On Sept. 11, 2001, Kevin Mincio was a vice president at Goldman Sachs, working at 1 Liberty Plaza next door to the World Trade Center.
Five months after the attacks he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a soldier. At 41-years old, Mincio, a 1989 graduate of Sachem High School, made a life altering decision to fight for his country.
“It was pretty challenging for me,” he told a group of students at Sachem High School North a couple of years ago in an assembly, “to go from a VP at an investment back to a private in the army, from overall freedom and way of life.”
The story goes that Mincio befriended Jesse Williams, a young soldier from California. While Mincio’s time on active duty ended in 2005, Williams was deployed to Iraq again and was killed in April 2007. Before he left, he promised Jesse he would take care of his baby daughter if anything happened to him.
“This is not about me, not about Jesse,” said Mincio. “It’s about that promise between me and Jesse. It’s about a solider that saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and when he died it was about keeping that commitment. It’s about staying true to your work. It’s about family and friends. It’s about community.”
Mincio launched a number of fundraising efforts, including the beginning of the Team Jesse Foundation. On the 10th anniversary of September 11, Minicio rode a bicycle across country, 4,200 miles over 95 days, and finished at Ground Zero to pay tribute to Jesse and all the others who lost their lives as a result of the terror attacks and the war that ensued after.
Throughout the duration of “the ride,” a film crew documented Mincio’s every move and turned it into a full-length documentary titled “The Long Ride Home.” It was featured at the Seattle International Film Fest and Santa Rose International Film Fest last year.
CLICK HERE to see the official movie website
CLICK HERE to see the official movie trailer
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro