‘Let’s roll’ still echoes 17 years after 9/11

[The Patriot]

FORT POLK, La. — On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I — like most working folks — was getting dressed for a day of work at The News-Star, a daily newspaper in Monroe, Louisiana.Life was good: My wife, Susan, was also getting dressed for her work day at a local museum and our youngest son, Justin, had just finished basic and advanced infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was in the middle of airborne training.As I buttoned my shirt while watching Robin Meade on CNN’s morning news show, I saw an airliner crash into one of the World Trade Center twin towers. I stopped mid-button, numbed by the images I saw. I called out to Susan to come and see the “accident” that had taken place. As we stood, horrified, a second plane banked into view and slammed into the second tower, raining fire, steel, debris and people onto streets below.Susan looked at me and said, “That was no accident. Our son is going to war.”She was right — on both accounts.It’s been 17 years since my generation’s “day of infamy.” Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, I think it was safe to say most Americans were naïve, even those of us who had spent time in the armed forces and knew the capabilities of those who would try to impose their way of life on us. But we were the United States of America — no one could come into our yard and bully us; we were too tough.Or so we thought.As the terror continued — first on the Pentagon, and then in a farm field in Pennsylvania — we were jerked into reality. We were under attack, by foes willing, much like the Japanese zero fighters of World War II, to die in exchange for killing us. How do you combat that?I remember walking into work that morning: We were newspaper people, used to seeing humanity at its worst, and yet we were numbed. The questions flowed through the newsroom: How could this have happened? Didn’t we have safeguards in place to stop such things before they occurred? Were the attacks over or was it going to keep on, and how many more planes were going to find skyscrapers? We were a nation of tall buildings; how many more would fall before it was over?In addition to the nearly 3,000 lives lost, my generation also lost a chunk of its innocence that September morning. We were scared — and scarred. If it could happen in New York and Washington, then it could also happen in New Orleans, Baton Rouge or even Monroe, Louisiana. Doors were no longer left unlocked. We didn’t walk streets alone at night. Everyone was a suspect.In the ensuing years, as Americans are prone to do, we’ve begun a recovery process. We don’t look at others with distrust — at least most of us don’t. We’re moving on. We’re still at war with those who so brutally attacked us, unprovoked, but it appears we’re making headway.Will it ever return to the way it was? Probably not. But we’re working at it and it’s getting better. But know this — we will not forget. We will remember the words “Let’s roll” spoken by Todd Beamer as he and two fellow heroes prepared to rush the terrorists who had hijacked the fourth plane that fateful day. We will continue to hold ceremonies like the one slated for Sept. 11 on Fort Polk where we honor the memory of those who lost their lives on that fall morning. And should another individual or group launch a similar attack on our shores, know that we will respond as we did in 2001 — swiftly and with all our might.

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