For area vets, ‘the mission continues’

BY DAVE SUTOR

DSUTOR@TRIBDEM.COM

Two decades ago, Paul Anderson, Josh Hauser and Matthew Paterson were in the post-9/11 United States military during the Second Gulf War in Iraq.

Now, as the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks draws near, all three men have left the service.

But they continue to support their fellow veterans, who are often still dealing with physical and mental scars from the conflict that lasted from 2003 into 2011, along with the 20-year Afghanistan War that started a month after planes flew into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Somerset County.

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Paterson is a leader with the Johnstown Generals Veteran Hockey Team and volunteers at the Cambria County War Memorial Veterans Museum.

Hauser is the president of Veteran Community Initiatives, a nonprofit that advocates for veterans in a 14-county region that includes Cambria, Somerset and Bedford.

Anderson is a mentor in Cambria County Veteran Treatment Court, a specialized program that assists veterans facing criminal charges related to mental health or substance abuse issues.

“I think it’s a great opportunity because, for me, the mission continues,” said Anderson, who spent 33 years in the Marine Corps.

“That’s kind of my motto since I retired, because when you take the uniform off, you just don’t put all of that stuff away. I’m always looking for opportunities and ways to help not only this community, but the veterans’ community.”

‘Tremendous sacrifice’

Anderson was at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Richland Township when the Al-Qaida attacks occurred, killing almost 3,000 people.

Word came from the Federal Aviation Administration in Cleveland that a hijacked plane was heading toward the Johnstown area.

“We really focused on our training,” Anderson said. “We realized that, No. 1, we had to get the Marines out of the building because if that plane was coming in, there was nothing else we could do but try and save lives. We issued weapons. We set up a security checkpoint.”

United Airlines Flight 93 eventually crashed in a reclaimed open-pit coal strip mine in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, with 40 passengers and crew members aboard, instead of reaching its likely final destination, the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

Anderson later served as a sergeant major with a C-130 transport aircraft squadron in Iraq during 2005 and 2006.

Part of his mission was to participate in Angel Flights for military personnel who died.

“That was tough,” Anderson said. “It was difficult because you’ve got those flag-draped caskets in the back of the plane and you want to get them home to their families, but you realize the tremendous sacrifice that is involved when our nation goes to war.

“You see the price. You see the cost.”

‘Part of that generation’

Hauser, also a Marine, told the story of the conflict as a war correspondent, writing articles, taking photographs and filming videos.

He also worked as a media escort for visitors, including United Service Organizations performers, and set up interviews between military personnel and news outlets in their hometowns.

“It meant a lot to me to play a role in highlighting the awesome stuff and responsibility that America puts on our men and women,” said Hauser, who did two tours from 2005 into 2007.

Before the war, Hauser was in combat training at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on 9/11.

“I got, like, slapped in a machine gun nest and I didn’t even know how to work this equipment,” Hauser said.

“They’re like, ‘We’re going to show you now. If anything gets through that gatehouse, you just start lighting it up.’ ” He joined the military only a few months earlier, at age 24, shortly after the birth of his daughter, Jenna Hauser.

“I’m so glad that I did make that choice after my daughter was born to join the military and just be a part of that generation,” Hauser said. Jenna Hauser is now in the Air Force, preparing to become a staff sergeant in a few weeks.

‘Going through missions’

Paterson was a young man, digging ditches as part of his work as an electrician assistant, wondering what he was doing with his life.

He also wanted to help other people – as he saw happen when the community rallied in “inspirational” support of the nine men trapped in 2002 in the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County.

So in late 2004, he joined the Army, which offered a sense of “adventure,” as he described it, and a way to contribute to his nation.

Paterson, a combat sniper, spent 15 months in Iraq. He lost comrades and currently deals with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The sacrifices that were made where we were at, at the time, losing friends, you don’t realize what that entails,” Paterson said.

The political and societal issues surrounding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were often complex and divisive back in the United States. But that was “thousands of miles away,” as Paterson explained.

“A lot of it is getting through the hour, getting through the minute, really,” Paterson said.

“You just take it hour by hour, minute by minute. You’re over there going through missions and doing your day-today activities. … You don’t know what the grand scheme of things is. You’re just that guy that needs to be on that corner or on that rooftop. You didn’t know about why.”

Dave Sutor is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5056. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Sutor.