“I felt called to serve”: Marine was seriously injured in the evacuation of Afghanistan receives Bay State Honor

When the aircraft met the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, Tyler was only three years old Vargas-Andrews.

He could not have known it then, but the events of that day and the following decades of war that followed, would form his life in profound and sustainable ways-much more than the average American or even most veterans.

Vargas-Andrews, 27, was a 23-year-old American marine sergeant when he became one of the last American victims of the almost 20-year war in Afghanistan. And on Thursday he was honored by Massachusetts Fallen Heroes With their 2025 Daniel H. Petithory Award, named after the first soldier from the Bay State to die during the war.

The first and the last

Sgt. 1st class Petithory was killed by friendly fire at the beginning of December 2001 and was one of the very first victims of Operation Sustainable Freedom. The bomb that Petithory and two other American service members took, also injured the future president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.

At the time, Vargas Andrews was a toddler and too young to know that his country was at war.

Although he did not come from a military family, Vargas-Andrews said he knew he wanted to serve his country from a young age. He went to Vanden High School, a Fairfield, California, a district also attended by the children of service members stationed at the nearby Travis Air Force Base, to 10th grade.

It was there, he told the Herald, that he saw what service meant, with “one if not both” of the parents of his friends who were repeatedly used as the Global War on Terror entered a second decade.

With the conflict building throughout his youth, the desire to serve ultimately became impossible to ignore.

“I chose a path where I could do the most for others – I felt called to serve – and I am grateful to say I did it,” he said.

He served in the Marine Corps in August 2017 and was eventually assigned to the 2nd battalion, 1st Marines, known as ‘The Professionals’. He was a rifleman, like all Marines, but also a sniper.

According to congress records that describe his service, he was a “professionally instructed shooters and radio operator for his sniper team.” According to Vargas-Andrews, he spent his service on what all Marines are trying to do in “chasing the inheritance of those who came for us”.

It was “almost four years to the day” after his employment, he told the Herald, when he was given the task of evacuating American staff, assets and allies from Afghanistan at Hamid Karzai International Airport, named after the now formuler President who died almost 20 years earlier in the day that was being wounded in the day.

Data shows that he and his team “helped with the evacuation and processing of more than 200 American nationals at Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan and the primary primer and observation activa were during evacuation activities at Abbey Gate.”

While the evacuation was underway on August 26, 2021, a suicide bent exploded explosives outside the abbey gate. Vargas-Andrews was one of the dozens of American troops caught in the explosion, who claimed the lives of 13 service members and at least 169 Afghan civilians.

Vargas-Andrews was seriously injured. He lost his right arm and left leg and needed 49 operations. He spent months in recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

However, he was not ready there.

Vargas-Andrews has spent the time since he was medical from the military service trying to help his fellow veterans learn to live with their own wounds, and to heal where they can. He is witnessed Before the congress, a fitness lawyer is led in marathons throughout the country.

Coming circle

Choosing Vargas-Andrews to receive the Daniel H. Petithory Award this year, according to Dan Magoon, the executive director of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, was a ‘no-brainer’.

“Tyler is a great, resilient warrior,” Magoon told The Herald. Vargas-Andrews, said Magoon, has devoted his life to his ‘brother and sisters and gold star families’ after the service.

“And he used his experience and the tragedy that he has experienced to share that message of resilience. He has a motto:” You are never a victim. ” The way he wears himself and does more for others makes him – not only an exceptional marine – but also an incredible person, “he said.

Vargas-Andrews, in speaking with the Herald prior to Thursday’s award ceremony, was remarkably positive considering his tragic conditions. It is not always easy, he explained when he was asked how he managed to stop his mind, but continuing to serve a lot.

“I owe it to my friends who died to try to be happy and to lead a good life,” he said. “The Marine Corps has shaped me in the man I am today and it gave me the people I love the most in my life.”