TERRE HAUTE —
On the wall of his office inside the Myers Technology Building, Chris Pfaff pointed to a map of Afghanistan, a place about as different from the Indiana State University campus as one can imagine.
Pfaff has served as director of the ISU Center for Business Support and Economic Innovation since May 2007, but his career as a soldier dates back to his freshman year at Indiana University.
“I’d certainly do it all over again,” he said of his 25 years in uniform. The service, which began with military education classes at IU, morphed into an enlistment in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and subsequent active duty in both the Army National Guard and the U.S. Army, as well as a recent deployment to Afghanistan.
Still, the military wasn’t something he really thought of as a career when a youth, but Pfaff said he’s glad he got involved, noting that ever since getting a taste for it, it’s been hard to give up.
And the citizen-soldier remembers where he was Sept. 11, 2001.
Pfaff was back to working a full-time civilian job at that point in his life, although he’d recently rejoined the National Guard in 2000. But that Tuesday morning he was working for the State of Indiana in the field of business development, and was calling on a client in Terre Haute. While driving to the appointment, he heard mention on the radio of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center, but it seemed an off-handed remark and he recalled thinking it was probably just a small passenger plane or fluke.
After finishing the meeting, he decided to swing by his house to pick something up and happened to turn on his television. The picture on the screen showed only one of the two Twin Towers and he recalled thinking the camera angle must have been off a bit. Slowly it began to dawn on him that one of the towers was gone, and he realized he was watching coverage of their fall. For the next half hour, he was “glued” to the television set, he said.
Pfaff first entered the service in 1986 as a freshman at IU, enrolling in the Simultaneous Member Program through ROTC.
The IU program was pretty open, he recalled, explaining anyone could take classes in military science with little commitment required. One didn’t have to join ROTC or the SMP, he said. The experience allowed students to learn about the service and make an informed decision about it as a potential career. The opportunity to earn tuition assistance was also a big plus, and because he liked the classes, he followed the path.
In 1988, Pfaff was commissioned a second lieutenant in the National Guard and went active duty in 1990, going into the U.S. Army as an artillery officer. His first assignment was in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, where he said he had a good experience learning the skills needed to be an officer. He next moved to Fort Sill, Okla., where he trained other soldiers in the science of artillery. His last active-duty assignment was in Germany.
And even though Pfaff remained signed up in the Individual Ready Reserves, he recalled missing the military in the years after his discharge. He decided to rejoin the National Guard in 2000, switching from artillery to the Adjunct General’s office in public affairs to better reflect his civilian job in business development.
A year later, the nation was at war.
By 2003, Pfaff was in charge of public affairs for Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, a training base that in the years between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq had become a major mobilization and demobilization site for troops. That experience, he said, was a real “trial by fire,” in regard to handling the press, as major outlets ranging from FOX News to The Wall Street Journal came by every day. His primary job as a public affairs officer was to tell the Army’s story, he said, and there was a lot to tell as Hoosier troops deployed to the desert each day.
And in fall 2008, it was Pfaff’s turn to be deployed, and he joined a 16-soldier team in northern Afghanistan. The one-year deployment included nine months in-country in the area around Mazar-e Sharif, a northern city close to the border of Uzbekistan and surrounded by the Hindu-Kush mountains. There, Pfaff and others helped train Afghan soldiers and police and he became a J1 in charge of personnel, eventually serving as chief of staff over American forces in that region.
The pace of those days was “grueling,” he remembers, noting work was done seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours each day. There are no safe places in Afghanistan, he said, sorting through photographs of the small towns and huts beneath the mountains. Included in the photo collection were pictures of memorials established there to fellow soldiers who died in that deployment.
While away, his wife was essentially a single parent, he said, describing a hectic schedule with four children then ages 5 through 13.
“It was certainly demanding on the family, and that’s never very easy,” Pfaff said.
But his support group back home was strong, and Pfaff returned to a good job and stable family, he said. A lot of returning troops have neither, he said.
