NEVER FORGET!

This week will mark the 8th anniversary of the Sept 11th attacks. Never forget what happened on this day in 2001. Where were you on this day? I remember being in a class at Keesler AFB in Mississippi and having the entire base go on lockdown, no one came in and no one got out. I remember our instructor telling us what was going on throughout the day and finally letting us go to our rooms. I graduated a few days later from that school and I remember reporting back to my unit in the following days. We were tasked to stand up aircraft with live missles and for the next couple of weeks I slept in my office waiting for a phone call to scramble our jets to intercept any aircraft in our airspace that was unidentified. After a few weeks of this, I was told to prepare to deploy but that they could not tell us where we were going. I remember going to my mom and dads and breaking down as I mentally prepared myself to be away from my newborn son and my family. I later learned that we were only going a couple states away to Warner Robbins AFB to protect assets there. I was there for about a month with a small contingent of personnel from my unit, we worked out of an alert facility which is very much like an underground bunker with a ramp leading out to an aircraft parking area. We scrambled aircraft and flew combat air patrols over several major U.S. cities during our time there. Two of our pilots escorted an airliner to an airport when the aircraft failed to squak the correct frequency. My job was to sit in a small room with a direct telephone line to the air defense sector and wait for the phone to ring. When the phone rang, I took the scramble information, alerted the aircrew and maintenance personnel by sounding a loud siren, and started the process of getting aircraft airborne to intercept unidentified aircraft. I then tracked the aircraft through radio communication and fed that information to the air defense sector.

I don't recall all of this to glorify anything that I did, I am merely writing it down so that I won't forget all the details...it seems to become more "Fuzzy" as I get older.

After about a month of being in Georgia, my unit came home but our homecoming was short lived and we were once again alerted that we would be going to an undisclosed location. Once again I began to mentally prepare myself and once again we were sent just up the road to Whiteman AFB to protect assets there. I found myself living in the alert facility for 10-12 hours and sending aircraft to identify and escort unidentified aircraft. I recall one evening, it was around 10 pm and we were on alert, one of the pilots told me he was going to shower...about 10 minutes later, the phone rang and I sounded the siren to scramble our fighters. The poor guy had to fly a three hour sortie with soap all over his body, he had just enough time to slip on his flight suit and flight gear and run out the door. The pilot told me that was the most miserable sortie he ever had to fly! You see, we only had a short time to get our aircraft airborne...less than 15 minutes! That's fast when you take into account all that has to happen to get a fighter aircraft in the air.

OK, enough about that...I will just say that 9-11 really changed many peoples lives but those that serve the public really noticed a change in the way we do business.

So, where were you on Sept 11, 2001? Take time to reflect and remember. Think about those that lost their lives that day, think about the war and destruction that spawned from those attacks. Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terrorism, these are all operations that continue to this day...8 years later. Think about the men and women who are serving that didn't lose their lives that fateful day in 2001 but now sit in Iraq or Afghanistan trying to make the world a better place. The media doesn't often discuss the positive things that the United States has accomplished but I can tell you that Iraqi people have been allowed to vote, children are being provided places to go to school, and the Iraqi people are provided medical care that they otherwise might not have recieved. If you have any compassion for people, you understand that these are all great things.

I could go on forever about this, all I ask is that you take a moment to remember what happened on Sept 11th, 2001. 9-11-2001 NEVER FORGET!

I would also ask that you take a moment to remember our fallen and missing heros! Everytime I see the POW MIA flag, I think of all those that our Country left behind in the jungles of Vietnam! Vietnam Veterans were treated very poorly by the general population upon return from duty overseas. These men and women were merely doing what they were told by our elected officials and I believe that they should have had a hero's welcome when they finally stepped foot on American soil, instead, they were spit on and called baby killers. Many had nowhere to go or had severe difficulty in dealing with the mental images trapped in their heads. Imagine that you are faced with the choice to shoot and kill a young child or risk your entire squad being blown up because the enemy fights dirty and straps a grenade to a kid, It had to be a tough decision to make and I can't imagine having to make that choice! To all those who served in Vietnam, I say "Welcome home Brothers" "Thank you for your service!


Please take a moment to reflect today, not only on the events of 8 years ago, but about all the conflicts and those who sacrificed their lives for our Country.

~Mike~