Tyler Christensen shares a portion of his combat experience on Veterans Day

Christensen was introduced by his two children, who are high school students, Tatum, a senior, and Tyler Jr., a sophomore.

Mr. Tyler Christensen served in the United States Army with multiple deployments to Iraq under the 4th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division and 3rd Coscom.

Mr. Christensen also deployed to Afghanistan with the 1st TSC, where he was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor. Mr. Christensen has been in law enforcement for 18 years and has worked for the Joplin Police Department as a patrol corporal and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office as a detective.

Mr. Christensen and his wife, Kimberly, have four children, Kael, Mareika, Tatum and Tyler Jr.

Mr. Christensen is currently the safety and security director for the Webb City R-7 School District.

Tyler Christensen’s prepared remarks:

It’s an honor to be standing before you today.

I want to take a moment to remember our Gold Star families.

To them, there is not a lot of difference between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. Those families know the true cost of freedom daily.

I will share a quote by former President Ronald Reagan:

“Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world. A veteran does not have that problem.”

This was not an easy “yes” when I was asked to speak today. In truth, Veterans Day, to me is very similar to Memorial Day.

There was a time when I would celebrate Veterans Day with my battle buddies. But after we lost one of them, we stopped. It just didn’t feel the same. Truly if my daughter wasn’t a senior, making this her last school Veterans Day program, I would not have said yes.

The version of who I am today is the version that survived everything I have seen and done.

I’m going share some moments of my 18-year military journey with you. These moments I feel paint a decent picture of Veterans Day and what veterans carry around with them every day.

I enlisted in the United States Army on Dec. 7 1998. I chose that day to honor my grampa Jo, who was in the Navy during WWII. I was 17.

I left for basic training four days after I graduated high school at age 18.

One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain: “The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

At the end of basic training we conducted the Night Infiltration Course. You begin in a massive concrete V-shaped bunker about 45 yards wide. Two waves of soldiers assembled in the bunker.

Wave one, we lay on our stomachs at the front of the bunker. Wave two, lays on their backs at the back of bunker watching us.

At the blow of a whistle, wave one low-crawls out of the bunker – flat on the sand for hundreds of yards. Live automatic machine gun fire over our heads, mortar simulators exploding everywhere, amber and red flares flying all over above us.

At the end, we ruck marched about 15 kilometers to end the course. As we approached the parade grounds through the trees, the night sky glowing red and orange, we hear loud music, like “Eye of the Tiger” playing. We entered the parade grounds –  on the field, a massive bonfire, largest I’ve ever seen. Our entire battalion formed across the field on four ranks.

As we stood, tired, covered in sand, days without sleep, not knowing what was next … our battalion commander began speaking at the podium. Our drill sergeants moved through our ranks, stopping in front of each soldier. That was when we were handed our first real “soldiers”’ dog tag. They shook our hand and called us “Soldier” for the first time.

Was a powerful moment I will never forget.

Fast forward:

When 9/11 happened, everything changed. I was young, no family and could not wait to be a part of the tip of spear as America’s answer.

I was deployed in Iraq 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 at ages 22, 23, 24 and 25.

I deployed to Afghanistan 2013, 2014, at ages 32 and 33.

Only about 6 percent of the American population are veterans.

About 1.5 percent of our population have seen combat.

Former President Ronald Reagan said:

“Veterans know better than anyone else the price of freedom, for they’ve suffered the scars of war. We can offer them no better tribute than to protect what they have won for us.”

Good and bad, the man I am today is forever shaped by my time in the United States Army.

I spent 15 months in Iraq from early 2003 to mid-2004, then I came home for a short time and went back to Iraq for another 15 months, from the middle of 2005 to the end of 2006.

There are more events over my first deployment than I have time to talk about. But I want to share a story that represents the true brotherhood of veterans.

One morning in March 2004, we were in a column ready to head out for a patrol escort. As we were waiting to be cleared to leave the wire, my battle buddy was in the vehicle behind me, and another guy’s battle buddy was in my vehicle. So, at the last minute, we both jumped over the side and switched vehicles.

We passed each other, said something stupid to each other and kept going.

A few minutes later, that forward vehicle I was in was in pieces on the side of the road. There were soldiers down – we were surrounded.

As I was checking my friends and looking for landing zones, multiple medivacs and a group of special operators literally appeared out of nowhere. A guy I had never seen and his team came to me, told me they had the perimeter and to call the birds in to help my guys.

Fast forward to the CASH (hospital) on Camp Anaconda. My battle buddy was on the table in surgery. After myself and every other universal donor on our team gave blood, they still ran out. An announcement was blasted all over the compound that there was a soldier in surgery and they needed every soldier with O blood to get to the CASH as fast as possible.

When I walked outside to see if anyone was coming, I saw a line of troop carrier trucks as far as I could see. None of these guys knew my battle buddy; some had been asleep, working out, training or even trying to call home. But every one of them dropped what they were doing and came straight to the CASH to give their blood to save a guy they didn’t even know. This is the essence of a veteran!

Now, even after my deployments to Iraq, I did not know the true feeling of the “call to serve.” To leave home, giving up the first world life I had.

Iraq, I was young and couldn’t get overseas fast enough. It wasn’t until 2012 that I truly felt a call from home to go and serve.

In 2012, I was 31 and it had been 5½ years since my last deployment. I watched a movie called “Act of Valor,” a very real depiction of America’s war on terror. And at the end, they played a list of names of all the Navy SEALs and special operators attached to them who had made the ultimate sacrifice since 9/11.

It hit me hard, and I felt a pull to go overseas again. I wanted to fight in Afghanistan because I had not been there yet. I felt I needed to do more and knew I could still perform at a high level from all the lessons I learned in Iraq.