Virginia Tech — Blacksburg to Bremerton

Two dozen years ago I went through a crushing break-up, at that point the worst thing I had ever experienced. The morning after it was over, I awoke for my long drive to college. For a few seconds I forgot about the reality from the day before, a bliss I remember because it wasn’t long until my memory returned. The hurt began all over again.

Imagine, then, the thousands of students and parents who have had two mornings to wake up and experience the few seconds away from reality until it comes fleeting back in a rush.

That’s kind of how Josh Johnson, a Virginia Tech senior and Olympic High School grad described it, though he’s reminded of the wake-up after a traffic accident.

Josh and his mother, Tammy Johnson shared their thoughts with me Tuesday evening after a couple of days of dealing with the crushing news that 33 in the VT community are now dead.

We learned about Josh on Monday. Make the right search in Google and you can find him, but getting a reliable connection proved difficult. Once we discovered he had a brother still going to school here, we solicited the help of the Central Kitsap School District. They contacted Tammy Johnson, who was generous with her time, as was Josh.

It’s a story of mutual admiration between Josh and his mother. The two have steeled each other up as he has taken on the role of stabilizing presence for his subordinates in the college’s Army ROTC program. It’s an education neither Josh nor his mother thought he or his fellow cadets would ever get in college.

If I were to suggest your reading, I’d say make sure you’ve read the news story first, then come back and click on the link below, where you can find additional notes and quotes from two hometown people directly touched by a tragedy a continent away. They’re not necessarily in logical order, but I thought you might appreciate more on the Johnsons.

Tammy Johnson, Mom, got a call from a fellow employee who was home sick. The workmate asked if she’d heard from Josh, that there was a shooting.

She called Joshn and he answered right away, so she didn’t have to wait long to find out he was OK.

He was making sure everyone was accounted for. They did lose one cadet (but not from his company).

Josh does have classes in Norris Hall, where 31 died, but on a different day.

“It’s kind of overwhelming sometimes,” she said.

She talked to him several times Monday and he said he was able to see police activity toward Norris. She said he seems OK, but he’s “more of a guy.”

She went there in November, so when they’re describing things she has a visual of where everything is.

In September there was a mental patient who killed his guard then went on campus and killed a sheriff’s officer. To Mom that incident was more shocking than the more recent shooting.

Once people started to hear about the incident they began calling her at work. She called his grandmother, who already knew about the tragedy. Family members called and were a bit timid at first, because they didn’t know if Josh was OK. Some people stopped by the office. She stayed home today. “You just had to be a little bit more connected to him, by watching TV you feel a little more connected to him.” She said she gets to a point where she has to turn off the television after being saturated by every little new detail. But then there’s the other side that wants to know everything.

She made reference to the man killed in Johnston Hall being an R.A. That had some impact on her. Seeing all the kids on television has had an impact on her. “Certainly when you see the kids on the TV and they’re all that age you can certainly connect that your son is feeling that too.”

On the fact that Josh survived: “It’s one of those kind of things where you certainly are grateful. I think grateful is probably is the best way to put it.”

They have joked with each other, “He’ll be safer in Iraq then he will be at Virginia Tech.”

When he graduates in May, he’ll be commissioned and will report to Fort Sill in Oklahoma, then to Fort Bening in Georgia and then to Fort Lewis.

She said the first year at Virginia Tech “was really hard on him” and he thought about coming back to the Pacific Northwest. But, “he’s pretty stubborn.” Once he makes a decision, that’s it.

He is sad about what has happened. He’s grateful for the friends that he does have and that his phone was constantly ringing Monday.

Daniel, the younger brother, wants to be an architect by the way, so it’s not likely he’ll follow his brother to VT.

“It’s one of those things as we hear the stories that are coming out, there’s some pretty wonderful stuff that happened,” she said, referencing the professor who put himself in front of a door and another cadet who put a table in front of a door. “Those are all great things about human character.

Of Josh, she said, “I think very highly of him.”

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Josh Johnson is also known as Cadet Major Johnson, Alpha Company Commander overseeing 51 cadets from the four major military branches.

When he graduates he’ll begin a seven-year commitment to the Army.

He’s also a resident assistant at Brody Hall

He turned 22 Monday and had no plans for his birthday, thinking he had a paper to write for a class.

In 2003 he was accepted to the University of Washington, Washington State University and Virginia Tech. He initially chose to attend the Merchant Marine Academy where he planned to play Division III basketball. But his father lives in Roanoke and he said he wanted a “beyond the normal” ROTC program, all the while walking alongside students having the more traditional college experience. “That opportunity can’t be found anywhere else in the world other than Texas A&M.

From his window what he saw most was people leaving buildings immediately after they came out of lockdown.

The student on his floor who died was a cadet from another company. He didn’t know him well, but saw him most mornings. He lived in the room Johnson lived in last year. “It’s a little crazy and it’s someone that I see every morning before I go out into formation.”

The cadets are about 600 strong on campus. He said they get lot of respect, mostly because most students admit they wouldn’t be able to do it.

He said he sometimes thinks about the “what-ifs.” “But I can’t spend too much time playing the ‘what-if’ game because it’s not productive. I leave the media to play the ‘what-if’ game.”

He said he made sure to talk to his mother quickly. “I knew if that if I didn’t she would already have been on a plane to Roanoke.”

He said during the first couple hours lots of the cadets were huddled around televisions trying to get details of what happened. Once lockdown ended, it was his job to see that his cadets ate. After that it was more the ongoing task of meeting needs. Many of the cadets lost friends, so Johnson saw his job as being there for them.

He really appreciated all the calls he got from people back here. He said he never doubted that he was loved, but the outpouring was a demonstration of it from people back home. “I got pretty happy and every time I looked at my caller ID and saw a 360.”

Around 4 p.m. Monday is when he found out about his close friend. He went right over to the hospital but for security reasons he wasn’t allowed in. The next day he went back at his friend’s request. That his friend survived is astounding. “He was the first individual in the room next to the wall where the door is, so he got lit up pretty good.”

He went to the vigil Monday, then afterward people were hanging out in his room until about 4 a.m. They awoke for their 7:30 daily formation. He said he actually had trouble getting to sleep.
In describing what it’s like back there, he admitted that he doesn’t have the best driving record, and that this whole affair is akin to waking up after an accident. “You wake up and it’s still there.”

The media presence is “not like anthing I’ve seen before,” huge trucks with huge satellites. “The little town of Blacksburg is the center of the world. Virginia Tech’s football team was ranked around number three last fall and ESPN set up at the Alumni Mall. “I thought that was amazing,” he said, but it doesn’t compare with what’s in town now. It hasn’t become annoying, yet, plus he’s tried to stay away from it. He hopes the message students are sending is that the community is coming together, that it’s not fractured. He described the Tuesday vigil as one he’ll never forget, seeing that many people on the drill field. He described it as a scene where the student body demonstrated “an immense amount of pride and school spirit.”

In addition to leaning on his mother and family and friends from back home, he’s found strength from his buddies from his boot class, Deuce-Deuce.

He said over the past year, knowing that he would soon be commissioned, he has tried to prepare himself for the realities of the Army, that you lose people in combat. “I don’t know if it really prepared me that much. There is an expectation there that there will be loss. But when I’m here and I’m walking on campus and it’s home and it’s a place I’ll come back to as alumni, it really blindsides you more than it would, I think, in the military.”

He had especially high praise for the kids in his command, saying they get knocked on their kiesters (not a direct quote) but they get right back up and perform well. “They deserve recognition for that.”

He asked that everyone pray for the Virginia Tech families and for the student body to stay united. “It’s not my story really that you just heard, it’s the student body story.”