9/11 BTTT
Posted on 09/11/2003 4:44:00 AM PDT by sauropod
Today starts the rememberances of that horrible day. The news is full of interviews with people directly affected by the tragedy perpetrated by the enemies of America. Pain is writ large across the fruited plain as the scab is peeled off once again.
On the date of September 11, 2001, at 8:45 AM, I was working in a room that had bars across the windows and a combination lock on the door. No TV, no radio. A co-worker wandered by and told me that "a jetliner had crashed into the World Trade Towers." I thought he was joking and told him so.
Wandering out into the hallway and into the conference room (where there was a TV) I watched with horror with about thirty other people as the event unfolded. I had to turn away after about five minutes.
At lunchtime, I found out what happened at the Pentagon. I have friends that work in "the building" as it is commonly called.
Driving home that day, I heard about the "car bomb" that was supposedly planted in front of the State Department (remember that?).
I drove the hour to where my kids attend school to get them out of that building and home safe. I was not the only one.
As the days unfolded, I watched with maudlin fascination all that happened. The round-the-clock coverage. The news reports that included the places to send supplies to those helping to recover the quick and the dead at both these places.
I also followed with interest what happened with Flight 93. I heard about Todd Beamer and his last words, "Let's Roll." He and the actions of his fellow patriots made me proud to be an American once again.
Then the world crashed in.
About two weeks after 9/11, a co-worker wandered into my office and told me, "Jerry's missing."
I turned white as a sheet. LTC Jerry Dickerson, U.S. Army worked in the basement of the Pentagon (at least the last time I saw him). I simply could not believe what I was being told.
Jerry was one of those guys you go to when you needed to find out who to go see about getting something done or finding a specific piece of information with regards to weapons programs, acquisition policy, etc. He was a "go to" guy.
Jerry came from Mississippi and never left the Southern drawl behind him, nor his sardonic sense of humor.
I contacted the office where Jerry used to work and inquired about the news I had received. They were in shock as much as I was.
As his death was confirmed, the War on Terror took on a personal dimension for me.
Fast forward to 29 September 2001. The A.N.S.W.E.R. crowd came to rabble rouse in D.C., supposedly pre-emptively protesting against the upcoming war in Afghanistan against the Taliban. This was my first experience with hard leftists in significant numbers. There were several thousand of them and about 150 to 200 of FReepers and patriotic passers-by counter-protesting. D.C. Chapter Co-leader Kristinn gave a short speech prior to the counter-protest detailing the fact that this was the first time that the Left had been actively counter-protested. He recounted what had happened in Seattle and Genoa, Italy with the people opposed to globalization (they are not really opposed to globalization as long as it is they that are in control). The cameras from Reuters, and Japanese TV were rolling.
A leftie argued with several of us for about half an hour before the action really began. I asked him what he would tell Jerry's wife. What would he say to her? He replied that he had nothing to say to her, what about the 3,000 that died in Afghanistan as a result of American action?
This response sickened me. It exposed the Left for what they truly were.
Fast-forward to winter 2001. The D.C. Chapter maintains a vigil and a memorial site on a berm facing the Pentagon commemorating the 189 people that died there that day. Including Barbara K. Olsen (FReeper BKO). Including another FReeper (Captain, do not remember his name right now, but his photo is in the FReeper photo album). And I printed out and got laminated a picture of Jerry along with a short history of his accomplishments for the memorial.
I have seen the security camera that caught the images of the plane hitting the Pentagon, flying over the concrete helicopter pad outside the side of the Pentagon facing Arlington Cemetary. It still gives me chills every time I see it. I think about what it must be like to be burned alive.
Fast forward to Winter 2001. Tri-State Chapter Christmas party at Moran's in lower Manhattan. Before the party, my girlfriend and I walked over to Ground Zero. My reaction at seeing all that I saw was a cold fury. Over what the Islamofascists had done. Over the trinket vendors that defiled a site merely to make a buck. Over the vast majority of people that I saw that treated Ground Zero as merely another tourist attraction. I am still mad about it.
Fast forward to September 10, 2003. A new tape of Bin Laden. Saying he was glad about 9/11. Rubbing our face in it.
If it were within my human power to do so, I would strangle that son of a bitch with my bare hands.
Thank you for putting up with this vanity. I just had to get this out.
"Jerry, this Bud's for you."
9/11 BTTT
Pictures of the Pentagon
Again, I'm so sorry for you. It's hard enough to lose someone to natural causes...losing someone like this is just...wrong.
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