WEBVTT

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On September 11 . I remember it very

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clearly , it was a beautifully clear

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day in southern Maine where I was

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flying from Portland airport

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to a conference near Bath whether near

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uh , Camden

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Maine . And strangely

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enough , I was actually at the airport

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at the same time that the terrorists

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originated in Portland Maine . That

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very same day . I was personally flying

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a rented aircraft to this conference .

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I flew to , uh , from Portland Maine to

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Bangor Maine to pick up a friend and

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then we flew from Bangor to a small

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grass strip near Camden . On the way ,

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I was under uh , control of boston

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center . Air traffic control and boston

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center , uh , put out , just broadcast

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everyone that there's been a hijacking

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somewhere in New England and my

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response was , well , I hope they're

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okay , but I'm flying assassin and main ,

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it probably has nothing to do with me .

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And then they said there's been a

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ground lock on all aircraft in New

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England and I figured , wow , I've been

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flying now for about 20 years and I've

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never heard of a ground lock must have

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to do with airliners . Doesn't have

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anything to do with me . Flying visual

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flight rules assessment and main . And

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then they finally said , we want all

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aircraft on the ground now . Well , I .

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And I flew past the control field in

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Camden that I should have to the nearby

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strip that was my destination , got on

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the ground , uh , safely and then went

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to the conference and then heard about

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what was happening about Towers

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collapsing and the attack of the

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Pentagon

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instantly , as soon as I heard that at

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the time I was a reserved chaplain . I

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had a small church in Saco Maine and I

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realized that my life was changed

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forever . I was attached to a main

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detachment of Bethesda Naval Hospital .

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So the first thing that was my

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responsibility to do was to call

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Bethesda Naval Hospital and find out if

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they were going to activate me or not

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when I did call . And I said , do you

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need me down there ? They said , boy ,

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do we need you down there and get , get

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down here to Bethesda as soon as you

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possibly can . It was several days

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later that I drove down I-95 past the

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big smoking hole in Manhattan . I saw

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that and then down to Bethesda Naval

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Hospital where we were involved in

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recovery efforts at the Pentagon . The

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whole experience was heart wrenching

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was particularly heart wrenching to go

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down to the pentagon and to see the

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nearby wall just with carpeted

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with well wishes with notes with

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teddy bears , different things , uh ,

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expressing people's sympathy and , and ,

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and grief . Uh , I was very moved at

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that time and I was very moved at that

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time to put in my package to come back

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on active duty . And really that's why

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I'm here now I came back on active duty

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to support marines , sailors , soldiers

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and airmen in combat . And so I'm

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absolutely where I want to be .

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You have to appreciate that when , when

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I joined the navy during the Cold War .

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And so I was prepared to go to war from

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the very beginning . But there was a

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significant period of time in between

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the Cold War and 2001 when we have many

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service members , uh , joined during a

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time when we called what we had the

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peace dividend when , when war was

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really inconceivable because the Cold

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War was over . And um ,

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uh , many people , uh ,

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join , not expecting to go to war . Uh ,

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I remember I had some service members

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come to me and say , chaplain . We , we ,

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uh , well , worried about having to go

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to war . We , we didn't join the

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military to go to war . And I screwed

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up as much compassion as I could . And

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I said , well , mate , you know ,

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that's kind of what we do for a living .

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You know , the , uh , young people now

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that are joining the service now since

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2001 have joined to go to war and

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you all are under no ,

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uh , no illusions

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that , that you're gonna , you're

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signing up to go to war . Things that

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were inconceivable to us prior to 2001

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are now conceivable to us . If someone

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had said that terrorists are going to

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fly to aircraft into the world . Trade

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towers and an aircraft into the

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pentagon , somebody would think that

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you were insane . You were conspiracy

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theorists along with people that go on

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about Roswell , but it's not that way

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anymore . And so I think America is

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increasingly vigilant . I think we're

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safer than , than we were before .

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However , I think we need to maintain

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our vigilance . That's why we're out

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here .

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I talked about this in chapel today

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and one of the things , the

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scripture that we had today talked

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about forgiveness . And I think it's

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important that when this war is behind

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us and with the people , it is behind

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us with , for instance , the Iraqi

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people , it's important that we , as a

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nation , are able to forgive our

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enemies and , uh , to express the same

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kind of forgiveness that we do in our

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own personal faith . And , uh , it's

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important as a nation . It's important

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as us , for us individually that we

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don't let these circumstances sour us ,

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that those who are the families of

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victims or the families of service

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members that have been killed or

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wounded , don't allow them to , to sour

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them . But instead of , uh , Try to

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figure out how God is opening up a

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range of possibilities that otherwise

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wouldn't be possible for me . I

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wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be here

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in uniform if it wasn't for 9 11