Sept. 11, From A Former Marine: "One Thing People Should Not Disagree On Is The Strength And Courage Of Our Young Men And Women"

As the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks approaches, Patch is remembering the day through the eyes of Vienna with a series of memoirs and reflections from local officials, police and fire personnel, veterans and residents of town.

They'll offer a glimpse of what Sept. 11 meant for Vienna and how life here has changed in the decade that followed.

Sept 11, 2011: Veteran and Trace Jenkins

Ten years ago I was stationed at Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany, Georgia. 

While I have some very strong memories of September 11th, what I think of the most when I reflect on the past ten years is the strength of the American People as epitomized by young Marines. 

I deployed twice. Once in 2003 for 10 months and the second time in 2005 for seven months; both times with units under the 2d Force Service Support Group out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 

During each of these deployments I saw attitudes and actions from the Marines I worked with any parent would have been proud of. Two episodes in particular stand out. 

In the spring of 2003 a contractor had just erected a temporary warehouse, and we had started moving our supplies into it.  Before this, we had been issuing supplies directly out of 20’ ISO containers spread across acres of desert. This was a difficult and time consuming process, so we were all excited to get our supplies into a facility in order to improve efficiency. The contractors had just made the warehouse available to us when we were hit with a terrible wind storm. The storm destroyed the warehouse as well as blew away our living tents.  After that terrible night, the Marines immediately started the task of cleaning up the mess; there was no whining or feeling sorry for themselves - they just went to work.

The second episode was during this same time. You may recall at the beginning of the war, Iraq fired numerous missiles into Kuwait. Each time a missile launch was detected, we had to don our chemical attack equipment and move to bunkers until the All Clear was sounded. For several days we were getting very little sleep because we were working during the day, and these missile launches prevented us from getting much sleep at night. I remember during one missile alert watching the Marines respond. Again, they were operating on very little sleep, and they just responded in a professional manner without complaining or panicking.

As we reflect back on the past 10 years, I know people have differing opinions about how our nation responded to the attacks.  One thing people should not disagree on is the strength and courage of our young men and women.