Remembering 911

Original Post Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I wrote this article exactly one year ago. I wanted to post it again to not forget what happened and to remember why US is over there right now.

I was deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia for Operation Southern Watch in 2001. My job was to provide security for US personnel stationed there. I had been there since June 5 and my last day of work had been September 10. On September 11 I was packing and cleaning my room because we were supposed to leave on the morning of the 13th. I had just finished and I went to the chow hall. That's when I started to watch the news and saw what was going on. At that point only one plane had hit the towers and we all thought it was an accident. I watched the second plane hit live. Then they hit the Pentagon. I went back to my room and started to unpack. My roommate noticed what I was doing, and asked why I was unpacking. I told him to go to the TV and turn it on. He asked what channel; I told him any channel.
We all knew it was an attack by some type of terrorist group. We went to our squadron to stand by for orders. They told us that we were on stand by and they would post us out tomorrow. Stand by meant we couldn't go anywhere, we had to wait at the dorms and always had to have our gear. We didn't know to how extensive this attack would be. A little known fact is that Iraq shot down one of our UAV's in Southern Iraq that day. At one point some of us started to think."What if Saudi Arabia is going to turn against us? Is Iraq going to take advantage of this attack? Was Saddam involved? Is the US going to get attacked every day like Israel does?"
This was my first deployment. I remember when they told me I was going to Saudi Arabia. I was wondering why we were still sending troops over to the Middle East. It was for Operation Southern Watch, which was supporting Cease Fire agreements against Saddam Hussein.
I also remember my first intelligence briefing about potential threats from terrorists. That was the first time I had ever heard about Al Qaeda but they weren't the only threat. Other threats included everything from a Third Country National who worked on base trying to get intelligence about the base to sell, to Saddam launching missiles at the base. Also the Khobar Towers Bombing, in which nineteen airmen died, was still fresh in the USAF's mind. A terrorist attack like that was the biggest threat against our base.
When I used to talk to pilots at the base, they told me how they used to get fired at by Saddam's forces. How they repeatedly had to engage targets in Iraq because Iraqi forces violated the sanctions or because they threatened them. I started to realize that the First Gulf War never really ended and there was an overgrowing threat in the Middle East that the majority of Americans didn't know about. I started to realize why they deployed me over to the Middle East. One of my Sergeants said it was because we were making sure that the threat that was over here didn't get to the US. That a Pearl Harbor attack didn't happen again. His words played in my head as I tried to fall asleep that night.
When I woke up, I thought it was a dream. They posted me in one of the towers guarding the perimeter. When night fell, I saw tracer fire. The control center said that the Saudis had told them it was celebration fire for a wedding. I wanted to believe that, but everyone in my sector knew what they were really celebrating.
My team didn't know what they were going to do with us. We were told to stay packed because they said there was a good chance they were going to forward deploy us. One of the biggest memories I have was going to the chow hall. I had gotten to know a Saudi Arabian that worked the short order line and he was a good guy. I used to talk to him when I was getting breakfast. I remember that after 911, I didn't say anything to him. I was mad at myself later because I realized I shouldn't have stopped talking to him.
We finally left because our home base was in need of manning. We were the last Security Forces team to leave for over a month. Some of us wanted to stay because we felt they needed us over seas more than in the States. When we flew out, they crammed us onto a cargo jet and the pilot did a "combat take off" which meant he turned off his lights and took off as fast as possible just in case of anti aircraft fire.
We got back to the states on the 22nd of September. They told us that our leaves were cancelled and to report to work the next day. It took awhile to realize what had happened to our country and how it would change my time in the military.

I have remember every place I have been every subsequent September 11 since then. On September 11, 2002 I was again on my way to the Middle East to be stationed at Masirah Island Oman. On September 11, 2003 I was on leave driving to my brother Shane's wedding in Missouri. On September 11, 2004 I was working on my base in Tucson. On September 11, 2005 it was my last day at work while I was stationed in Balad Iraq. On September 11 of last year I originally wrote this. On this September 11, I have just gotten back from Baghdad. I wanted to send this again so I won't ever forget how this day changed America. Sadly it seems that some people in this country have already forgotten what the overall policy of the "War on Terrorism" means to 911.

We can debate if Iraq was the good strategy in the overall war, and in retrospect I feel we should have waited to invaded Iraq and put more pressure on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Also to put more pressure on Pakistan about quelling support for Al Qaeda in its country's tribal areas. However there is no denying that Iraq is the central front on this War on Terror. Groups like Al Qaeda and countries like Iran are treated this like a Third World War. The US needs to use this day to remember that. In 90's we tried to appease the terror groups in that region. We thought if we tried to negotiate with Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries that preach hatred towards the US that we could avoid a war. 911 and the rhetoric that some leaders in that Middle East spew about the US should wake us up to the fact that that appeasement will never be an option.

On this day I reflect on a quote that one of my Senior Master Sergeants told when I was deployed in Balad. I don't remember the exact wording but it talked about what was at stake in Iraq. The person called Iraq a World War. He said that if the enemy won in Iraq that their cause was basically lost. The person who said that was Osama Bin Laden.