I can't believe it's been six years since 9/11. When I drove into the parking lot at Aiden's daycare this morning, I saw that all of the classes had made posters and hung them on the front of the building. Tiny handprints and footprints with the words - "We will never forget", and "United We Stand". It occured to me that none of these children had been born when the attacks happened, but a lot of their parents are off fighting the war that began on that day.
I will always remember September 11th, 2001. We had just moved to Germany, I had been in country for 13 days. I didn't know anyone, we didn't have our stuff or our car, and Chris was in the field. It happened around 3 in the afternoon for us, and I remember that I had walked down and bought a small TV that day, and arranged for the cable to be turned on. They said it should be on by 6pm at the latest. I had the TV onto a German news channel while I waited, and I was doing a puzzle at the government issue dining room table we had. I looked up at the TV and saw some news footage of a plane colliding with the first tower. My first thought was, "what a horrible accident!" Everything was in German, so I couldn't understand what was going on. Then they showed a press conference given by the President, but of course it was dubbed into German, so I still couldn't understand. I figured something big was happening, so I called home. I talked to my sister, my Mom, and my mother-in-law, but nobody really knew what was happening. Finally my cable came on and I was able to watch the news in english. At about midnight, Chris came in from the field, and they started pulling shifts guarding the gates to post.
We had a mattress on the living room floor, next to the TV and our only phone. It stayed like that for at least 3 weeks.
The conditions on post were almost akin to martial law. There were armed guards outside of every building, including public bathrooms. Identification was required everywhere. Cars were stripped and searched coming into the gate, and all mail and shipments were stopped. There was no fresh meat at the commissary for a while, and no fresh produce. I remember the little signs in the empty bins that said, "due to customs regulations and current threatcon levels, this item is out of stock". Luckily it didn't last too long.
After that we went to war, and everything about Army life changed. We went from a peacetime Army to an Army at war, and we are still at war today, 6 years later. I think that 9/11 was the defining moment of my generation, much as Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination was for generations past.
I'll ask you the question that everyone is asking today - Where were you on 9/11?
3 comments:
Well I was Germany too, I had decided to walk up to the commissary with Brian to get somethings for dinner, we got half way there when it started to rain, I turned around and went home. When i walked in the door I saw it on the TV I wasn't sure what was going on at first,then I figured it out. It didn't take long for Thomas to call me and tell that me he would have to pull gaurd in Graf. That was our anniversary of when we first started dating, it was 2 years that year. I remember thinking I was thankful that Brian was only 3 months old and i didn't have to explain to him what was going on. I do of course remember no mail and no meat at the commissary.
I think you're right Jenn - a defining moment for this generation. Your job - as was the responsibility of parents before you - is to make sure your children do not forget that sense of horror we experienced on 9/11. To make sure they don't become 'desensitized' as I think a lot of people did after the Kennedy assassination in 1963. So many things happened after that - Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy - that it was like a 1 - 2 punch that kept on coming and left us dazed.
As Iraq is really just a battlefield in the bigger war - a war against terrorism - we all have to make sure people don't forget why we are there. It's not something we will win quickly, but it is worth the price.
6 years ago I was in a hotel room and learned of the attacks via a voice mail from my regional manager. Expressing her shock and letting us know that we were free to go home to be with our families. Once I turned on the TV and we all began to understand this was not just a horrible accident, I took her up on that and drove home.
Mom
9/11/01. I was in my old apartment getting ready for work. I used to leave the TV on while I was in the shower just to have some background noise. While I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror the news came on, interrupting whatever was already on. I walked into the living room and just stared at the TV. At that point only the 1st plane had crashed. I called my mom and told her to turn on the TV then I left the house to go to work. I was working at Six Rivers Bank then. As I drove through town people in their cars would just look at you...I just knew that they were listening to the same thing on the news as I was at that moment. It was the only time I've ever driven through town and everyone makes eye contact with you and you both just shook your heads. When I got to work my dad was there waiting in line and all we could do was just hug each other with tears in our eyes. All day at work we took turns standing in the break room watching TV, updating everyone else on what was going on.
It's amazing how such a horrible tragedy can bring the American people together. On that day we all felt the same horror and confusion. On the next day, we all had American flags in front of our offices and on our desks.
Six years later, I still tear up thinking about the events of that day. It's amazing to me how many people have forgotten the pain of that day and how that led us to where we are today. bin Laden sends us a video tape each year on the anniversary voicing his pride for those suicide bombers...what more do the American people need to remind us of why this war is so important?
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