CLARKESVILLE — When the song of the United States Army was performed during Friday evening’s Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony, David Horn rose to his feet.
The moment was part of a military service branch tribute at the Chattahoochee Mountain Fairgrounds, where veterans were invited to stand as the song representing their branch was sung. For Horn, standing represented five years in the Army—and a career of service that continued long after he left uniform.
Horn served another 27 years in federal civil service, performing much of the same satellite communications work he had done as a soldier.
“I was in the Army five years, and I was in civil service for 27 doing the same thing I was doing in the Army,” Horn said after the ceremony.
His work placed him in a specialized field during the early days of satellite communications. The equipment was far less compact and portable than the technology commonly used today.
Horn said crews traveled with vehicles carrying the up-converters, down-converters and other equipment needed to establish communications. Satellite dishes were transported on trailers behind the vehicles.
Communications personnel may not always be the most visible members of a military operation, but their job requires them to be where soldiers need the ability to communicate.
“Communications is always first in, last out,” Horn said.
That responsibility took him into the field repeatedly. Horn said he deployed 12 times alongside soldiers, including numerous trips to desert environments.
“We were up there,” he said. “Communications—you’ve got to be everywhere.”
Horn described the opportunity to work with soldiers as one of the most rewarding parts of his career.
“It was great working with the soldiers,” he said.
Horn is now a member of both American Legion Post 84 and Grant-Reeves Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7720.
His story added a personal dimension to Friday’s ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The observance honored the nearly 3,000 people killed that day, the first responders who rushed toward danger and the military members whose service carried them around the world.
The ceremony included prayers, patriotic music, the posting of colors, recognition of first responders, a bell rung for each of the four hijacked flights, a three-round rifle volley and the playing of taps.
During the military branch tribute, veterans throughout the audience were given a visible opportunity to represent their years of service. Horn stood for the Army, but the career behind that simple gesture extended across more than three decades.
It was a career spent ensuring that wherever soldiers were called to serve, the lines of communication were ready—first in and last out.
