[September 11, 2017] When we speak of past events it should be noted that people remember things differently and attach many levels of meaning and emotion to them. Like most of us in the United States, things changed for my military peers after the Islamic attacks on September 11, 2001 (aka 9/11).
For senior leaders 9/11 meant seeing a whole new world. First, the things that were obvious, that we were familiar with changed; the environmental changed … the speed, the scrutiny, the sensitivity of everything became fast, sometimes it evolved faster than people had time to really reflect upon it. Everything was in a different context.
Second, priorities were also changed. We move from a peacetime environment one minute without warning to a wartime footing the next. I was at the end of my tenure as a battalion commander and ready to move to my next assignment which was quickly switched from a state-side staff assignment to a combat tour in Iraq.
Third, the people that came to work for us also changed. Many of those currently working for us had hidden health problems and suddenly remembered those problems; they were quickly discharged but needed replacing. Those I worked with while in combat was not a group of hardcore Infantry grunts but men, women, young, old, and not just from the U.S. Army but from all the military services and organizations of all types. Most of those assigned to me were provided on just a handshake.
And fourth, probably the biggest change was the generational differences. I went to be with a Route Clearance platoon on an operation in central Iraq in 2006 to hunt for IEDs. On an earlier operation the platoon sergeant had lost about half his arm from an IED fragment. We talked about the operation, and then at the end I did what I often do with a unit and I asked, “Where were you on 9/11?”
One army Engineer Private in the back his hair tousled and his face red and windblown said “Sir, I was in the sixth grade.” It reminded me that we were operating with a force that needed a shared purpose and shared consciousness. Although our frames of reference differed, we were able to “connect” with those present and the difference it made amazed me.
Today, we should remember the radical Islamic terrorists who attacked a peaceful nation that day as those that would continue to do us arm. Also we are well to remember and honor those who were killed and their families; for they are the ones who pay the price for appeasement and mistakes of senior leaders.
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