long enough for the next generation of my family to serve in the same battlefields as myself. Ultimately, I served in Barwanah, Iraq on the banks of the Euphrates in a Mobile Assault Platoon, then again in Marjeh, Afghanistan as part of the Surge.

When I got home I realized I was ready to move on to something else. I eventually found myself working for the U.S. Army in the Corps of Engineers as a GIS Specialist. I did not know at the time that I needed to be around other veterans, but while on the job several veterans introduced me to members of the Piney Woods Service Association.

One of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ main missions is the support of America’s war fighters, even after the fight has subsided. So I have always received nothing but support from my various supervisors and managers as I volunteer my time to help make sure that PWSA and USACE have clear and swift communications.

In the 10+ years I’ve been able to volunteer with these events, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with a variety of other veterans. I’ve sat with a Korean War Navy veteran, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Brown Water Navy on a river gun boat, and I helped a OIF/OEF Marine sniper attract and harvest his first buck as we hunted from before sunrise to almost the end of legal shooting light. On one memorable hunt, I acted as a safety officer for an OIF/OEF female Marine as she helped reduce a population of wild hogs with a night vision scope near Orange, TX.

I have seen PWSA serve veterans and service members from each branch. I have seen many veterans come through this program and I can say that all of them are impacted by the experience. Some more than others, but it comes back to the reason the PWSA came into existence in the first place: they want to give back to the people who have given so much for our country. It’s not the same as crossing the LOD with your squad, but there has been a common thread amongst all of these experiences: brotherhood, service and patriotism. I was taught that mission accomplishment comes before troop welfare; it’s nice to have a new mission all about troop welfare. 

Cody Hammer

Pineywoods Regional / GIS Specialist / Fort Worth District