No, no-one came up behind me with a knife or gun and demanded my money. It was far more traumatic than that because frankly, I have a unique and specific set of skills that your tax dollars paid for. I didn't go to the bank and find that my account had been emptied by someone who had stolen my identity. I know how to track those people down and recoup my losses.
I went to bed thirteen years ago to wake up to a totally changed world. The American Government and it's people had become complacent believing that the distance and waters separating us from our enemies would keep us secure within our borders and that for some unknown reason, The United States were immune from terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
I had spent what I considered to be my entire life in service to this Great Nation defending Her against t all enemies foreign and domestic. Ironically, I served almost all of my military career overseas actually aiding other countries in the defense of their borders and freedoms. I stood in West Berlin Germany 110 kilometers inside Communist East Germany at the height of the Cold War. While there, we believed that each and every time we were placed on "alert" status, that the Russian Hoard was coming over The Wall and that we were the last hope for the citizens of West Berlin and all that the "Last Bastian of Freedom" stood for.
I was back in Berlin during "The Fall of The Berlin Wall". I was blessed to witness the end of Soviet oppression over East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the likes. We, THE ALLIES went into to a fight with the resolve to ensure that we saw it through to the end. Collectively, we kicked Hitler's proverbial butt and then dedicated the next 44 years to the principle that Democracy was a right of ALL people not just American people. In 1961, the Soviets erected the Wall and for 28 years, The Americans led the way in the Occupation of Berlin along with our British and French counterparts with a resolve that neither time nor cost would erode our commitment to seeing the Russian Hoard leave and to have Mr. Gorbachev "Tear down this wall".
We succeeded and I witnessed first hand families who had been separated by an arbitrary line in the dirt reunite for the first time in 28 years. I saw the Champaign flow and the reunification of Germany. I was part of something bigger than myself. I helped make history happen.
I continued my military service with pride and honor. I had married, had four children, one of which was tragically taken from us at birth and I watched with pride each and every time my children stood up when The National Anthem was played or when they stopped playing while on base when Retreat sounded and the Flag was lowered for the day. At night, they were tucked snuggly into their modest but safe beds and they rested there worry free of any evil visiting them during the night. After all, Dad was on watch. If I could help secure the borders of foreign lands surely, I need not worry about someone being stupid enough to try to visit harm against Americans on American soil.
Not so, it seemed. On September 11th, 2001, the unthinkable happened. We went to sleep and our enemies were awake and not only did they visit horrible evils upon us, we showed time and time after relentless time on the news for days. There was no safe haven. We were rapt in the horror that someone, anyone could have so much hatred for the Land We Love that they would die to inflict evil upon us. Terror had hit home and I and others were left to try to explain to our children why they were no longer safe at night.
"Dad, why are you crying?" "Dad, why are you sitting up by my bed?" "Dad, why would anyone do such a thing." It was done because evil dwells in the hearts of men. What I and generations of honorable men and women who dedicated their lives to protect "From Sea to Shining Sea" was gone in an instant. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, Americans were attacked ruthless on our own soil. This somehow seemed more tragic to me because in my opinion, at least Pearl Harbor was not on the Continental United States and I could justify that our physical borders were still secure.
I like everyone else, had fallen victim to the belief that we were untouchable on our own soil.
I still apologize to my children. I am still haunted by the thought that "WE" should have seen this coming and that The Most Powerful Nation in the World could have prevented these attacks from happening. I was robbed of the ideals and principles I and others like me truly believed in; "NOT ON MY WATCH". Well, it was my watch. It did happen and no, time doesn't heal that wound.
We The People need to learn from our past that if we do not intend to complete the task, we should not take up the sword. I want my children's children to know the serenity that I slept with as a child. I was robbed of that. They were robbed of that and they don't even know how to begin to understand what it is they were robbed of.
I was robbed and it was so much worse than at gun or knife point.
