Pottsboro, Texas -- This weekend, a very special reunion of Navy veterans will be taking place here in Texas. The reunion is a group effort, but credited to a particular U.S. Navy veteran named John Seabourn.
John Seabourn was born in the Navy as a Navy dependent in Corpus Christi. He graduated high school in Oklahoma and when he turned 18 he joined the Navy. In January 2003, his unit out of Fort Worth, Texas was mobilized. The following month the unit was quickly deployed to Kuwait.
“We were protecting the Navy base where the Marines offloaded all their equipment and came ashore, and all the ammunition for the entire Iraq war effort came through that port.” Seabourn recalled. “There were about 150 of us in the unit.”
The undersea warfare unit was dubbed “109” and addressed as such from then on.
“Our mission was to provide security for all the activity at the Kuwait port. They called us Anti-terrorism Force Protection," says Seabourn.
The unit spent an intense six months together. Sharing tents would have been enough to build unbreakable bonds, but sharing a “scud bunker” cements a lasting brotherhood. Scud Bunkers were the place the unit would shelter under midnight missile alarms with gas masks and chemical suits in tow.
“Just in the first eleven days of the war, there were 34 missile alerts,” notes Seabourn.
Each missile alert would force those not on watch into the scud bunkers until the threat had passed, while those on watch stood their posts.
This experience forged a lasting unity that can't be found anywhere else. The mixture of survival, sacrifice, and strength is a recipe for a lifelong connection.
“It's a strong bond...a brotherhood,” Seabourn asserted.
Many in the unit retired after their deployment, but some, like Seabourn, continued to serve.
“Those that you serve with, there's a certain comradery I really look forward to experiencing again,” Seabourn says, excited about the reunion.
It'll be 22 years to the month since the unit has last gathered on a scale to this proportion.
Seabourn says the reunion was inspired by a realization, a realization that there would never be anything quite like their relationships with one another. It is worth fighting for now, as they fought together for a common cause then.
It was twin brothers, Mark and Mike McDougal, who were in the unit together that had invited Seabourn out to a football game. It was such a wonderful time reconnecting that it stuck with all of them, slowly growing into something more.
“Last year, six of us got together for a Christmas dinner and got to thinking, we have to get all of us together," remarks Seabourn. "How can we make this happen?”
The effort is paying off, as Seabourn and his collaborator, Keith Moran, are expecting at least 30 of the unit veterans to attend the reunion.
"All these folks are what we call citizen sailors, they basically had a civilian job, a Navy job and a family," explains Seabourn. "The secret to being a good citizen sailor is to keep your spouse, your boss and the Navy equally pissed off," Seabourn chuckled. "And when you’ve done that you’ve achieved balance."
When asked what the average citizen can do to support our veterans, Seabourn had but one profound suggestion.
“Be a citizen worth protecting.”
We can be encouraged that these brave men and women continue to step out in a troublesome world, linking arms to support not just each other, but all those on whom their strength depends.
The inspiring commitment of MIUWU 109 ought to remind us every day all that has been laid down for us, all the cost that has been accrued for us to be safe and free. May we make the choices every day to be a citizen they find worth protecting.
