9/11…A tragic day when Islamic terrorists from Al Qaeda hijacked commercial jets and used them to destroy the WTC, hit the Pentagon and crashed another hijacked plane in Shanksville, PA. 3,000 innocent lives, Americans and foreigners of all sizes, colors, languages, religions, were killed that day. All Americans were shocked, mortified, caught completely off guard. Around the world, some mourned, others cheered.
9/11…We all remember what it is and what happened, and we vowed to never forget it. But the true meaning of NEVER FORGET is not to forget what 9/11 means, to our nation and to free people around the world and to never forget our mission. I have never actually tried to put together “what it means” in its totality and scope because the far reaching impact it had on my life and where I was in my life at the time. I liken it to being asked “What was BUDS like?” or “What’s it like to be a Navy SEAL?”
These questions are just unanswerable in a sitting. They will usually elicit a response of “Really?” or “You will have to come up with some better questions than that.” My quick and ready answer is the first line of a Dickens book “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Then I just walk away.
9/11…It ripped me to the core — being that I grew up not forty miles away in — Upstate New Jersey and had some people that I knew in there as most of us in the area did. Plus, growing up in New Jersey, you were used to seeing New York City on the horizon when we would climb to the top of the Mountain behind my house. I used to visit my grandparents and cousins that lived out on Remsen and we would see the towers as we would go by on the GWB past Yankee Stadium. We would sometimes go into the city and go to the towers to ride in the elevators and jump when it got to the top and you would almost slam into the ceiling or to feel almost weightless as you would plummet so fast. Those buildings were HUGE!!! You may have seen them on TV but until you have seen them up close and personal you don’t get the full scope of what happened there.
About 4 days before 9/11, in 2001, I was a young Navy SEAL and had just graduated from SQT, which is the last hurdle to get through before reporting to your assigned Team or Platoon. I was happy and excited to be a Frogman and there wasn’t a care in the world for me. Like firemen, you don’t wish for people to get into accidents or for their houses to get burnt down but you want to get out there and play in the big game being that you are finally in the Big Leagues. I wanted to test my skills somewhere in the world and there really wasn’t much going on in the world. I wanted something to happen in the world so the SEALs can go save somebody or kill some bad guys….. I remember thinking that my generation had nothing to show other than for the advent of the computer and video games, and this was about two before 9/11. Little did I know the Horror that awaited a nation……. MY NATION!
I immediately said “I have to go” in a cold focused tone and just walked out the door, nothing more was said, not even goodbye. I remember the look on my mom’s face and seeing her look back at me when I first arrived to her. The look on her face said it all, she already knew that I was going to be a busy boy. Navy SEALS are always busy when their country is under attack.
I remember talking to my dad and narrating what was going on to him being that he was at our bagel shop, working, and they had pulled a black and white TV out of the back of the store and were trying to get reception…. they were not doing so well with that mission and we were intermittently on the phone when something new would come up, I would call and tell him. I remember the moment the first one fell……. I said the tower had collapsed.
He said, “It would take 30 of those planes to knock that thing down”…. he just wouldn’t get it…. I had to check and re-check if it just fell and I had to raise my voice and said something to the effect of “Dad…. the ****’ tower just came down!” I felt my voice crack and heard his as well but choked back any semblance of tears. It wasn’t fear, it was pure unadulterated GHASTLY RAGE like you had just been hurt bad and your natural reactions just kicked in to eviscerate the bastard that just gave you the cheap shot. Also I remember clearly my mother saying that she was ready to barricade the house and get the rifles out. Keep in mind that during the thick of it you didn’t know if there were more planes going to fall out of the sky or if another type of attack might happen so everyone was on alert.
We were also trying to get in touch with my cousins in Staten Island (they moved from Brooklyn with my grandparents) but to no avail. We saw by the news that Staten was ok so that eased our minds a bit.
Also being that I just graduated the training, everyone that knew me and all my family members were trying to call and find out if I had left yet to go get the Bad guys. Soon after this I reported to my SEAL Team. I remember driving to Virginia Beach with the Matrix Soundtrack in my new 2001 Silver 60th anniversary JEEP….. That album kept me sane for a good while giving me a little outlet for the angst inside. Good music for getting frustrations out….. I was on my way to get the bad guys who had attacked our country, and there was going to be hell to pay!
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