When the planes hit the dual towers on September 11, 2001, Tyler Vargas-Andrews was simply three years outdated.
He couldn’t have recognized it then, however the occasions of that day and the following decades-long struggle which adopted would form his life in profound and lasting methods — way over the typical American and even most veterans.
Vargas-Andrews, 27, was a 23-year-old U.S. Marine sergeant when he turned one of many final U.S. casualties of the almost 20 yr struggle in Afghanistan. And on Thursday, he was honored by Massachusetts Fallen Heroes with their 2025 Daniel H. Petithory Award, named for the primary soldier from the Bay State to die throughout the struggle.
The primary and the final
Sgt. 1st Class Petithory was killed by pleasant fireplace in early December of 2001, and was among the many very first casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom. The bomb that took Petithory and two different U.S. service members additionally injured the long run President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.
On the time, Vargas Andrews was a toddler and too younger to know his nation was at struggle.
Though he didn’t come from a army household, Vargas-Andrews stated that he knew he wished to serve his nation from a younger age. He went to Vanden Excessive Faculty, a Fairfield, California, a district additionally attended by the kids of service members stationed at close by Travis Air Pressure Base, till the tenth grade.
It was there, he informed the Herald, that he noticed what service meant, with “one if not both” of his pals’ dad and mom deployed repeatedly because the International Battle on Terror entered a second decade.
With the battle constructing via his complete childhood, the need to serve ultimately turned inconceivable to disregard.
“I chose a path where I could do the most good for others — I felt called to serve — and I’m grateful to say I did it,” he stated.
He enlisted within the Marine Corps in August of 2017 and ultimately was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, often called “the Professionals.” He was a rifleman, like all Marines, but in addition a sniper.
Based on Congressional information describing his service, he was a “professionally instructed gunmen and radio operator for his sniper team.” Based on Vargas-Andrews, he spent his enlistment doing what all Marines attempt to do in “chasing the legacy of those who came before us.”
It was “almost four years to the day” after his enlistment, he informed the Herald, when he was assigned the duty of serving to to evacuate U.S. personnel, property, and allies from Afghanistan at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport, named for the now-former President injured almost 20 years earlier on the day Petithory died.
Data present he and his crew “aided in the evacuation and processing of over 200 United States Nationals at Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan and were the primary Ground Reconnaissance and Observation asset throughout Evacuation Operations at Abbey Gate.”
Because the evacuation was underway on August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber detonated explosives exterior the Abbey Gate. Vargas-Andrews was among the many dozens of U.S. troops caught within the blast, which claimed the lives of 13 service members and not less than 169 Afghan civilians.
Vargas-Andrews was severely injured. He misplaced his proper arm and left leg, and wanted 49 surgical procedures. He spent months in restoration at Walter Reed Nationwide Navy Medical Heart.
He wasn’t achieved there, although.
Vargas-Andrews has spent the time since he was medically retired from army service trying to assist his fellow veterans study to dwell with their very own wounds, and heal the place they’ll. He’s testified earlier than Congress, change into a health advocate, and has run in marathons throughout the nation.
Coming full circle
Selecting Vargas-Andrews to obtain the Daniel H. Petithory Award this yr, based on Dan Magoon, the manager director at Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, was a “no-brainer.”
“Tyler is an amazing, resilient warrior,” Magoon informed the Herald. Vargas-Andrews, Magoon stated, has devoted his life post-service to his “brother and sister veterans and gold-star families.”
“And he’s used his experience and the tragedy that he lived through to share that message of resiliency. He has a motto: ‘you are never a victim.’ The way he carries himself and does more for others makes him — not only an exceptional Marine — but an unbelievable human being,” he stated.
Vargas-Andrews, in talking with the Herald forward of Thursday’s award presentation, was remarkably constructive contemplating his tragic circumstances. It’s not at all times simple, he defined when requested how he manages to maintain his spirits up, however persevering with to serve helps an incredible deal.
“I owe it to my friends who died to try to be happy and live a good life,” he stated. “The Marine Corps has shaped me into the man that I am today and it’s given me the people I love most in my life.”
