Community Corner

Military Retirees See Some Closure in Osama bin Laden's Death

Air Force retirees Earl Haugabook and Jake Piascik talk about the death of Osama bin Laden and the closure — at least some closure — it brings. Other community voices invited to comment below.

Earl Haugabook was at home, sitting in the family room, watching TV, when he saw the stream at the bottom of the screen announcing President Obama was set to address the nation.

The news, he figured, had to be good; Sunday night, no other alerts, how could it be bad? But how good it was Haugabook could only imagine.

“And now I’m excited as I can be,” he said May 2, about the news of Osama bin Laden’s loss of life the day before, at the hands of Navy Seals in a “targeted operation” near Pakistan’s capital.

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“We waited a long time for this. I must admit that I didn’t think we would ever be able to kill him or capture him,” Haugabook said. "But that didn’t pan out to be true and I am so happy we did it. I think from the president on down, and that definitely includes the Navy SEALs, everyone did one fantastic job. I’m proud of my president, I’m proud of the intelligence and I’m extremely proud of the military.”

Haugabook served in the military for 22 years. He retired as chief master sergeant, the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force. He’s serving now in his eighth year as the chairman of the Military Affairs Council of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, which meets at the chamber building on Pauls Drive the second Wednesday of the month at 8 a.m.

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Haugabook doesn’t think it is necessary to give his party affiliation with this report.

“Because I don’t make comment based on my political persuasion,” he said. “I make comments on the way I feel. Occasions like this your political persuasions should go out the window and you should think about this fantastic country we live in. In America, we can do anything we put our minds to try.”

Also retired from the Air Force is Jake Piascik, who served 20 years and retired, like Haugabook, from the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

“I was responsible for flying four-star generals, vice presidents [Dick] Cheney and [Al] Gore and all the secretaries of state,” Piascik said. "I was Air Force One backup and I flew Air Force One.”

Piascik has mixed emotions about the news.

The death he welcomes, the burial he questions.

According to news reports, bin Laden was buried at sea within 24 hours of his death, in accordance with Islamic religious law.

“That means they honored the Muslim position of him being buried within 24 hours and I don’t know if I agree with that,” Piascik said. "He didn’t give anybody any rights when he had people attack the [World Trade Center] towers and the Pentagon and crashed the plane in a field [en route to] D.C.”

As for bin Laden’s death, Piascik said he welcomes the news on behalf of several friends who died in the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center.

“I don’t know if it’s over, but at least there is some closure that this lunatic is removed from society,” Piascik said.

When he first heard the news, “everything [about 9/11] came rushing back and that was hard,” Piascik said.

He worries that people will question the death, that they “will want to see something, photos, DNA, teeth, something to the fact that he is dead.”

Piascik talks less about the matter as a political issue, despite his assertion that “something had to be done and other presidents have had the opportunity but did not act on it but this president did.”

When told of Haugabook’s position, that occasions like this do not warrant a partisan position, Piascik said: “I agree with that.”

“When I first heard the news I thought it was awesome, fantastic,” Piascik said. “Enough time had passed for us to get him.”

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