Here we are now 7 years later after our country suffered the worst attack ever on out own soil. Many people have been affected by the 911 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington DC. Today as our nation stops to remember and honor those who died and those who served to rescue and aid in the recovery and rebuilding after the 911 attacks, I wanted to take time and remember and honor them as well.

I remember the morning at my office where I worked in Becker, Minnesota as the I.T. Manager for a large furniture retailer. Our company server room was next to my office and I had a TV monitor on a shelf in the server room that I could see from my desk. In those days that TV was usually turned off. Early that morning a lady in the accounting office near my office rushed in saying that someone had just phoned her to tell her about an airplane that had just flown into one of the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

I quickly turned on the TV as most of the staff in our area of the building rushed into my office to watch FOX News. We were watching for maybe 6-7 minutes when all of a sudden the second tower of the World Trade Center complex burst into flames. We could not understand or believe what we were watching.

A little later reports were coming in about other possible planes piloted by more terrorists flying toward other locations. There was one reporter saying that an airplane might be headed towards the Sears Tower in Chicago but that proved to be falsh.

Then all of a sudden video switched from New York City to the Pentagon in Washington DC where a third airplane had now just slammed into the side of the Pentagon. Flames were shooting up into the air and people were running out of the building.

At the time of these attacks I was serving as a volunteer emergency amateur radio operator and as a volunteer with the Air Force Civil Air Patrol. As a volunteer “Ham” radio operator I had worked in several emergency drills for various terrorist attack and weather related emergency scenarios. Nothing in my training had prepared me for the level of disaster that I was watching that morning on September 11, 2001.

Just before noon my Civil Air Patrol commander phoned me to ask me to go to our squadron hanger in Anoka, Minnesota and get on our emergency radio net. Civil Air Patrol along with all the major US government agencies and the military organizations still operate and train on a High Frequency Emergency Radio system that can connect agencies, command centers, emergency operations centers and other served organizations of our government around the world. On September 11, 2001 this nations emergency radio network was activated… and it was not a drill.

Flag at Ground Zero

I know that I was affected for days after the attacks on 911. Like many others that I talked with, I was waiting for something else to happen. The question in my mind was… where next and would it be Minneapolis or somewhere else that would directly affect me.

To those who have served to rescue and help others after 911 and to our men and women who served and are still serving in our nations military I want to say Thank You and God Bless You. May we never forget that our country has enemies that wish to destroy us and our way of life. We need to pray for and support those who have sworn to protect and defend our country. We also need to pray that our leaders will always do what is best for our nation and keep it strong and secure.

I invite you to comment on this blog posting today or in the next couple days and share your story about where you were, what you were doing and how your were affected by the events of 911. Did you know people that were there in New York or Washington DC? Perhaps you or your family was directly affected by the loss of a loved one. Please take time to reflect and remember.