6 years ago today...

A group of suicidal fundamentalist extremist Muslims under the control of one Osama bin Laden hijacked 4 commercial airliners with desitinations within the United States. 2 of the 4 were flown in to the North and South towers of the World Trade Center, fatally crippeling them, causing their collapse and the subsequent murder of over 3,000 unarmed American civilians. Another plan was flown in to the pentagon in Washington D.C. making this attack a truly military style attack. The members of United Flight 93 (forgive me if the flight number is not correct) heard of these other plans and decided to do something most Americans wouldn't think they could do. In order to save the lives of many more innocent people, they risked their lives to retake the plane, unfortunately leading to the crash of their flight in an open field. These passengers, the volunteers in NY/Washington, the firefighters, military, police, everyone who risked their lives (and some gave their lives) to save those that could be saved durring this horrible tradgedy are the greatest American hero's that I can think of. Today we remeber these people and the sacrifices they made, and of the vicious attacks against our nation as well as the resolve of our people to punish those responsible.

I almost forgot about it being Sept 11th today, as most days go around here. It is hard to keep track of days and dates and this one, probably one of the most significant in my life, almost passed me by. It is not just significant to myself. I work with many people that enlisted out of NY and NYC who all have very personal connections to this event. Even myself, at the time all the way in Alamogordo, NM was connected, for one of my friends father was on the plane that struct the 2nd Tower. The military has its roots today in that event, for 95% of people in the Armed Forces today, I would be willing to say, attribute Sept 11th, 2001 as one of their reasons for enlisting in the military.

I wish I could say there was something special today. That unlike all the other days, today had purpose or meaning, or that it was honored in some way deserving of this day. Unfortunately I can not. I can say that I spent the first hours of this day watching out the opening in my guard tower, trying to keep myself awake as my shift slowly passed. Once I was done, I spent the rest of my waking time picking up trash. Not just my trash, in fact the trash of the Iraqi Police (who dont understand the concept of trash cans) so that things could look nice for some VIPs that came by. Afterwords I was exhausted and passed out, waking up just a little bit ago. Again I had forgetten the significance of today, until I got online and it slapped me in the face. I feel shameless for forgetting a day of importance to our great nation. Wish I had something better to say, or more profound to announce, but I dont. I simply have my thoughts and prays for everyone, family, friends, our nation and the other nations affected by this tradegy. God bless you all and may our heros never be forgotten!!