We Can Never Forget

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was stationed at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. I worked in the Joint Security Directorate for Brigadier General Gary Harrell, USA—a legendary special operations soldier who spent many years in Delta Force and was depicted in Black Hawk Down leading that unit.

My work was operations and intelligence. We were trying to follow the threat inside Central Command. The year before, the USS Cole had been attacked in Aden, Yemen. We knew al-Qaeda was threatening a further strike, and we were working to determine where it would come so we could protect U.S. forces. The CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other military intelligence organizations knew there was a great deal of chatter about a pending attack. I could sense the frustration in some of our senior intelligence representatives. I remember one meeting led by the CIA in which a senior official voiced that frustration, knowing an attack was imminent. Little did we know the attack would be centered on the United States itself.

When I saw the first plane hit the tower, I knew it was al-Qaeda. The attack was not in the Middle East. It was here, in our homeland. It was pure evil.

That day changed our lives.

A few months later I deployed with General Harrell into Afghanistan. I was not in his inner circle. The whole nation wanted to strike back at that evil. There were very few U.S. forces in Afghanistan at the time, and even fewer Marines. I thought perhaps this was the moment the Lord had been guiding my career toward—perhaps this was my time to contribute to the country and to the legacy of the Marine Corps. We formed a small, highly classified intelligence cell looking for terrorists, including Osama bin Laden. I had the privilege of working with some of the most elite forces in the world and learned a great deal.

After that deployment I became part of General Harrell’s inner circle. Every senior Marine he encountered, he would tell them about me. He was then reassigned to command Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT). He asked General Tommy Franks, the CENTCOM commander, if he could take me with him. General Franks approved, and I moved over to SOCCENT.
At SOCCENT, and later at Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command (CFSOCC)—which included special forces from Australia and Great Britain—I was responsible for the planning and execution of logistics for special operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Special operations forces came in from secret bases in Jordan into western Iraq, from Romania into northern Iraq, and from Kuwait into southern Iraq. I was the first Marine ever to serve as the J-4 for a special operations theater command.
Because of that experience, a few years later, when Marine Special Operations Command was stood up, I was pulled in to serve as the first deputy commander of Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC).

I prayed during those years of war, and during my six combat deployments, but it was inadequate. It was my mother, my wife, and my siblings who prayed for me and my Marines through the many years of conflict. I knew I was protected. I regret that I did not pray the Rosary every day myself and instead depended on my family to do it for me.

It was only later, toward retirement, that I realized the Lord had not placed me in the Marine Corps for one significant military moment, or for me to be some kind of hero for the nation. It was years of small engagements and meetings. The Lord put me with my wife, Mary, and my family in His service. I am still learning. Today I am trying to make up for that lack of prayer in my past.

Since my retirement in 2019, we have been seeking the next mission the Lord has assigned. In June 2025 we visited Medjugorje when my sister Elizabeth asked us to join her on a pilgrimage led by Michael Nolan. My wife was already familiar with Mary TV. At the time I was not yet a big fan. After that trip, our mission became more focused, especially our prayer life. Mary TV enables us to return to Medjugorje several times a day—to be part of St. James Parish, the parish the Blessed Mother chose to promulgate her messages. The Masses, the Rosaries, Adoration, and the holy sites—Apparition Hill, Cross Mountain, the Blue Cross—become present instantly. It is probably the least known, and yet the best value, for anyone who wants to visit there at any hour.

September 11 changed not only this country but the world. It is hard to believe it was twenty-five years ago. In some ways it was like Japan attacking Pearl Harbor on Oahu. I am sure the World War II veterans, twenty-five years after that attack, wanted younger people who were not there to remember that day.

We can never forget.

Vincent A. Coglianese
Major General, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)