WEBVTT

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yeah ,

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On September 11 , 2001 . I was at my

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first duty station in Okinawa Japan . I

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was talking on the phone to one of my

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friends and I was watching TV the FN

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and I was wondering , I had asked on

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the phone what movie is it that has

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plane slamming into the World Trade

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Center around uh seven o'clock in the

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morning . She woke me up and said ,

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wake up the terrorist attack the

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United States . And uh at the time I

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was the acting uh battery option for

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Sierra battery 5 11 . I was sitting on

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my computer watching the news that

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morning , getting ready to go to work .

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Uh , I remember watching the tower burn .

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Uh , I thought it was a movie is like ,

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that's not very funny movie . And it

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turned up the news and I found out it

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was like , it was real september 11th .

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I was a freshman in high school and uh

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being on the west coast , I was just

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getting out of bed brushing my teeth .

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And I remember my mom came in in the

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room and said , hey plane just hit the

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World Trade Center and I was thinking

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it was , it was a , you know , a little

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piper cover maybe like a corporate jet

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or something that had gone off course

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and came out and saw the video of it .

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And I started thinking and this is

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something bigger . You know , started

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realizing this is this is a historic

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moment in the morning of 9 11 . I was

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currently at the Communications chiefs

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of course out of 29 palms California .

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We had just conducted Bt and we're the

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Bt recovery at the news going on . So I

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keep up with current events and uh

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there was a news flash in which an

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aircraft had flown into the north tower

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of the twin towers in new york city .

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As I drove into work , my wife called

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me and let me know that the second

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trade tower had been hit and I knew at

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that point that professionally and

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personally uh for myself and my family ,

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the life was going to change . A good

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buddy of mine . Uh we had gotten up to

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pt in the morning so it was like six

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o'clock on the west coast and you know ,

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we turned on the tv and then the first ,

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the first plane had already hit the

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north tower and then , and then he was

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from new york . So we kind of like ,

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you know had more interest than we

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would have had been somewhere else .

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And then and then we sat there and

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watched the second plane impact . It

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wasn't until Peter Jennings was talking

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on the , on the T . V . With the twin

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towers in the background that the

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second aircraft flew into the southern

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tower and that's when it just , it just

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made no sense at all that to aircraft

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will fly into , you know , to both of

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the towers and at that moment , you

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know , I think we all knew is America

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that something was wrong

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instantly as soon as I heard that at

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the time I was a reserve chaplain , I

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had a small church in socko me 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 need

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me down there ? They said boy do we

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need you down there and get get down

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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 with us the naval

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hospital where we were involved in

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recovery efforts at the Pentagon . Mhm .

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It was pretty interesting and if you

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have been um crd you always have that

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constant sound of all the planes being

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there at the , at the airport in san

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Diego , that's right next door to the

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fence and and we started hearing the

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planes like shut down and all of a

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sudden you know the everything got

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really quiet down the recruit depot

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which never happened . So it kind of a

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little bit of a surreal , a surreal

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environment . I flew to from Portland

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Maine to Bangor Maine to pick up a

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friend and then we flew from Bangor to

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a small grass strip near Camden on the

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way I was under the control of

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boston center . Air traffic control and

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boston center put out just

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broadcast everyone that there's been a

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hijacking somewhere in New England .

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And my response was , well , I hope

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they're okay but I'm flying assessment

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and main , it probably has nothing to

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do with me . And then they said there's

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been a ground lock on all aircraft in

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New England and I figured , wow , I've

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been flying now for about 20 years and

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I've never heard of a ground block must

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have to do with airliners . Doesn't

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have anything to do with me . Flying

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visual flight rules assessment and main .

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And then they finally said we want all

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aircraft on the ground now .

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Mhm . Yeah ,

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mm . Mhm .

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Mhm . Mhm . Yeah .

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Yeah . I talked about this in

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chapel today and one of the

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things the scripture that we had today

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talked about forgiveness . And I think

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it's important that when this war is

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behind us and with the people it is

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behind us with for instance , the Iraqi

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people , it's important that uh that we

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as a nation are able to forgive our

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enemies is a christian . And yeah ,

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someone who tends to be four looking ,

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you know , I'm really not into revenge .

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And so this is not about really revenge

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for me is about preventing the next

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attack . I always remember this day ,

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not only as a day that I came in the

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Marine Corps , but as the day where it

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changed the face of how we fight and

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what we're doing in the military . I

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traveled around the world when I left

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Afghanistan 30 years ago and I found uh

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United States a better place to live .

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And I believe in american value in

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american constitution and it's my

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responsibility to defend it and pass

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that to my Children . We knew that the

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game has changed and it was going to

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fundamentally affect everybody's life

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and certainly has a there's a military

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professional and infantry officer . You

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knew that you know that someday it

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would would uh that would play out in

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some foreign land somewhere . And of

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course it did a number of times . Mhm .

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I'm not quite sure if uh if people

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really do forget I haven't forgotten .

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I know thousands of americans are all

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over America and I know millions more

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around the world hasn't forgotten . Uh

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the american servicemen and women that

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have made the sacrifices to keep our

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country free . We haven't forgotten . I

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think we memorialize or young men and

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women uh every day by by putting this

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uniform on and going out and doing the

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toughest of things and then you know

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the great parents and loved ones that

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we leave back that has given your most

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prized position , your flesh and blood ,

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your sons and daughters to help protect

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our country now . We haven't forgotten .

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So we haven't forgotten .

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Yeah . Mhm .

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Mhm . Mhm .

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Mhm . Yeah