The experience of coming back to America from a combat zone was a bit “surreal,” Pfaff said, contrasting the stark differences between the towns of northern Afghanistan and the cities here at home. In some ways, it was hard to notice that America was even at war, he said.
Now a lieutenant colonel, Pfaff said his expected retirement date is 2016, but he’d like a few more years nonetheless.
“I’m not done yet,” he said. “I think I have some value to add over the years.”
Presently, Pfaff serves as a director in the 38th Sustainment Brigade as part of the 138 Adjunct General Theater Gateway R5. If redeployed, as he suspects he might be, he will manage the flow of troops and contractors coming in and out of the Manas airbase.
For young people considering the service as a career, or even just a part-time job, Pfaff advises them to do some research first.
“It’s not for everyone, but it’s certainly something a young person considering it should research first,” he said.
The opportunity to pay for a college education while seeing the world is always a plus.
Between the five services and reserve units therein, there is a job for everyone, he said.
9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
WHY I SERVE: The soldier
- 9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage
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Delores Ann Day
Delores Ann Day, 77, of Terre Haute, passed away at 2:10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Union Hospital.
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Wabash Valley lights the night in memory of those lost to terrorism
As the sun set and skies turned pink Sunday, about 30 people worked to light 9,200 tea candles at the Fairbanks Park Chauncey Rose Memorial.
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‘September Souls’ a 9/11 story told one piece at a time
Amid the mourning, artwork was born.
The resulting quilt, “September Souls,” will be on display in Indiana State University’s Cunningham Memorial Library through October, along with a short video about its creator, the late Rosemary England. -
Terre Haute South site of 9/11 ceremony to ‘remember the fallen’
The morning was clear, warm and comfortable, not unlike 10 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers on suicide missions murdered nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
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Donors remember times of need as they let the ‘red’ flow
The music floating about Fairbanks Park was serene, but inside the air-conditioned RV nearby, the blood was pumping.
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Service honors those who boldly leap into the face of danger
Religious services around the Wabash Valley marked the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, including a special service honoring America’s emergency responders Sunday at Good Shepherd Baptist Church on the south side of Terre Haute.
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ISU ensembles honor memory of 9/11
Vocal and instrumental music blended with visual images as Indiana State University student performers joined Sunday in songs of reflection and hope in memory of 9/11.
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EDITORIAL: Inspired by resilience in our post-9/11 world
The places directly linked to 9/11 can seem so distant from our own surroundings here in the Wabash Valley.
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True heroism: Flight 93 rewrote conclusion to plot by 9/11 terrorists (see VIDEO)
Walking in the Shadows of 9/11
Last of a three-part series
The place — chosen by fate — holds a powerful silence. -
MARK BENNETT: Value of every minute deeply realized on 9/11 (related VIDEO)
Editor’s Note
This summer, the Tribune-Star’s Mark Bennett visited New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., sites where the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now memorialized. He observed the cityscapes and landscapes forever changed by the events of that day and talked with people he encountered there, many of whom witnessed the attacks and their aftermath from close range and had personal ties to its victims. -
Three sites ... a shared goal: Travelers will experience 3 distinct environments at 9/11 memorials
A national sense of tragedy provides a common, connecting thread to these three places.
A broad plot by al-Qaida terrorists sent hijacked commercial airlines crashing into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a remote field near Shanksville, Pa., on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. A decade later, most Americans old enough to vote know the basic story and remember where they were on 9/11. -
Pilot recalls escorting Air Force One on 9/11
Piloting his F-16 fighter jet on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, then-Lt. Col. Chris Colbert of the Terre Haute-based 181st Fighter Wing, could see that the shimmering object in the distance was a very, very large aircraft.
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Volunteers turn out for 9/11 Day of Service
Building handicapped ramps, pulling weeds along a city park trail and assembling packages for U.S. military personnel were all part of a 9/11 Day of Service on Saturday organized by Terre Haute Ministries.
