JERSEY - Jersey Community High School had the privilege of a Veterans Day presentation from Command Sgt. Major (Ret.) Tom Satterly, whose life, along with his teammates’ lives, was portrayed in the Oscar Winning 2001 Film Black Hawk Down.
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Satterly has five Bronze Star Medals, two with Valor, along with many other medals for his career. A highly-decorated combat veteran, Tom served in the Army 25 years – 20 in the U.S. Military’s most elite Tier One unit, Delta Force, and has been involved in and led some of our nation’s most important campaigns.
As a member of Delta Force, Tom was deployed countless times and led hundreds of missions. Beyond Tom’s proven experience of leadership and critical decision making in high-risk environments, Tom also has fought and is winning his own “silent war” off the battlefield, at one time coming close to taking his own life. His innate strengths of courage, perseverance, and “can do” attitude has saved his life countless times.
Tom saluted other veterans in attendance for their service and efforts this week at Jersey. He also did a salute to the spouses of veterans for their efforts and his own wife, Jen, for her sacrifices.
Jen is now a Certified Health Coach, committed to helping veterans and their families. She is the co-Founder and Executive Director of All Secure Foundation, serving retired/ETS veterans by raising awareness and funds to assist those who cannot afford treatment for their specific challenges.
Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" tells the story of a U.S. military raid that went disastrously wrong when optimistic plans ran into unexpected resistance. In Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, 18 Americans lost their lives to the hands of Somali warlords, 70 more were wounded, and within days President Bill Clinton pulled out troops that were on a humanitarian mission. By then some 300,000 Somalis had died of starvation, and the U.S. purpose was to help deliver U.N. food shipments.
The movie records as accurately as possible what it was like to be one of the soldiers under fire on that mission. Hour by hour, step by step, it reconstructs the chain of events. The plan was to stage a surprise raid by helicopter-borne troops, joined by ground forces, on a meeting of a warlord's top lieutenants, but it didn't work out that way.
Satterly said it was wonderful to speak to the youth and he tried to inspire them to become the best they can in their lives.
“My wife, Jen, inspired me to be what I am,” he said. “Never let someone talk you out of something positive you want to do. Also, learn from your failures, the greatest failure is not to try. I have learned most in life when I have failed.”
Satterly said he was bullied when he grew up and talked some about that with the students and what to do in those types of situations. Satterly also spoke of October 1993, which the movie “Black Hawk Down” is based on.
Satterly told some riveting details of that night when enemy rockets in Somalia brought down two of the Somalian troops shot down two helicopters.
“October 3, 1993, was the worst day of my life in combat,” Satterly said. “We had done three or four missions and the enemy shoots you and no one gets hurt. On that mission, a whole lot of lives were lost.”
“We received a ton of positive feedback about retired Command Sergeant Major Satterly. Not only from students, but our faculty and veterans who attended the program. Delta Force operators are rare and I am so happy our students were able to hear CSM Satterly share some of what he learned from his service and his experiences following 25 years in the Army,” Jersey High School Principal Cory Breden said.
“CSM Satterly's message to our students was spot on and one we all need to be reminded of. My favorite part of his presentation is when he talked about judging others. It is unfair and inappropriate for all of us to judge others when we really don't know much, if anything, about the other person. It seems to always come back to the Golden Rule. We should always treat others as we would want to be treated.
Jersey D.A.R.E. Officer Rich Portwood said: “I can't describe how good it was. Parents are telling me their kids came home talking about how much they enjoyed listening to CSM Satterly and how much they learned from him. Most high school and middle school students don't say much about school when they go home so he truly made an impact. The feedback I have gotten from the students, teachers and the Veterans in the audience has been overwhelming. Tom Satterly is truly one of the most remarkable, humble and amazing men I have ever met.”
Near the end of his conversation with the youth, Satterly encouraged them to have confidence in themselves and do things to the best of their abilities.
“Be yourself and do what is legally and morally right,” he said. “Define your own life. Self-inflection tells you a lot about your self. Have confidence. Self-inflection is far more important than criticisms to us to know if we are doing the right thing. We know right from wrong at a very young age. Never let yourself become a victim. Define yourself and who you want to be.”
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