September 11, 2001: We Will Never Forget

Fourteen years ago tomorrow as I sit typing this.  I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget that morning.  I was working on a contract in Rockville, Maryland.  It was a two hour (normal traffic) drive from home and I got there about 7 a.m.  Just after 8 a.m. the owner, a tall Chinese man named David, came by my cubicle and told me to come to the conference room; that there was news on I should see.  I followed him to the conference room and on one of their big screen TVs there was coverage of the World Trade Center; one tower on fire, having been hit by a plane.  As I stood there watching and before I could even form a question about what SIZE plan had hit the tower, the second plane came into view and flew into the other tower.  Standing next to me David said, “Oh my God… we’re at war.”  Do you think he had any idea how right he was?  What that day would lead to?

At the time I was an active member of the Maryland Army National Guard.  I KNEW we’d be getting a call before long and I KNEW that traffic was going to be a mess.  I was two hours away from home with a good chunk of the drive going around the Washington Beltway.  I packed up my work gear and headed for home.  Along the way I listened to the radio – like everyone else I suppose.  I tried calling to let my wife know I was on my way home but the cell service was overwhelmed with other people making the same kinds of calls.

News came on the radio about the Pentagon being hit… a plane crash in Pennsylvania… a car bomb outside of the Capital Building in DC – more stories, some true, some false.  Stories about flights being grounded, flights being put under escort and more filled the radio waves.  And then the radio station I was listening to interrupted all of it to play a song:  Proud to be an American by Lee Greenwood.  Thank God traffic wasn’t moving because there’s no way I could have driven anywhere with the tears that filled my eyes blurring my vision.

As a man who worked in law enforcement and with a military background I was all too aware that the planes could have been just a first strike.  I got my children home from school.  I kept them home for two days.  I worked from home and had my bags packed for the National Guard.  My readiness NCO called and made sure I was prepped to go if called.  I was in an engineer company and we fully expected to be called to go help search for survivors or assist with whatever structural work needed to be done – whether it was demolition or rebuilding.

Through the weeks and months that followed I learned some things about that day that simply amazed me.  A volunteer fire captain was in charge of the fire scene at the Pentagon.  The Secretary of Defense couldn’t even enter the building without that Volunteer Captain’s say so.  That was the status for several days after Nine Eleven.  In New York, survivors were found where none were expected.  Lives were lost, sacrificed by first responders desperate to find more survivors.  Americans came together as we seem to do only after a national disaster – and this certainly was, even though it was manmade.

And then there I was… years later, watching TV and relaxing.  The television show had been made prior to nine-eleven and in the background in one scene, there stood the World Trade Center towers.  There were the tears… there was the blurry vision… there was the boiling rage toward those who committed those cowardly acts.

Fourteen years have passed.  We – our country – has been to war in two countries in the past decade and a half.  We may have caught and punished those responsible for those heinous attacks, but we can’t lower our guard.  Even as our law enforcement professionals face so much angst on the streets, sometimes falling victim to what seems like targeted yet random violence we still have to pay attention.  Our citizens may be angry at home but our enemies are waiting in the wings; hiding; planning; being patient until they feel the time is right.

Stay strong my brother and sister officers.  Stay strong America.  PLEASE focus on the real fight and not the crap we see so much of on television.  The fight is NOT between “us and them” here at home. The fight is between all of America and any who would seek to do us harm or limit our liberties.  We’ve come too far and fought too hard to earn what we have and the way of life we cherish.  Let’s not lose that in petty bickering.  Let’s stay strong, standing together against those who hate us, envy us, ridicule us or seek to do us harm.

Remember how you felt the day after Nine Eleven. Find that feeling again and stand with your neighbor. Only as a strong and unified America can we move forward and lead the world as we’ve done for centuries.  God Bless America. Never forget.