SANTA FE, NM — Veterans in Santa Fe say the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks changed their lives in ways they could not have imagined at the time. For some, the attacks came after they had already enlisted. For others, they helped harden a decision that was already in motion.
On the 25th anniversary of the attacks, former service members who later became part of New Mexico’s civic life described how quickly the mood shifted from peacetime routines to the reality of war. Their memories include interrupted travel, deployments to Iraq and Kuwait, battlefield injuries, and the loss of friends long after the towers fell.
Ben Valdez remembers the day the plane diverted to Phoenix
Ben Valdez, now Santa Fe’s interim police chief, had already enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Pojoaque High School in 2001. On Sept. 11, he was returning to Camp Pendleton after a 10-day break that included a visit home and the Fiesta de Santa Fe.
He said he boarded the flight thinking of military life as a peacetime experience. Instead of landing in San Diego, the plane was diverted to Phoenix, where the new recruits learned what had happened by watching television in the terminal. They saw the second hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center’s south tower.
Valdez later deployed to Fallujah in 2004 as part of the Iraq war and was wounded by shrapnel, earning a Purple Heart. He said the attacks and what followed changed the path of his service and his understanding of what military life would become.
Santa Fe veterans say 9/11 altered the meaning of enlistment
Gary Donato, who chairs Santa Fe’s Veterans Advisory Board, said the attacks affected everyone in the military, including those who were already serving before that morning. A Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, he said 9/11 changed the institution for nearly everyone who wore a uniform.
Eric Mares, who grew up in Santa Fe and now lives in Rio Rancho, said the attacks strengthened his determination to serve. He was already moving through the enlistment process when the planes struck and later served in the U.S. Army until 2024.
Mares completed basic training in January 2003 and was deployed 10 days later. His unit spent 15 months in Kuwait and Iraq. He said the experience left a lasting impression, especially because he was only 20 when he joined and many people that age today were not yet born when the attacks happened.
Deployments, injuries and the long aftermath of war
The veterans interviewed described not only combat, but also the long emotional cost that followed them home. Valdez said he thought often about firefighters and other first responders who died trying to save people at the World Trade Center, and that memory pushed him to try to do good in difficult moments.
Mares said the attacks taught him how quickly life can change. He described his deployment as a long and grueling tour, and said he does not regret his service despite the hardships.
Valdez said the toll of war also included the deaths of friends, both in combat and later through suicide and drug addiction. For him, the anniversary is tied not just to the attacks themselves but to the years of conflict that followed and the personal losses that came with them.
Bobby Trujillo ties military service to family, community and Fiesta
Bobby Trujillo joined the Army National Guard in 2000 after a family friend encouraged him to enlist in a way that would keep him close to home. During basic training, a drill sergeant told his class they would see combat, a warning that seemed remote at the time.
Then 9/11 happened, and by Christmas Eve in 2003 he got word that he was being sent to Iraq. His deployment lasted 18 months. He worked in a maintenance company nicknamed the “buffalo herd” because of its job handling water buffalo trailers, Humvees and five-ton cargo trucks.
Trujillo said the deployment was difficult, including dangerous driving conditions and an attack on base that killed more than half a dozen people. He now serves in the Fiesta Court and said his community involvement reflects the same values that led him to enlist: family, unity and bringing people together.
An anniversary marked by new wars and fading memories
For Valdez, the 25th anniversary comes during another period of conflict, which he sees as a reminder of how costly war can be. He said he worries that as memory of 9/11 fades, people lose sight of the human price paid by troops and their families.
He said his experience in Iraq showed him that people there, like people in the United States, wanted peace more than anything else. That, he said, is why the lessons of 9/11 still matter.
Valdez said the world changed immediately after the attacks, and he believes the same lesson still applies today: war carries consequences that spread far beyond the battlefield. For him, the best outcome remains peace, because every act of war can ripple outward in ways that are hard to predict.
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