Remembering 9/11

I won't be able to post this on Sunday, so I thought I would go ahead and do it now.

Its been 4 years since that early September morning and like most of us I remember what exactly what I was doing when I found out. I had gotten off of at around 6 in the morning and I went back to the dorms after turning in weapons. I can't remember what I made for breakfast that day. I just remember wanting to grab some food and then rack out because I had to be at work again in about 10 hours. I remember waking up later that day and turning on the TV just for some background noise while I did the morning routine and to my amazement the world trade center was on fire. That was when I sat down and actually started paying attention. Just about then another reporter was on the phone saying he was at the Pentagon and "It sounded like a bomb went off somewhere in the building". Well, after that I threw on my gear with out doing any of the little stuff I normaly did before work. Then I ran to the base grocery store and picked up some batteries and a couple of bottles of water and grub and went over to the guardmount hut to see what I could do to help.

Right around this time, while I was getting ready, the base was put into Threatcon Delta and we were in the process of recalling everyone in our Security Forces Squadron to come and arm up. Being one of the first people on scene I was given control of a fire team (which normally has 4 people on it, but this one only had me) raptor 1 and armed with an M60 machine gun with aprox 1000 rounds of ammo and a HMMWV. I was told that as more people came in and armed up they would be sent to fill out my team. So there I was carrying a crap load of gear for my weapon a set of NVG's and Thermal's which weighed about, well I think the correct term is a "whole-bunchinze". I hope in the hummer and drive out to Base Gate 1 where I hop the curb and park on the sidewalk. I take the M60 and mount it in the turrent I half load the weapon and was ready to rock & roll if needed, think about that. I was overwatching the gate from about 20 yards away, if I had to open fire on a threat the gate guards would have to jump out of the way so I wouldn't hit them. I was also very nervous I don't think I was scared, I was just in the mind set that I might have to shoot someone today and if you think that wasn't on my mind you're smoking crack.

Now I have to say that while everything seemed to be happening in a chicken with its head cut off mode, it was actually very organized chaos. However that being said I was getting a little lonely being in a fire team who's duties were to protect the base gate with just myself on it. I called up the control center to see what was going on, they told me that the off duty flight was being brought in to work the extra patrols and fireteams and that I would be relieved in about 5-10 minutes.

Almost 5 minutes (to the second later) another hummer pulls up with a fireteam (full fire team) to take over my position, I then went back to the guardmount hut and we conducted the evening briefing got sorted out into regular duties and the extra duties we were going to be assuming and went to work.


Through all this there was no fear or indecision, the people from my squadron and the whole base in general came together and did what needed to be done. Everyone was extremely professional and I was proud of our response. This was also an attack by an enemy, an enemy who we were already very familiar with. This is an enemy that while many had never heard of him, had attacked us before. This is the enemy that seized the US embassy in Iran 1979. The same one that attacked the US embassy and military barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. The same enemy that attacked a night club in Madrid Spain in 1985 and again in West Berlin, Germany in 1986. The list goes on and on an on about the different targets and the many casualties that have been caused by these attacks.

But we continue on and some of us forget while some of us never paid attention in the first place. Then when we have forgotten or at least seemed to have forgotten, it happens again, or at least that was the pattern in the past. However on September 11th 2001 the enemy made a mistake they attacked not a night club or an army base or some far away embassy, They attacked something that almost everyone knows about, something that even if you've never seen it you know it means something, something that was dear to us all, even if we didn't know how much it meant to us... Until it was gone.

So we come to the anniversary of this momentous event that really was awake up call for the nation. Something that opened our eyes to the world and showed us that we were vulnerable, that we were no longer the "invincible US", that we too could bleed, and that there are bad men out there who do want to hurt us. People we have never met who would just as soon cut your throat than give you the time of day, just because you live where you live.

So I leave you with this. Where were you that September morning and have you closed your eyes again?