[September 11, 2016] At dawn 15 years ago I was part of an Air Assault training mission at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. When my military unit boarded the Black Hawk helicopters we were a nation a peace; when we completed our training event mid-morning, we were at war. The day after the 9/11 attack, I thought to myself how strange it was that we could be in a struggle so quickly without warning.
Our military had been training to fight conventional wars; tank on tank battles, advanced fighter jets hitting targets in the enemy’s rear, our Navy protecting allied coastlines, etc. But never did I or any of my friends in even the smartest think tanks believe we would enter a war with a non-state terrorist organization that had the fortitude to take on a nation with the world’s most powerful military.
“Our enemies have made the mistake that America’s enemies always make. They saw liberty and thought they saw weakness. And now, they see defeat.” – George W. Bush, President of the United States
I’ve been trained to think the unthinkable, overcome unknown unknowns, fight the enemy eyeball to eyeball and yet I got it all wrong about Islamic terrorism. Most of us thought their conflict would remain confined to the Middle East and parts of Africa. Yep, I suffered the classic failure to predict what would later become so obvious to our Intelligence staff and then to us, the military leadership.
It required us to think differently, transition to new styles of leadership, communicate in ways we never had before, and fight on a battlefield and time and place of the enemy’s choosing. Despite our initial surprise – a few in the CIA and our special forces were not surprised – we recovered quickly. It didn’t take long to figure out who was responsible for the attacks on the American homeland and our fighting forces quickly traveled to Afghanistan to take the fight to the enemy.
Now 15 years later, I still look back in amazement at my ignorance (yes, that’s the right word) and my surprise at the ferocity of the attacks. The American military was quick on the offensive; the only way to fight a determined enemy who is willing to die for their cause.
What were you thinking the day after 9/11?
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