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SALT LAKE CITY -- The attacks of 9/11 set off alarm bells for a generation coming of age. Many decided they needed to take action. Mike Doxstader was one of those who felt compelled to fight back.
"I wanted to retaliate personally," Doxstader said. He was already a soldier with the Utah National Guard when terrorists struck on 9/11. At that time he was serving an LDS mission in Chile and was put on lock-down for five days. "I wanted to go home and take care of it," he said.
He chose to finish his mission, and three months after he got home, he headed to Iraq for the first of three tours. "We spent 20, 30, 40 hours straight kicking in doors, driving as slow as we could in Humvees, trying to get hit so we can shoot back at the enemy."
Doxstader says the war fed his hunger to do something for his country. He felt he was doing what he was meant to do.
"Almost daily someone I knew was being hurt downrange," he said. Others were killed, and that made him want to fight more. "I'd volunteer for missions. I want to go out and take care of this, go find the bad guys."
Doxstader says the war fed his hunger to do something for his country. He felt he was doing what he was meant to do.
Three deployments in a decade took a a toll, though. He struggles with PTSD and has little tolerance for those who demean the military and its missions.
Now Staff Sgt. Mike Doxstader is ready for a new chapter.
"I've been gone so long, I feel like I've fulfilled my mission, my requirements to assist my nation," he said.
He feels support in Utah, but not everywhere he travels. "I'm proud of what I've done, where I've been, the mission I've accomplished. However, I want to turn my focus to my family."
He wants more time with his wife to raise a family and pursue a career as a federal marshal. As the years march by, Doxstader believes 9/11 will always stir his generation.
"It was person for us military personnel, especially. We wanted to retaliate, go downrange and do our job. Most of us took it very personally," he said. It's a feeling he knows will always be with him.
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
