On November 11, Belmont Hill’s Mr. George gave the annual Veterans Day chapel presentation, sharing the story of his brother-in-law, Major Stephen Reich.
Maj. Reich attended, and later graduated, from the United States Military Academy in New York, after seeing cadets with the same drive he embodied on a trip to the academy in high school. He explained, “You always hear West Point as, supposedly, where the best of the best go. And so, it became a challenge to see if I could do it.” Maj. Reich joined Westpoint and quickly impacted his peers. He was West Point’s ace in baseball and symbolized leadership. On and off the field, others were drawn to his focus and determination. After Westpoint, he had a chance to play for Team USA and later on the Baltimore Orioles signed Maj. Reich, but after pitching only two games, he was called back to service by the Pentagon. It was not long before he applied for and ultimately landed in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR): also known as the Night Stalkers.
In June of 2005, a group of four SEALs encountered heavy contact in a reconnaissance mission on the outskirts of Afghanistan, needing immediate extraction. True to his nature, Maj. Reich wasted no time assembling a crew of SEALs and Special Forces and set out from Bagram Air Base as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Maj. Reich did not return that day, as he along with the other 15 soldiers on board Turbine 33 were killed when a rocket propelled grenade hit their helicopter.
Mr. George first presented Maj. Reich’s story in 2006. The speech, given to Form III students, highlighted Maj. Reich’s high school years. In Mr. George’s words, that talk emphasized “helping students recognize that many of the people we, rightfully, hold up as heroes…are really pretty regular individuals who choose to make a commitment and who are disciplined and focused on achieving a certain standard.”
With this upcoming summer being the 20th anniversary of the loss of Maj. Reich and his 16-man team, Mr. George saw the opportunity to again share Maj. Reich’s story with the school. Mr. George hoped from his speech, that “students might be a little more aware and attuned to what loss really means.”
There was an instance in his speech in which Mr. George could not continue because of the extreme difficulty of the subject. The part discusses the days following Maj. Reich’s death. During this time, Mr. George and Maj. Reich’s immediate family spent a lot of time at a large land preserve in the town called Steep Rock. On one walk, Maj. Reich’s sister, Megan, reached an old railway tunnel at the same time as a group of horseback riders. One of the horses was spooked by the tunnel, and Megan volunteered to walk alongside as the group went through. Maj. Reich had owned horses throughout his adult life, and had become a very skilled rider. Mr. George and Megan discussed “how upset Stephen would be that he was no longer with the people that he loved and cared about, or the soldiers who he served with.” Walking with that horse through the dark tunnel, towards the sunny trail on the other side, Megan felt a sudden and unexpected connection to Maj. Reich: “I think of that metaphor often, and I certainly don’t walk through that tunnel without reliving it.”
Maj. Reich changed Mr. George’s perspective of who soldiers are, emphasized by the Night Stalker creed: “I serve with the memory and pride of those who have gone before me for they loved to fight, fought to win and would rather die than quit. Night Stalkers Don’t Quit.” To Mr. George, while “it’s about battle, it is also very much about brotherhood and the meaning of that community.” In his speech, Mr. George hoped to enlighten the students of this new perspective. His speech, in connection to the 160th’s creed, highlighted Maj. Reich’s long-lasting impact on his family, town, former teammates, and others. Major Stephen C. Reich’s grit and leadership were qualities that Mr. George and anyone around him quickly noticed. Maj. Reich expressed his desire not to miss any opportunity life granted him in an interview while playing baseball: “If there is one thing I am scared of, I am scared to death of looking back on everything and saying to myself, ‘God, I should have done this, I should have taken that extra step, and taken that chance.’ I don’t want to have anything missing in my life when it is all over.” These traits were an essential aspect of Mr. George’s speech and profoundly impacted the students listening in the chapel. Moved by Maj. Reich’s sacrifice, control of situations, and lack of hesitation in the most dangerous scenarios, students and faculty alike clearly embraced Maj. Reich’s character and personality, even in such a short presentation of his life. Mr. George’s speech was received with a standing ovation: a well-deserved conclusion to an inspiring story.
Indresh Chandel