story4837.xml

story4837.xml

born-digital

story

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no

2002-09-11

I had spent September 10, 2001, helping my son Jonathan get ready to fly to Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, TX, to complete his F-16 crew chief training. His orders from the Colorado Air National Guard were unexpected, and we were scrambling to get the ranch he and I lived on ready for him to be gone for 6 months. After a hectic day of getting him packed and driven to Denver, he called back that night to let me know that he was there safe and sound. He related a strange incident that had happened to him that day at DIA. He had been ordered to fly in uniform, so he was surprised when a Marine LT came up to him and asked him what he was doing in uniform on a civilian flight. The Marine told him that he wasn't suppose to be in uniform because of the danger to him should something go wrong on a flight, such as a terrorist hijacking or something. He then told Jonathan how to hide his military ID so that it wouldn't be found should a search of passengers be initiated and gave him some other information along the same line. We laughed a little about it and I said, "Well, I hope you never need to know about that first hand!"
The next morning, I was lying in bed watching the local 6:00 am news show when it was interrupted by the national NBC news show, announcing a calamity occurring at the World Trade Center. When the second plane crashed as I was watching, and the terrorist angle was being discussed, all I could think was, "And I just gave my only son to my country." My second thought was, "And neither he nor I would have it any other way."
Today, as I watched the F-16s from Buckley fly over during Sterling, Colorado's beautiful memorial service, I felt a great pride in knowing that those planes were up there because my precious son, and others like him, had helped launch them into the air and would be responsible for making them safe to fly the next sortie--hopefully, just another training mission or memorial fly-over, but knowing that they would be ready to defend our nation at a moment's notice.
Later that day, I went to my teaching job at a correctional institution. I worried what I would say if any of those "hardened criminals" said anything about my beloved country in a negative way. They were crying and consoling me and worrying about Jonathan because they knew that my son had just left for the Air Force the day before.
My prayers continue to be with the survivors, the families of the fallen, and for our leaders as we continue to seek those who dare try to destroy this wonderful country. God bless them all and the USA.