DETROIT (WXYZ) — When the call comes, there is no hesitation. For Capt. Mark McGinnis, service is a mission.
“9/11 happened when I was in first grade,” McGinnis said. “We were told to get into the hallway.”
Watch the video report below:
That feeling of fear, uncertainty and waiting is one many families are living again. As tensions grow in the Middle East, they know what could come next.
“You go over there and you see this is reality, this is not a joke anymore. You’re doing the thing you’ve been training for and you have to be on alert all the time,” McGinnis said.
Raised by a single mother on Detroit’s west side, McGinnis turned discipline into opportunity, graduating from Renaissance High School then West Point.
But for his mother, his service came with fear.
“I'm her first child, oldest son. And seeing him go overseas and not knowing if he may come back weighed heavily on her heart,” McGinnis said.
Watch the Scripps News report on developments in the conflict:
Today, he’s a Black Hawk pilot at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with a decade of service including Afghanistan, where he saw the cost of war.
“Seeing that really made you realize how lucky I am to one, be in the United States Army but two, to be able to go back to the United States of America. But leaving those people behind, you could see and feel the weight that was put on you,” he said.
As tensions rise, so does that weight for families waiting here.
McGinnis can’t talk about what may come next but as a commander of troops, he knows what matters most.
“As a commander in charge of 200 soldiers, I make sure that I tell people I'm going to do everything in my power to get you back home,” he said.
For families, the waiting is the hardest part.
Margaret Brooks is a Blue Star Mother with a son serving now. She serves as the president of the Michigan chapter.
“We often don't know where our kids are,” Brooks said.
Families often times don’t know where their loved ones are, if they’re safe or when they’ll hear from them again. Sometimes, families get the call no one wants.
“We serve each other through good times and through bad, and we're there for each other,” Brooks said.
In those moments, they lean on each other. With 15 chapters across Michigan, these families are bound by sacrifice.
“I've met a number of Gold Star moms and I am just so astonished by the courage and I respect them,” Brooks said.
For McGinnis, that shapes how he leads because the hardest battles aren’t always seen.
“What can you do to help lift that person up, and it’s just simple questions like how are you doing,” McGinnis said.
They look out for each other in ways people don’t always see.
Related video: How to manage the anxiety and stress many are feeling amid the US-Iran conflict
After 10 years, McGinnis plans to retire, attend Harvard Business School and give back.
“Hopefully, serve one day as an elected official,” he said. “To give back to the people who've helped me become an Army aviator.”
