El Paso midshipmen talk about terror threat after Paris
President Obama reassured nervous Americans Wednesday that the nation’s security services are ready for anything terrorists might throw at them over the holidays.
ABC-7 sat down with two midshipmen from El Paso to talk about the terror threat as they near graduation from the Naval Academy. These are turbulent times, so it’s understandable those soon to be on the front lines of this war on terror have their concerns.
“So far our military and our partners have conducted more than 8,000 air strikes on Isil strongholds and equipment,” President Obama said.
El Paso midshipmen Aaron Loya, from Riverside High, and Jose De Jesus, from Cathedral, will both graduate from the Naval Academy over the next year with aspirations of becoming flight officers.
“(These air strikes are) definitely something I could be doing in the future,” said Loya, who was at Annapolis the day Paris was struck by Isis terrorists. “There was this somber mood around, because we know that this is going to affect us, should the United States continue to make air strikes in Syria. If anything escalates, the Navy is the tip of the spear, we’re forward deployed all over the world. It’s exciting, but scary at the same time.”
De Jesus added: “We’re still in too young of a stage for us to really determine if that will be the new norm. To know that there is an enemy out there, we’re not quite sure as to who they might be, it changes the dynamics of how we conduct our operations. This is the world that we’re going to enter into and this is the possibilities that can happen.”
“It’s understandable that people worry something similar could happen here,” President Obama added. “Watching the events in paris made the threat feel closer to home.”
Loya said that’s exactly what the attacks were meant to do … terrorize people.
“If we actually let them have what they want, to instill fear in us,” he said, “then they’ve won.”
Both Loya and De Jesus are in town to spend Thanksgiving with their families.
