9-11 bittersweet for 934th AW members

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Williams
  • 934th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Minneapolis-St. Paul IAP ARS --  "We accomplished a lot," said Master Sgt. Joseph Mohlis, crew chief, who just completed his fifth deployment to Southwest Asia. "We kept 650 convoys off the roads of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those are convoys that don't have to risk improvised explosive devices because our crews are flying supplies in aircraft." 

He, along with 147 other members of the 934th Airlift Wing returned from four months of duty in Southwest Asia on Sept. 11, the eighth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
"We can't let the terrorists own the day," Sergeant Mohlis said. "We have to take it back. If it means flying on that day just to point out that we are not going to hide in a hole, then it's a great day to fly." 

The world seemed peaceful when the day dawned on Sept. 11, 2001, but it ended in chaos. 

"I was walking through the door at work and everybody was in the break room in front of the television," recalls Senior Master Sgt. Vicky Kuntz, 934th Operations Support Flight first sergeant who just returned from her first Southwest Asia tour. "I wondered, 'What was going on?' It was then that I found out."
She volunteered for mobilization immediately afterward, but was not chosen. 

"I was ready to go," Sergeant Kuntz said. "I was disappointed that I didn't get activated. I was just not in a position where I could at that time. I tried to be. I was glad to be able to do this one, finally."
It may have taken a few years, but she finally deployed to Southwest Asia. 

"I felt proud to be able to contribute to the cause and thought it was really cool that we were coming back Sept. 11. I'll have to rank this as my top experience, especially as a first sergeant. Aside from missing my family, I would do it again in a heartbeat," she said.
Master Sgt. Quentin Will, a flight engineer with the 96th Airlift Squadron, noted the irony.
"That's the reason why we do what we do," he said, recalling the events eight years earlier. "I'm just proud to be able to serve. I am really privileged."