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Pentagon Memorial pays tribute to 184 lives lost in 9/11 attack on Washington (related VIDEO)
Walking in the Shadows of 9/11
Second of a three-part series
The latch clicked loudly, and Lt. Col. Robert L. Ditchey pushed open a door inside Corridor 4 of the Pentagon.
He entered an area that resembles an urban alley, but with a roof.
“This is where the final pieces of the aircraft had crashed through,” explained Ditchey, Pentagon press officer for the Department of Defense. -
Sept. 11, 2001 — A date seared into the minds of Americans
There are events so important in our lives that we remember every detail. Sometimes, these are personal celebrations such as weddings, births and graduations. But other events, sudden and tragic on a national scale, such as the brutal terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11, become defining moments for a generation.
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B.J. RILEY: Quieting the roar of the presses …
There are memories branded forever in our minds. They are as clear as if they occurred just yesterday. I will never forget that Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, or the days that followed …
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A CHANGED NATION: After 9/11, air travel, privacy, security all took on new rules
A lot has changed in the decade since passenger planes were used as missiles to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and to damage the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
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9/11 Day of Service in Valley: Consolidated 5th-graders swept away with helping others
After the 9/11 tragedy, many saw a spirit of unity emerging across the country as Americans pulled together and helped each other during a dark time in U.S. history.
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WHY I SERVE: The soldier
On the wall of his office inside the Myers Technology Building, Chris Pfaff pointed to a map of Afghanistan, a place about as different from the Indiana State University campus as one can imagine.
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'ALMOST SURREAL': A decade later, two men who witnessed the attacks look back
The underground Metro train shook noticeably.
Something had happened. William Hanna, a retired U.S. Army colonel living in Virginia, was on board the Metro and could feel the shock. -
WHY I SERVE: The firefighter
Big red trucks and blaring sirens always held a special appeal for Jason Kame.
“I always wanted to be a fireman. I was one of those kids that always knew what I wanted to do,” he said inside the Terre Haute Fire Department’s Headquarters Station at First and Spruce streets. -
TEACHING TRAGEDY: Attacks created new chapters for the history books
The 9/11 terrorist attacks permanently changed the daily routine for students in the Vigo County School Corp.
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WHY I SERVE: The police officer
Joe Watts heard the calling to wear a police uniform early in life.
“I tell everyone that as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a state trooper,” Watts says. -
TEACHING TRAGEDY: 9/11 attacks were a ‘historical turning point’
Incoming college freshmen this fall would have been about 8 years old when 9/11 occurred, and college faculty find that with each passing year, students know less and less about the terrorist attacks.
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Ralston took part in congressional terrorism study before 9/11
Years before the terrorist attacks in 2001, Terre Haute resident Patrick R. Ralston was part of a national panel that would assess how the U.S. government could assist state and local responders in combating terrorism.
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IN GOD WE TRUST: Many sought comfort in prayer, religion after attacks
In times of tragedy, many people turn to prayer to help them begin to cope with myriad emotions.
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LIFE & LIBERTY: Americans won’t let lives be ruled by fear, prof says
In the post-9/11 world, Americans have been willing to make some concessions in the name of national security, but not many, says a St. Mary-of-the-Woods College faculty member.
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Ten years removed, 9/11 attack on NYC remains on minds of many (see VIDEO)
First of a three-part series
A decade later, images from Sept. 11, 2001, remain vivid in the minds of most Americans. Plane crashes. Collapsing skyscrapers. Staggering people covered in dust. Horror. Shock. Confusion. Fear. Heroism. -
9/11 Memorial Event to honor those killed in attacks
Late last year, Terri (T.J.) Coonce had a vision for a 9/11 memorial event.
Inspired by an uncle and cousin who had served in Afghanistan, she wanted to honor not only those killed in the terrorist attacks, but also all American service members who have since lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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‘Remember those who were heroes that day’
Half-time shows at college football games are normally reserved for some relatively light entertainment and a chance to buy some snacks.
- More 9/11: 10th Anniversary Coverage Headlines
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Shakira's Shocking Talent
Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air
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Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up
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The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
