How I'm spending "My" day

Wow, how young AM I in this picture? If you must know, I was 21. (And, yes, I know it's an old grainy picture - lol) Ah, those were the days!

This photo popped to mine after taking myself to the movies today. Princess and I were slackers and stayed on the couch watching movies all morning (my mother's going to KILL me for not being in church, I'm sure!) Princess went to spend a few hours with idiot. I headed to the library to grab a couple things that I needed and then headed to the movie theater to watch United 93.

I can't contribute much to the other reviews that I have seen. It was good. Scary in it's accuracy. Having worked a commercial hijacking when I was on active duty, I can tell you this is exactly what happens. All the direct lines you have don't mean anything when nobody can figure out what's going on. And the movie ends on the note of stating that the military was not even informed that this flight had been hijacked until several minutes after it crashed.

So, back in the day when we had 6 bases under Huntress control sitting alert (and by that I mean, 2 planes sitting, weapons armed, pilots on base, and 2 more planes on standby at each base) would the military have been able to make any impact on the 9/11 situation? I honestly don't think so.

The situation was so unexpected. Controllers couldn't figure out what they were seeing. Rules of Engagement couldn't even be clarified because nobody "in the know" could get the President on the phone. When we sat alert in fear of Russian Bears attacking, things were a little different, but not much. We were prepared for an assault that we understood. Not for terrorism.

And I think the movie portrayed that. There were a couple times when I choked back a few tears - but I wasn't crying. Maybe I was too far into my military hat. I had butterflies in my stomach remembering the days when that was my job.

I have to recommend the movie to everybody though, if you don't go to the theaters, rent it when it comes on DVD. Buy it and show it to your children to remind them when they are teenagers that there are no guarantees in life. That America is a symbol of something so amazing and so great, that the symbols of it's freedom strike fear in those who don't understand it. Those who are so small and scared, those who see that they cannot hold onto their power much longer, those who think that America will somehow be bullied into a corner.......

We come together in the face of fear, we overcome, we fight back

God Bless America