9/11 to me: Cassidy Troutman
As a member of the next generation, which wasn’t alive on September, 11, 2001, 9/11 happens to have a big impact on my life.
On, September 11, 2001, I was not alive; however, my uncle was a firefighter at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina. He remembers the day moment by moment. He remembers being under a Threat Condition Delta and rushing to get his wife and daughter to bring them to the fire station with him.
The terrorist attacks on September 11 have shaped our country’s national security, forever. Before 9/11, you could go to the airport and not get bombarded by security guards to be checked for anything that could potentially be a way to harm others. Now, you go to the airport and have to go through several security checkpoints to make sure you do not have any items that could harm others.
Before 9/11, you could wake up every morning and not have to worry about the dangers of terrorism that comes each day. People wake up now and go to work with the thought of being hurt or killed by another terrorist attack on our country. Now, we wake up every single day worrying about our soldier’s over-seas fighting and risking their lives to try to stop the acts of terrorism. There are thousands of soldiers who wake up and start their day off by getting armed to go patrolling the surrounding areas for possible threats to our country.
Before 9/11, my uncle lived on Pop Air Force Base. However, soon after he found himself on an Air Force base in Afghanistan. He was one of the soldiers that were sent over-seas to defend our country against the terrorists that were behind these attacks. After one long day during his deployment, his base was under a missile strike. My uncle was a trained as a responder at the time, so he had to step up and help the injured. Some were fellow colleagues and others were close friends.
Even though I was too young to know what had happened, I still had to face the fact that my uncle is stuck with those memories to this day.
I wasn’t there, but I have to have that thought of my uncle almost dying to defend us from these terrorist attacks.