Throwback Thursday: Beautiful Disaster

Oh Baby C, I think its time for you to have the best history of my lifetime so far.

New York skyline pre-9/11

Almost ten years ago today everything was fine and dandy here in the United States.  Airline travel was relatively cheap and easy, New York had a skyline that no one could mistake, and so many people had happy and complete families.  On the morning of September 11, 2001 everything changed.

The face of evil

You see, there are people in the world that hate the United States and what we stand for.  They hate to see the prosperity and happiness and they make it their life's mission to invoke fear and misery on everyone possible.  One person, in particular, that is very passionate of terrorism is Osama bin Laden.  As an Islamist extremist and founder of al-Quada (a terror group formed in 1988-1989), he planned a very elaborate suicide attack on the American people.  At 8:46 a.m. the first American Airlines flight, full of people bound for California, crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower killing everyone on board.  At 9:03 a United Airlines flight, also bound for California, crashed into the South Tower on live television, revealing to the world that this indeed, was a terrorist attack.  Thirty minutes later, another American Airlines flight went down, crashing into the Pentagon and at 10:07 the fourth and final flight was taken down by its passengers in Pennsylvania.

This is an event that is so historical that anyone old enough to remember can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when this happened.  I was fifteen years old, a sophomore at Ravenscroft, sitting in my first period English class.  We were called into the auditorium for an emergency morning meeting where they informed us of the news.  I don't think I really got what was going on until I saw it on television.  What they told us was not completely accurate, they said that an airplane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers and that the top quarter was on fire.  When I proceeded to my next class I was told that the top quarter of the tower had fallen off (also not accurate) and that we think that this was a terrorist attack from either Iraq or Afghanistan.

South Tower falling

It was, indeed, a terrorist attack from the group al-Quada, founded by Afghani, Osama bin Laden.  The South Tower burned for thirty minutes before collapsing at 9:59 and the North Tower followed a half hour later at 10:28.  Nearly three thousand people lost their lives that day.  Firemen, policemen, and paramedics rushed into the building to save those that were injured in the initial crashes, the skyscrapers were full of people working, and the massive airliners were packed for their cross country trek.  For weeks upon weeks rescuers dug through the rubble looking for survivors or humanly remains.  They also searched for the airplanes' black boxes to gain any insight to what was going on in the final moments before the crashes.

The remains of the World Trade Center

AMERICA!

New York's skyline was forever changed, families worlds shaken and torn apart, and the United States ready to embark in a deadly war that would take the lives of many more.  President Bush made it his mission to find bin Laden and end his reign of terror.

Since I don't have a picture of him enlisted here is a picture
of Brian in the early years at West Point.

A month an a half after the deadly attacks on the United States your father enlisted in the Army.  He felt it his duty to do his part in defending our great country from terrorism.  After he finished training he was stationed in Germany before deploying to Iraq for the initial invasion into the middle east.  After being accepted to West Point, returning home, attending five years of school, officer training, and a year in Korea he deployed to the middle east again (Afghanistan)...nine years later.  This has been a brutal decade at war where the enemy is not in plain sight in a different uniform than you.  This has been a war of ambushes, hidden roadside bombs, suicide bombers, cell phone detonated bombs...it has been brutal creativity and at times is hard to tell the difference between enemy and civilian.

Brian en route to Afghanistan

Brian in a convoy in Afghanistan

Just shy of the ten year anniversary of the September 11 attacks a team of Navy SEALS found the evil mastermind and killed him in the mansion in which he was hiding.  May 1, 2011.  This is another day that people will remember forever, a day Americans celebrated and felt that mass unity once again.  A day where the streets of New York, Washington D.C., and the military academies broke into patriotic song and rioted once again...a good riot, a joyous riot.

Your father and I had spent an absolutely gorgeous day playing soccer, doing yard work, and cleaning the garage and house.  My mom called and told me to turn on the news because the president was about to speak (and if you know me you'll know that I was reluctant to do so because I have avoided his speeches since being elected).  For some reason I decided to turn on the news and find out what was going on (part of if was fear of getting involved in another war).  All of a sudden speculations were being thrown out that then confirm. OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD.  Roughly an hour later the president spoke confirming the news.  What a great day America, what a great day for the world!  The head of the snake called al-Quada had been removed and the world a safer place!

bin Laden's compound

Navy SEAL team 6 raided the compound in Pakistan that bin Laden had been living in for roughly five years. He made it clear that he would not be taken prisoner, and when he reached for his weapon a single SEAL shot him in the head and the chest.  I would love to buy that guy a beer.  He is a true American hero!

Bin Laden's body was taken to sea, given a Muslim ceremony, and then dumped into the ocean.  In part because no country would take his body and in part because they didn't want some evil Mecca for terrorists to journey to.  I would have set him ablaze, but that's just me.

Baby C, you are coming into a better world and hope that you can see here that the good guys always win!

That is your history lesson for the week and your Throwback Thursday!