9-11-09

I want to take a break from my usual complaining about big government and the slow suicide of the republic to reflect on September 11th, 2001. It's been called by some a day that changed America and the world. That will be left to historians to decide, but I do know it was a day that changed the path of my life.

On September the 10th, I worked in a factory, and was a part time soldier. I'd served on active duty in the army with the 82nd Airborne and had been to Iraq for Bush 41, but that was almost 10 years past. On 09/10/01 I didn't think much about my service except that it was an added paycheck once a month and occassionally I had to spend a weekend on the range and two or three weeks a year in Georgia or California "playing soldier." That changed the next morning sometime around 10AM.

Like most everyone else, I stopped what I was doing and watched the news (even at work) after the second plane hit the Twin Towers. During my lunch break, I watched in disbelief as the news replayed the horrific scene of the towers collapsing. Watched the smoke fill downtown New York. Watched the people on the street, in shock and covered with white dust. Saw the gapping hole in the Pentegon and heard about Flight 93 that had crashed in Pennsylvania (perhaps shot down by our own Air Force). On the way home from work driving down I-40, I saw one of those roadside alert signs, you know, the ones that say, "Road closed" or "Expect Delays." Except this one said, "God Bless America." That's when it finally sank in. I cried for the next thirty miles. At home I dried my eyes and took comfort in family, like most Americans, trying to make sense of what had happened and wondering, worrying, what the future would hold.

The days that followed went by for me in a numbed haze, watching the smoking hole in the heart of New York, watching the death toll numbers climb and the stock market tank, wathcing the news point fingers at a group of Islamic terrorist called al-Qaida and their leader Osama bin Ladin and some hard core Muslims in Afghanistan called the Taliban who were his hosts and protector. As September stretched into October, my anger silently grew. When the United States invaded Afghanistan to drive the Taliban from power and punish bin Ladin, I realized that I was no longer satisfied being a factory worker and "weekend warrior." I realized that the United States (and western culture in general) was now at war with radical Islam and it wouldn't be over until one defeated the other. And I realized I wanted, "needed" to do my part. Not because I wanted leave my family and go be a hero or a killer, but because I was an American citizen. Although I was a father and husband and approaching 40, I knew in my heart that it was not just the single, 18 year kids that should go off to protect our liberty and prevent further terror. It was my responsibility as well. From then on I began seeking for opportunities to do what needed to be done to protect my family, and by extension, my country.

Eight years later, I now serve full time in the Tennesee National Guard. From September 2003 thru July 2008 I spent a total of 31 months away from home. A year of that time was spent training and fighting along side Afghans against the Taliban and al-Qaida. Another year and a half serving on the Southwest Border in Arizona. I won't lie to you and say that there aren't times when I wonder if my life would be different (better?) if I'd just decided in September 2001 to give blood and slap an American flag on the back window of my truck and call it a day.

I won't be so vain as to say that the small part I played has made a difference in the war against terror, but I will say, if 100s of thousands of other Americans had chosen the easy path along with me, the world would be a totally different place on September 11th, 2009.

Our country isn't perfect. There won't be a perfect government until Jesus returns. But the United States of America is still by far the greatest nation that has ever been upon the Earth. It is a country worth fighting for, worth dying for, and certainly a county worth taking a little time out of our busy lives and remembering those who died eight years ago today and the 5,000 or so service men and women who have died since to protect our republic.

God Bless them all. And God Bless America.