On October 12, 2000, the USS Cole was refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden when it became victim to the deadliest attack against a U.S. naval vessel since the attack on USS Stark in 1987. A small boat loaded with explosives and two suicide bombers approached the port side before exploding, taking the lives of 17 sailors, and injuring 39 more, as they lined up for lunch in the ship’s galley. 15 years later, they are not forgotten.

To commemorate the anniversary, past and present crew members, family, friends, and civilians gathered at Naval Station Norfolk to remember the 17 heroes who lost their lives that day.

Almost a year after the attack, 9/11/01 would take place, and the rest of the nation would be awakened to the brutality of the same group who bombed the USS Cole. Al Qaeda was a threat to the United States long before they took thousands of lives in September 2001, and it would behoove us to remember that similar groups share their passionate hatred towards the people of our country.

To most of the country, the true meaning of the attack on Cole wouldn’t become apparent until Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists from the same group that struck DDG-67 flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York City, a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon. But to the crew that deployed with Cole in the fall of 2000, the war started on Oct. 12, 2000. For many, the fight to heal — while still remembering their shipmates who passed — continues today.

The crew remained on the ship, in the stifling heat, for three weeks. They slept on deck above the grisly scene, and worked to save their ship.

Even as President Bill Clinton eulogized the dead at a ceremony in Norfolk Oct. 18, the crew was locked in a protracted battle to save the ship from sinking — a battle that would decide whether Cole would live to fight another day.

“Being surrounded by that … that death and that tragedy, was not a healthy thing,” Carlson said. “It was hard thing. So when we were inside — no light, no ventilation — it turned that ship into an oven. All the perishable stuff starts to smell.”

“I really want to think that was the majority of the odor was the food going over — there was lots of food down there. But it wasn’t just the smell of food.”

Many still barely find ways to cope with the trauma sustained upon the USS Cole.

“The experience, the enormity of what I saw, whenever I go back to think about what happened, I start to replay everything as if it’s in real time,” he said. “I think, OK this time if I go left, instead of right, or help this person instead of that person, maybe the outcome would change. That adrenaline and intensity — it’s as if no time has passed.”

After all this time the families of those lost, as well as the crew, keep in touch in order to offer comfort and encouragement.

James Parlier, the retired corpsman who was command master chief of Cole that day, finds himself permanently assigned to the 2000 crew, staying in touch with about three-quarters of his shipmates and the families of the fallen, listening to their struggles and their successes in dealing with the pain of loss.

“They still call me ‘Master Chief,’ ” he said. “I’ve been out for almost 10 years now, I try to tell them to call me James, but they won’t.”

The USS Cole will never be forgotten, and it was the attack that caused our military to change the way in which it protected its ships overseas.

As a result of the USS Cole bombing, the U.S. Navy began to reassess its anti-terrorism and force protection methods, both at home and abroad. The Navy stepped up Random Anti-Terrorism Measures (RAM), which are meant to complicate the planning of a terrorist contemplating an attack by making it difficult to discern a predictable pattern to security posture.

Then in November of 2001, the Navy opened an Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection Warfare Center at Naval Amphibious Base, and in 2004 the Maritime Force Protection Command was activated, they would oversee the expeditionary units who would be deployed for the purpose of protecting aircraft, bases, and ships from various terrorist threats. Training for the sailors themselves also changed as a result.

The USS Cole bombing plays a highly visible role in Navy damage-control training, which begins in boot camp with a pre-graduation Battle Stations event. “The Cole Scenario” launched in 2007 takes place aboard a realistic destroyer mock-up housed at Naval StationGreat Lakes, Illinois. The training focuses on preparing recruits for damage control challenges they may face in the fleet.

A memorial to the victims was erected on the shore of Willoughby Bay in October of 2001. Among the intricate details that have deep meaning to the crew and families, you’ll find 28 black pine trees that were planted to represent the 17 sailors killed, and the 11 children who lost a parent. Today we ask that you take the time to remember the brave sailors lost, as well as the families and crew who still live with the weight of such a tragedy.