From Gunner Carvo's Blog

[darrels joy]

Peter (our son, the sailor) on the Anniversary of September 11th.

Four years ago today was a difficult day for me. I was running laps around a track (okay, jogging) when I heard someone say that the World Trade Center blew up. It didn't mean shit to me. I didn't even know what the WTC was at that point. A few minutes later, a van pulled up in a hurry, and a man came running over to the track. He told everyone to head back to the office ASAP. We were all confused. We still did what we were told like good little sailors. When we got back, there were TVs set up in every office with eyes fixed on them. I remember asking my Command Master Chief, "What going on?" Without a word he pointed at the screen while maintaining his look of deep thought. They were just starting to show footage of the Pentagon. That was when it became clear. We were under attack. There were about 150 of spread across four large offices. The only sound you could hear down the hall was the echoing noise of the broadcasts. No one said a word. They just stared. Many of us were thinking the same thing, "What the hell are we going to do?" All those sailors trained to use their equipment to protect our homes and families. There was no equipment though. We had no ship. It was still in the early phases of becoming buoyant. It was an empty hull at the opposite corner of the country. That was the most helpless I have ever felt. My job is to make sure the guns on a ship are all functional and ready to do what they were made to do, but at that moment I had no guns. I never want to feel that way again.

[Jerry D]

Thanks Peter for your service