Sgt. Michael Foss was a teenager about to take a test at Sahuaro High School when the twin towers came tumbling down.
A teacher turned on a television and it changed his life.
What Foss saw - both the tragedy and the local outpouring of love and money in response - made him determined to serve his nation. Ten years later, he's a U.S. Marine on his third deployment to Afghanistan.
"Everyone in the classroom that day was glued to the TV," Foss, now 27, recalled in a recent telephone interview from Helmand Province.
Soon after, Foss helped out with a fundraiser that raised $25,000 to send local firefighters to New York City to help at Ground Zero.
"Everyone was glad to give. It was good to see people come together like that," he said.
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"After that I made up my mind: We were going to war to make sure this doesn't happen again, and I wanted to be part of it."
Foss, then 17, went home and told his mother of his intentions, hoping she'd consent to an underage enlistment for her only child.
She couldn't bring herself to do it. "I don't want to be the one to sign your life away," he remembers her saying.
So he bided his time and left for boot camp in mid-2002, not long after his 18th birthday,
Foss' first two war tours were spent aboard an aircraft carrier as a mechanic for F-18 Hornets. Later, he retrained as an imagery analyst, assessing photos and footage gathered by satellites, drones and reconnaissance aircraft.
Both of his military jobs have kept him out of the line of fire overseas, except for a few close calls with roadside bombs during travel.
On this deployment, Foss is getting more chances to interact with the people of Afghanistan. That's given him hope some long-term good might come of the conflict, he said.
Many locals near his base seem more willing to trust in the Afghan government and in American help instead of supporting insurgents, he said. They're more likely, for example, to warn U.S troops of threats in the area.
"I've seen big changes," in attitudes, he said.
Foss's mom, Lori Hahn of Tucson, has seen changes, too.
Until her son enlisted, she didn't fully grasp the sacrifices military service entails, for troops and their loved ones.
"It's much more difficult than most people can imagine," said Hahn, a massage therapist and real estate agent.
"It's scary when your kid is out there," at war, she said.
"But I'm proud of him. How could I not be?"
Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at calaimo@azstarnet.com or at 573-4138.
"It's scary when your kid is out there (at war). But I'm proud of him. How could I not be?"
Lori Hahn, mother
