Last week we passed the anniversary of 9-11, but it is still fresh in my mind. Unless you were a small child, every American remembers where they were on 9-11 when we were attacked by terrorists. I lived on the West Coast and remember waking up and turning on my computer to read the headlines that a plane had flown into one of the towers. It made it sound as if it were a small plane. Having been a pilot of small aircraft I tried to figure out what happened? How could you miss seeing the massive skyscraper in NY. Was is a student pilot? Did someone have a stroke or heart attack?
I decided to turn on the news and find out more details. The TV anchors were frantically trying to get updates, the details changed moment by moment, but they were now reporting it was a commercial jet. As I watched the TV in disbelief, I had a sickness in my stomach, then live on National news I watched as the second plane flew into another of the twin tours. The gruesome reality of what was going on and the fear that we were under attack sent Americans into a state of panic, anger, and shock.
Tears flowed down my cheeks as I cried out to God to protect us and comfort those who would begin to receive final phone calls, and accepting that their loved ones were in those buildings and probably dead. Then we learned of two more planes controlled by terrorists determined to inflict more pain, destruction and death on America.
All three of my children were serving or their spouse was. I quickly tried to make calls to them to see if they were ok but to no avail. Phone lines were busy or down.
My oldest son Kristofer was serving in the Marines and in Okinawa, Marc was finishing his basic training in the Navy and was in Pensacola, my son-in-law had just completed OCS in the Army and was stationed at Fort Knox, and my brother was in Florida at Homestead AFB.
Four of my family members were proud to be defenders of our freedom and I could see the handwriting on the wall. I knew that the odds were that at least one of them would probably be involved in a military conflict.
No one could have foretold that each one of them would be deployed overseas numerous times or that Marc, now a Navy SEAL, would sacrifice his life defending the attacks from that horrific September day in 2001.
As a nation we would have never guessed that twelve years later we would still be at war, or that many of our brave warriors serving would be deployed over and over, some 7, 8, 9, 10 times, or that we would have lost over 5,000 of our troops.
Freedom is not free. Our troops swore an oath to defend us and our constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, and they have paid dearly.
We watched this ruthless enemy attack our Embassy in Benghazi last year on 9-11, murdering our Ambassador and Sean Smith.
Navy SEALS Ty Woods and Glen Doherty without regard for their own lives responded to the crisis and went in to rescue Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith. Our government refused to send in help and after 7 hours fighting the enemy they were killed defending America and the freedoms we hold dear.
Glen Doherty and Ty Woods
Congress is facing the decision of whether to authorize the President to attack Syria. Our troops are weary, we lack leadership that will give our troops rules of engagement or equipment to be successful in Afghanistan.
One year later and we are still faced with a cover up as to what happened in Benghazi and no one has been held accountable.
We have heard from top leadership, the President and cabinet members repulsive comments. "What difference does it make?" or "It's just a bump in the road." President Obama was willing to draw a red line for Syria but when the red line was drawn with Americans blood in Libya, he headed to a fundraiser, and continues to ignore or reveal the truth.
Those who have served in the military have a standard that they never leave a fallen brother behind. As Americans we have left our brothers behind. We owe it to each and every one of our warriors who gave their lives defending our freedoms and their families, we owe it to Ty, Glen, Sean and Ambassador Stevens, we owe it to those innocent Americans who were murdered on 9-11 and their families.
We must speak out on their behalf, they lost their voice with their final gasp of air.
Last week on the anniversary of 9-11 I spoke at a Memorial Service on the Capitol steps in Tallahassee, Florida to remember the loss of lives. Then I was in D.C. to support legislation that Duncan Hunter introduced to get the Congressional Gold Medal for Glen Doherty and Ty Woods. These were Marc's "brothers", they went above and beyond and we need to honor their sacrifice.
Remember the innocent lives that were taken from us by evil terrorist with no morals. Remember those who stood up to defend America and proved their love for you and America by sacrificing their lives. Don't take anything for granted, evil men still wish to destroy America and the values and freedoms we hold dear.
Please pray for our nation that we will once again become one nation under God.
Remembering...
Sincerely,
Debbie Lee
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Glen Doherty and Ty Woods
