I didn't post yesterday, even though it was one of those days where I think a lot of people will have posted thoughts about the Global War on Terror, 9/11 and speculate as to whether or not what the US is doing now on the worldfront is right or wrongheaded.

Shrug.Frankly, I'm not sure. Blogs like Afghan Quest, CP, Sgt. Grumpy. Lt. Nixon or CI Roller's, I think they, and those like them, would offer more insightful ideas about what is or was done there and what impact it has had and will have. I cannot form as educated or experienced-based of an opinion. Figuratively, I sit at their feet, listen and try to learn.

I can say that it's easy to feel patriotic or righteously indignant when you see countryman falling out of burning buildings or planes being turned into giant, fuel laden missiles. I like millions of others did experience that. I feel terrible for those people who died and for those families whos' lives will never be the same. I can't imagine what they have had to live through in the eight years since. It's unfathomable.

I remember standing in my living room with Joanna, cherubic at four months old and riding my hip, while I answered the door to the Fedex lady with a smile that morning and watchimg her face change as she simultaneously looked over my shoulder at the TV behind me and morphed her face from a smile of equal measure to one of unequaled horror. I turned and we both stood on the threshold of my home and watched the television camera train on a plane as it cut through a tower. My facial expression then mirrored her own.

Time stood still.
It did.But it was an illusion.The continuum is never really broken.
Time moves us.It had to.It still has to.None of us still drive the roads with shoe polish sentiments on our car windows and flags or yellow ribbons flying off our antennaes.At the time there was nothing we collectively wanted more than retribution.

Outward exhibitions of such patriotism were seen which we as a nation hadn't experienced since the last World War.It was heady, visceral, but unsustaining.

Time has brought us to a point where now we need sustainment and the opportunity to maintain an awareness and a sense of focus on the matters at hand. Awareness reminds me of all the other sacrifices by those who serve our country in quiet, in obscurity, off camera.

There are clear and present matters at hand which should demand the same focus and passion, but do not come replete with the natural, communal shock and drive of the images and impact of that day, but I hold that they are of the same import and have the same lasting effects on our country and citizenry.

Families fragmented for months on end because of multiple deployments, marriages which struggle with the demons of fear, loneliness and infidelity and those that end in divorce.
Single parents who live day by day and fight these demons with often no one to talk to. They love their warrior so much they don't want to worry them of struggles at home so they just try to keep it together as best they can.

Those warriors who believe that they have no respite from the stress of combat for fear of the stigma of counseling and shame of not bearing up under the natural strains attached to serving their country.

Homes of Reservists which are lost because of foreclosure when the family income is cut in half--an Army engineer and a private engineer just don't pull down the same kind of income.

Children who only know their father or mother because of a picture or a voice on the phone and who struggle with attachment issues.

Guard members who come back and find that while they may have a job, they have lost seniority and payraises getting lost in the shuffle.

Airmen, sailors, coastguardsman, soldiers and Marines who wait for letters or mail out on edges of civilization-- who need to feel remembered and not forgotten so far from home and reminded that what they contribute has inherent long-affecting impact.

Warriors whos' bodies and minds come back irrevocably changed.
9/11 was one of those days where discord and tragedy were distilled into a couple of hours with a mind numbing Doppler effect. God rest all those souls who's cries were almost palpable due in part to the horrific scenes now burned into our minds. May they rest with the angels.

For those still alive and dealing with the aftermath whether by choice or circumstance, I believe we owe them the same ongoing awareness and whatever support we can offer.

It may not be as dramatic or palpable a rise in consciousness these more mundane sacrifices I have pointed out. Surely 9/11 represents a perspective of violence on innocents and an obvious psychic tearing of our country unparalleled in the 21st century thus far and may it continue to be so.

Still, let none of the struggles each human touched by this Global War on Terror eight years ago and through the years since be in vain. These struggles are just as collective and impacting on our country as those experienced on that September morning.

Never forget.Then and now.

Have been madly jobhunting and trying to keep up with my guys and gals flung all over. Not the best blogger. Lots of boring reasons BUT suffice to say I will be kind enough to not bore you and will give you this link so you can go check out the whole story behind the big toaster and crock pot drive. It starts with this pain in the ass 1st Sgt who I love like my 5th kid and often want to kill like one of my own, too.

)i vey!
and I'm not even Jewish!

Check it out over at Castra Praetoria.