On that gray September day, I woke up like any other, switched on the remote to see whether my Braves still remained on top of the Major Leagues and whether the Chargers would start Drew Brees or Doug Flutie as quarterback.
Strange, I thought, as I started my morning ritual of shaving, brushing and dressing. One of the twin towers was hit by an errant airplane. What kind of idiot would do that?
In the wardroom, I polished up my eggs and bacon while participating in the obligatory morning gossip with friends. How were the Padres doing?
Then I grabbed a mug of steaming java and leisurely strolled across the hangar bay to my office on the second level to start the day's work. Another normal day perhaps, or would there be some excitement?
When I arrived, my entire division of three journalists and a Senior Chief were horrified by what was on the news. The second tower was now ablaze and the sky all around southern Manhattan was filled with a huge plume of smoke. For the first time in a while, I started to cry. As expected, we would not be heading home that day. Our ship was assigned to watch over the skies of Southern California as part of Operation Noble Eagle.
Less than two months later, the 5,000 plus Sailors and Marines as part of the USS Stennis, Carrier Air Wing 9 and the Destroyer Squadron battle group would be heading towards the epicenter to hunt for Bin Laden and to destroy the Taliban.
We came really close to getting him. We believed that he was hiding in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora. F-14 and F/A-18 jets from Carrier Air Wing 9 attacked the Taliban stronghold in Tora Bora -- the Taliban forces was obliterated, but Bin Laden was no where to be found -- he had gotten away.
That is why, when I got home tonight after studying hard with classmates at George Washington University, I was shocked beyond words. What happened? Did DC finally win a professional championship?
It all started with jubilant students from George Washington, Georgetown, AU, George Mason, Maryland, Howard et al., who flocked to the White House to celebrate the good news. Despite it being finals week, no exam was as significant as real world events happening literally in front of us. Broadcast TV aired the amazing footage and social media gave it the spark to go viral.
