MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin

> I was in the Army at the time, having served as part of a DART (Downed Aircraft
> Rescue Team). We watched the second plane as it happened on a secure feed, and
> assumed we would be needed and started scrambling to deploy there to rescue
> survivors... that we would get the call to deploy seemed obvious... but after the
> towers collapsed they told us to stand down! The expected "overwhelmed responders"
> never happened... That was stunning that the wreckage was so absolute and complete,
> the number of "injured" in need of rescue was negligible... by in large people were
> either out alive... or not.

Wow. Well, regardless, thank you for your time in the service. If there is anything good that could have come from this, I think it's that those of us here in the USA appreciate and respect the servicemen and women, military and civil, that are willing to offer up their lives to protect us all. My father served 20+ years in the Navy during the Cold War. He was away at sea in every ocean in the world for 6 months at a time helping to defend our country. As a child, I never thought much of it. Once the event from ten years ago happened, I really thought about what he did and gained a lot of respect for him. When I awake tomorrow morning/afternoon, I will certainly be calling him to thank him for all that work. (I realized once I thought about it how many promotions and advancement he turned down just for me. I came down with Type I Diabetes at a very young age while he was out to sea. He was asked to move to various Naval bases around the country, but refused to do so in order for me to stay with the same doctors and remain in the same schools where I would be known and safe. At one point, he had to move up to Portsmouth, NH and commute home on the weekend in order to keep me where I grew up. I never really got a chance to thank him for that, but I'll be sure to do so tomorrow).

What I'm hoping for ten years later is that the horrific events from September 11th, 2001 have done the OPPOSITE of what those cowards wanted. It brought our country together, made us more patriotic than ever, and made us respect our military, police officers, and firemen/women like we never have before. The celebrations and unity that was shown around the country when Bin Laden's death was announced will forever sit in my head as one of the happiest moments of my life. (Up there with the way my grandmother cried when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. She emigrated from Germany to the US right before WWII broke out, and had half her family in East Germany, and half in West Germany. It was always difficult for her to get to see all of them due to how strictly the border was held. I was only 9 years old when the wall fell, but I knew that I was witnessing something historic when it happened. It just so happened that my grandmother was visiting us when that happened. I've never seen someone so overwhelmed with grief, sadness, happiness, exhilaration, and relief all at the same time.)

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I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.