It's Friday

It's Friday
While listening to the radio this morning I found out that the 9/11 destruction was nine years ago. We all say I can remember it as if it was yesterday but I can hardly believe it was almost a decade ago. I heard member where I was when I heard the news. My wife and I were on vacation in northern Maine; we were staying in a small camp in the northern Maine woods. It was early in the morning when we heard a knock on the door. When we open the door of the frantic neighbor told us what happened. When I tried to explain it to my wife I was sure that he was mistaken or that someone had gotten the story wrong. I kept remembering the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, when they thought Mr. Brady had been killed. He had been shot in the head and the TV had pronounced him dead, but later found out he was very much alive. I was sure this was going to be the case once again. We quickly packed and left the camp because it had no television or radio and we needed to hear it for ourselves. We drove about 15 miles to my wife's family's home where we watched the devastation for hours all the while hoping it was a mistake like the famous radio UFO scare, The Night That Panicked America. When it became evident that our country has been attacked by foreign terrorist group I called my squadron so I could return to work. The plans have not been made at a higher level so I was to remain on leave. I felt my hands were tied and I was very frustrated because I want to do my part in any way I could. But for now all I could do was wait for my turn to do what I was trained to do. We decided to come back to Kansas early in case the need should arise I would be ready to serve. It was the longest drive of my life; wondering how this could this have happened. It was especially troubling to think they attacked the Pentagon building. My mind was wondering where were all the defense systems I had heard about all of my life. We even had short range attack missiles at the local airport in Niagara Falls. I had always heard the same were in place surrounding the White House and Washington D.C. I also remember a 60 minutes interview from several years ago with a middle-eastern person who claimed our great White House was vulnerable to attack by airplane, I scoffed at the notion. I was young at the time and felt that we as Americans have the greatest defense system in the world and his comments were unrealistic bragging. Now it is come and gone by nearly a decade and are we really any safer than we were before the attack. Sure we have stepped up security tremendously but have we really it decreased our security threat. With you when I go to the airport and have to remove our shoes, how is that negating a security risk? If we truly are safer than how come it's only a matter of pure lock that folks like the crotch bomber did not destroy the airplane he killed many people? Is there an answer, if there is I certainly don't have one? But I would like to see more “true” defense measures that target the highest risks, not the average person.