Where were you on September 11, 2001 and how has it changed your life?
I was in Jacksonville, NC enjoying my last day of a two-week leave period (vacation), sitting on the couch watching The History Channel.
My mother-in-law called and said to turn on the news, as a plane had hit the WTC.
I switched channels and watched for a few minutes before seeing the second plane hit.
WTF? Confusion. Denial. Can this be real?
Then a report came in that the Pentagon had been hit.
I left the house to go pick up my son at daycare; I didn't know what was going on, but I wanted us to all be together.
The duty officer called at about 3pm and said to come into work.
I got home that night around 10pm.
Nine days later I was on the USS Shreveport for a regularly scheduled deployment.
By early December we had landed via C-17 at FOB Rhino.
I was among the first conventional units that convoyed to Kandahar airport.
How did it change my life?
It is very clear that there is a group of people out there who will stop at nothing to kill
me (and probably you too) because their prophet says to "smite the necks" of the non-believers in order to make the world an Islamic Empire governed by Sharia law.