story8755.xml

story8755.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-12-16

Question 1:How did you witness history on September 11th? Share you experience.

I was a professor teaching at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk. I was teaching a group of twenty military officers war planning and we were actually talking at that time about the unconventional threats that we might face if we happened to go overseas. Little did we know that that was happening. Right in the middle of class someone came running through the hallways saying a plane hit the World Trade Center turn on CNN. So we all sat there and watched as the second plane hit, and at that point when the second plane hit we knew it was terrorists and then we started to hear about the events of the Pentagon unfolding and we actually all felt helpless because being in the military we all would have liked to be able to have done something to stop all of this but we could only watch it unfold on TV. So there was a lot of frustration and incredulousness as we watched this.

Question 2:Has your life changed because of September 11,2001? If so, tell us how.

Immediatly following 9-11 instead of being a professer I was secunded to the Joint Forces Command and worked home land security crises action team, so for the next ninety days instead of working my usual teaching job which was Monday-Friday, I had to work seven days a week for twelve hours a day on homeland security planning and issues. So it immediatly affected me like that and most recently in teaching and security procedures and just basically the way we teach our entire approach to war has changed where the Department of Defenses number one priority is now homeland security.

Question 3:What do you think should be remembered about September 11th?

What I think should be remembered about September 11th is that there are people out there who like to bring us down and that even though that we need to engage, well not engage, but we need to understand all of the other people out there. Therefore not necessarily become their friends even though you would like that, but because some of them will just not let that happen but to understand them so we can then understand why they want to attack us, how they want to attack us so we can protect ourselves. So what we need to do is to learn how to protect ourselves.

Question 4:Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag chaned as a result of September 11th?

As a member of the United States Military we most often did have a flag flying, but now we ensure we have one. And my feelings about the flag have always been strong and 9-11 has even strengthened the feelings for the flag. I can remember in high school having strong feelings when they played the Star Spangled Banner before sporting events and I still have those same feelings today. Even more so I believe in the freedom that America stands for because I have been a sponsor of international officers from over 20 countries and have traveled throughout most of the world I've seen that most people do not have the same liberties and potentials for fulfillment that we offer in the United States if they want to take it.