Motivated to fight the terrorists

When the Twin Towers collapsed and changed the country’s fate forever – it changed Sean McCabe’s too.
After three years of witnessing the aftermath of that ill-fated day when thousands of lives were lost and the country attempted to avenge the destruction by sending troops overseas – McCabe decided he wanted to join the fight.
“I kind of had enough of just sitting on my ass and decided to go in,” he said.
McCabe was a few weeks away from his 21st birthday when he decided to enter the military in mid-2004. A member of the Army’s special operations, the Howard Beach resident has been to Iraq and Afghanistan on two deployments to defend his country.
After spending months being sent to different bases around the country to train for his inevitable deployment, McCabe was headed into Baghdad in December 2005. The moment he stepped off the plane, he recalled feeling instantly displaced.
“You’re automatically aware that you’re not home,” he said.
McCabe was with Task Force 277. Made up of soldiers mostly from New York, they helped each other through the constant explosions and gunfire. They comforted each other.
“Talking to the boys, you’re constantly reminded of why you’re doing the job – it’s all about what happened downtown 10 years ago,” McCabe said.
His life was always at risk and he recalled an instance when one soldier sacrificed his life to save his. McCabe was on patrol with Dusty, who noticed a slight glint and soon realized it was a sniper aiming at them. Dusty pushed him and the other soldiers out the way and was shot.
With blood flowing and life escaping his body, McCabe remembered Dusty telling his comrades, “‘Listen I know I’m going. When I die, I want you to cremate me and put my ashes in with the gunpowder so I can keep killing these – – – until they’re dead.’”
After his deployment to Iraq, McCabe returned home to be with his family when his father lost a battle to cancer. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and continued his military duties before being able to return home.
McCabe said while he’s glad to be back, he knows that there’s always a chance that he might get called back into duty. But for now, he’s relishing the time he has here at home to reflect upon the past 10 years.
“It’s a little wild to be home for the 10th anniversary because it feels like yesterday,” he said.