9/11

2 July 2001 was my first day as a full time employee of the Minnesota Army National Guard. I was hired as the training officer for the 134th Signal Battalion located in Inver Grove Heights.

Just as every American remembers where they were when the terrorist attacks began, I was driving to work, listening to the radio when I heard about the North Tower being hit. As the day progressed, we received calls from guard members stating they were ready to report. I was struck by one such call from a veteran. He stated he was no longer in the service yet he had a uniform and was ready to report.

Eight years later, I’m standing on foreign soil, attending a 9/11 remembrance ceremony. One of the Soldiers reads the timeline from that fateful day. It’s truly amazing how one very short day in history drastically changed how we do business as Americans. And you don’t have to be a service member to feel these affects. Every day that my husband travels on a plane, he feels the affects by having to take his shoes on and off or travel with 3 oz liquids in a zip locked baggie just to get through security. Considering he travels upwards of 150 days a year, I’m sure he fondly recalls the pre 9/11 travel days.

Yes, a lot has changed in our lives especially for the service member. Some of my friends are on their 2nd and 3rd deployments and some with even more. At times, this year seems as if it will never end and I can’t imagine having to deploy again….but I would.

Regardless of your opinion of our presence in Iraq or Afghanistan, I ask for your continued support of all service members. Remember 9/11. Remember there are terrorists who will stop at nothing to destroy what we have as Americans; our freedom.

8:45 A.M. - American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the north World Trade Center tower.

9:03 A.M. - United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the south World Trade Center tower.

9:31 A.M. - President George W. Bush makes a statement from Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida calling the crashes an "apparent terrorist attack."

9:40 A.M. - American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the west side of the Pentagon.

9:45 A.M. - An operator receives a cell phone call from a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93, who reports that the flight has been hijacked and that the passengers are going to fight back.

9:59 A.M. - The south World Trade Center tower collapses.

10:07 A.M. - United Airlines Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

10:28 A.M. - The north World Trade Center tower collapses.

Lives lost: 2973