Ten years ago, on September 11, 2001, I woke up in the guest house at Ft. Sam Houston, TX. If you know me, you may know that I spent a good portion of 2001 in Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), receiving first class medical care. I had been discharged to the guest house a couple of days before because I no longer needed to be in the hospital, but the doc wanted me to come back one more time before she let me go. I had seen Dr. McNeil on the 10th and was just going to drive home on the 11th.
Jeni was in the shower and I turned on CNN (or FOX, I don't remember) and they were showing the first tower and talking about how a plane had hit it. I saw the second plane hit, and told Jeni "there is some Tom Clancy stuff going on in New York. Planes have flown into both World Trade Center towers". We both knew, of course, that this was no accident and wondered if we'd even be allowed to leave Ft. Sam.
The Army hadn't reacted just yet, and as we drove off post you couldn't tell that anything was amiss. We drove the 400 miles, or so, back to Lawton scrolling through the AM dial the whole way trying to catch the news. We heard about the Pentagon and Flight 93 on the radio while we were on the road.
When we got home, I assumed that Ft. Sill would be on some kind of high alert, so I called the Battalion (over and over) because I was a Battery Commander and couldn't ignore the obvious (even though I was technically on convalescent leave). When I finally got through, the Command Sergeant Major answered and I asked him what was going on, and told him I was in town if I was needed. He told me they had it handled and I should just stay home and recover.
Ten years later, I'm now serving in the Pentagon. I actually work in an area that was destroyed on 9/11 and I work with people who were in the Pentagon that day. I did not realize the lingering impact of that day until we had the earthquake and some of those folks were clearly shaken. Truthfully, never being through an earthquake, I also wondered if there had been a terrorist event that caused all that shaking (I was in the library, off from the main building, so it could have been possible)
Today I ride the DC Metro every day, which is in my opinion, the biggest terrorist target in the country, and I work in the Pentagon, a 9/11 target that remains the single biggest symbol of America's military power. Yet I feel no fear. I travel in and around Washington DC everyday and I have no worries for me or my children. I think that means we're winning. Terror only wins when we fear it.
Go have a picnic this weekend, watch some ballgames, cook out, visit some friends, but have no fear. That's how we win.
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| This is the flag that was draped on the Pentagon after 9/11. I saw it in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. They said that it would be retired and never displayed again, but I hear they have a new exhibit this week with 9/11 artifacts, so it might be on display again. |
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