Terrorist attacks inspire life of service

Excerpt from a story that ran Sept. 15, 2001, in the Nevada Appeal:

Student council member Josh Groth, 17, organized a lunchtime assembly for his peers to express their feelings.

He kicked off the assembly by blaring Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" through the hallways.

"I'm personally sick and tired of us being politically correct and sitting back," he said, dressed in the national colors. "We're the United States of America. There's no reason why this should happen.

"We're not going to take it."

By Teri Vance

Appeal Staff Writer

Across the country, it was a time of conviction. Promises were made to God, country and family. Churches were filled, flags waved.

"We're not going to take it," 17-year-old Carson High student Josh Groth vowed with the idealism of youth, three days after terrorists struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

But in the ordinariness of the weeks and months that followed, most of those promises were tucked away with the tattered old flags.

Groth didn't forget his.

Two weeks after graduation, he enlisted in the National Guard. At 22, he's a specialist in the 1/221 Cavalry Regiment.

"I'm proud to be an American," he said. "I feel fortunate to have been born in this country. I love the United States and the things we were founded on, and continually strive to do are correct and right."

Groth said he remembers the terrorist attacks "like it was yesterday, literally."

As a member of student government, he had to be at school by 7 a.m. that day for leadership class.

People were talking about it, so they turned on the television.

"I watched the second tower get hit, both of them collapse, the Pentagon get hit, and the plane go down in Pennsylvania," he said. "I didn't get up from the TV until 4 o'clock that afternoon.

"I was angry, I was hurt, I was shocked. I remember crying."

The possibility of going into the military turned into a definite.

"I got really vengeful," he recalls. "That exact moment, I said I want to join the military. I want to find out who's responsible for this."

His first deployment was August 2004 until this April to Southern California, where the Guard trained some 70,000 troops headed overseas.

At first, Groth said, he was frustrated to be so far from the action.

"But, ultimately, I've gotten to the point where I want to serve in any capacity in the defense or support of the defense of the country," he said. "Every part is needed."

But he still holds out hope of being deployed overseas.

"I've tried to volunteer with every unit that's gone. It just hasn't been in the cards," he said. "We're at war right now, and I'm in the military. It's my turn."

He said his mother worries about his willingness to fight. She worries what might happen.

"There's worse things you could die for," he counters.

But Groth is more interested in using his life for service.

In December, he hopes to leave for a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"I wouldn't have anything I do without the Lord," he explained.

When Groth returns, he hopes to start flight school with the Army National Guard, flying helicopters. From there, he said, he wants to go into politics, running for state senator by the time he's 30.

"I want to get involved in any way I can to better our country," he said.

As he watches his younger brother get ready to leave for college, Groth feels a little envious at times.

"(Joining the military), I grew up a lot - especially in basic training," he said. "But I'm the man I am today because of those decisions, and I'm happy with who I am. And I still like to have a good time."

Raised in a patriotic family, earning his Eagle Scout and working with Boys State, the American Legion and Sons of the American Legion, Groth said the terrorist attacks only intensified patriotism he already felt.

He's disappointed to see that feelings that were so strong among Americans after the attacks are weakening.

"I really wish people would remember those emotions and feelings and what actually happened that day. We were struck for the first time on our own soil for the first time in more than 60 years," he said. "It was an act of war.

"To have forgotten that, and the political scramble that's happened since, is a very unfortunate thing in my eyes."

• Contact reporter Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1272.