Its past midnight EST and September 11th is officially here. I have already made a toast to all of my brothers and sisters in arms who have paid with their lives to keep this country safe the past 20 years. I also toasted my fellow first responders, those Police Officers and Firefighters who selflessly gave their lives trying to rescue their fellow Americans who were in peril during the attack, and to the great Americans who made sure the 4th plane would never harm another American that day. Now I am here just drinking and reflecting on the past 20 years and praying that leadership is restored to this great nation, because it is definitely in short supply.
I am sure most of you can remember where you were and what you were doing at 8:46 am twenty years ago. I was sleeping because I worked the midnight shift as a newly promoted Police Sergeant. I got to bed about 8:00 am and was woken by a friend who was former Air Force, at about 9:45 am. He asked if I knew what had happened and of course I asked what are you talking about. He asked if Andy (fellow Marine and my best friend) was still assigned at the Pentagon, and I said yes. He told me to wake up and turn on the TV, that we were under attack. I woke up and watched in horror with the rest of the nation. The horror turned to fear when I realized my wife and 2 sons were in the same school building and I wasn’t with them. I called my wife and left a voice message to call me and started to the school. My second call was to my parents and my Mom answered the phone crying. All I could get out was , “Are you and Dad OK?”. She said yes, but I knew that was far from the truth. I told my Mom I loved her and would stop by as soon as I could. I headed to school to pick up my boys, knowing my wife couldn’t leave until the other kids were safely picked up. I called my best friends wife to see if she had heard from him and she was crying so hard she could hardly say “no”. It would be an entire day later before she called me to say she had heard from Andy, but he had to stay at work. Luckily he was not at the Pentagon when it was attacked. So all of the things that I remember the most about 9/11 was wanting to be with my family and friends to make sure they were safe. I know all of us have different memories from that day and some of you are young enough not to have memories of it at all. I really hoped our government and the people of this country learned from those horrific events, but I fear most have really forgotten. I hear some give lip service to what happened, but they have really forgotten. So to my fellow warriors, first responders, and patriots, thank you. Don’t forget what really happened the day 26 terrorist attacked our country unprovoked and killed nearly 3000 innocent Americans. Keep your families and friends close, because in the end that is all that really matters. Semper Fidelis and God Bless America.
