Five years ago tonight, U.S. Navy LT Brad Snyder was serving as an explosives expert with SEAL Team Ten in Afghanistan. Like millions of Americans, Brad was both stunned and gratified to learn that Osama bin Laden had been killed by SEAL Team Six in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

“On that historic night, we all had the same goal as the heroes who had been on that raid,” Brad writes in our forthcoming book, Fire in My Eyes. “We wanted to make the world a better place.”

Even as he served not far from the Pakistani border, Brad, who was on his second combat deployment as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer, knew that bin Laden’s death wouldn’t solve everything. Many American troops would still face grave danger.

“I knew that I would remain deployed, along with thousands of men and women like me,” Brad writes. “I knew that there would be more terrorist plots, and that we would still be asked to disrupt them.”

Later in that same Afghanistan deployment, Brad would make an unimaginable sacrifice. Less than five months after the bin Laden raid, Brad was permanently blinded by an enemy improvised explosive device.

Brad, who survived the blast and – incredibly – went on to win two gold medals in swimming at the 2012 Paralympic Games, was right about the ongoing threat that U.S. troops would face. In addition to wounded warriors like him, hundreds of American service members have been killed in Afghanistan since bin Laden’s death, including three so far this year.

Of course, what happened after May 1, 2011, in no way detracts from the heroism of the Navy SEALs and many more military and intelligence patriots who confronted the world’s most wanted terrorist and his al Qaeda network. For millions, the shocking announcement of bin Laden’s demise will always be a watershed moment in our nation’s post-9/11 history.

To gain an even better understanding of the event’s significance, I highly recommend that every American visit the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York. Not only does the museum show the devastating human toll of bin Laden’s evil, but our country’s resilience in its wake. Among the museum’s exhibits is the uniform worn by the Navy SEAL who said he fired the shot that killed bin Laden.

Despite monuments to those who served on and after Sept. 11, 2001, I remain concerned about not enough of us realizing that thousands of U.S. troops are still risking their lives to fight terrorists in Afghanistan and around the world. As we recently saw in San Bernardino, Calif., and Chattanooga, Tenn., terrorism continues to be a clear and present danger to our homeland.

Still, we should thank God that because of our military’s valor, bin Laden no longer plots in the shadows to kill innocent Americans. We can never adequately thank the remarkable men and women who worked so hard for so long to bring him to justice.

To make the events of May 1, 2011, even more momentous, let us mark the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s demise by remembering that in the five years since, warriors like LT Brad Snyder have continued to serve and sacrifice. To them, we also owe our undivided attention and deepest thanks.

Tom Sileo is a Senior Editor of The Stream. He is co-author of Fire in My Eyes and Brothers Forever, and recipient of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s 2016 General Oliver P. Smith Award for distinguished reporting. He can be followed on Twitter @TSileo.