SPC Sean Harris

Specialist Sean Harris sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

Long Island. Born and raised. Suburbs. Bus to school. Mom taught. Dad worked Pan Am in the eighties. Baseball. Basketball. Bikes in the grass. You could tell whose house by the pile.

Both grandfathers. One a World War II veteran. One fought in Korea and retired NYPD. Military and law enforcement sat in the house. He ended up doing both.

9/11. Native New Yorker. He lost a friend. He was supposed to be in the city that morning. John Jay College. He overslept. Woke up to the news. He felt helpless. He joined.

Avenger. Airborne. German jump wings. Sometimes they did not know what to do with the weapon system so they put him on gate guard. Flare monitor on the fifty cal. He went out with Second of the 325. A first sergeant thought a man by a dumpster was placing an IED. A private shot him. He was throwing out trash. About eight weeks later Sean was on the gate and a man jumped the wire and ran. It was that private. He had snapped. No weapon. They caught him. Sent him home. That kind of thing stays.

C-17. Heavy drop. Ramp down mid-flight. Other birds in formation behind you. Rollers spinning after the load goes. He said he will never see that again.

He got out E4 promotable. Supposed to ETS in October. Burned his leave and left in September. His friends got the stripes pinned in October. He was already home. Technically E5. Never pinned. He called us to attention as Specialist Harris.

He was lost for a while. Tempe Police. Deputy sheriff. Internship with the Marshals. Fish and Wildlife four years. Now Customs and Border Protection at JFK. Five baby king cobras in Pringles cans. They x-rayed the box and drove it to the Bronx Zoo. Do not open those cans.

Remy is two. Marley is six months. He used the GI Bill. Associate. Bachelor. Master of criminal justice. ATTENTION. Specialist Harris signing out. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.