We are coming up on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks on the United States by four sets of al-Queda hijackers...
These images were burned into our consciousness that day...
American Airlines Flight 11, and United Flight 175 hit the two towers at the WTC.
American Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.
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And United Flight 93 (destined for Washington, DC) crashed in Shanksville, PA after fighting between the hijackers and the passengers.9-11 memories
I hear the term "defining moment" thrown around a lot, especially in the last month or so...
Being a 'bit older, I also remember a few others, President Kennedy being shot in Dallas, Martin Luther King being shot in Memphis, Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon...
On 9/11, I was in my office at the University when I got a call from one of the University pilots who is a retired Marine; he told me to "get to a TV, somebody just hit New York with an airplane!"
I finally found one in a conference room upstairs and turned it on, as it happened it was on CNN...
Others started to wonder in to see why I was 'violating' University policy, and the pilot called me back, about that time. I do remember something to the effect of "a terrible accident has occured" being said on TV about the time the pilot saying this wasn't an accident, it was an airliner and something bad was going down.
As we talked, the second airplane hit the second tower, and we agreed about the fact that America was under attack, but at that point we had no idea who had done it... Anger was the prevalent feeling, and frustration, since there wasn't anything we could directly do for those folks...
About a half an hour later, I was called into a meeting with law enforcement about securing/protecting facilities and infrastructure; we were interrupted by the announcement that the Pentagon had been hit, and the tone of the meeting changed from what if, to we need to prepare NOW! I also remember driving back to my office and hearing about Shanksville and UA 93 during that time. We set our emergency response plan into effect, sending folks home and going into a 24 hour response cycle.
I stayed at work, coordinating with various folks, but I noticed a lot of my co-workers were in shock that anyone would attack America, much less why attack us... I wasn't shocked, I was PISSED...
The few of us that were ex-military tended to not say anything after the first couple of arguments, since we had a significantly different perspective. We knew the military had been placed on elevated alert, and folks were either airborne or sitting in cockpits on strip alert...
In the days that followed, I didn't get a lot of sleep; watched a lot of coverage. When the list of casualties came out, I found out I'd lost three good friends in the Pentagon, and I wrote to Navy Personnel volunteering for recall to active duty. Sadly, I wasn't recalled...
Why did I post these pictures? Because they are REALITY... Not sugarcoated, apologized for, sanitized talking points, or spun by whomever. We, the USA were attacked on our home soil by terrorists who are STILL determined to bring America to her knees, since we are the "Great Satan"... 10 years later, the terrorists are still after us...
