Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Twenty-four years ago this week, the world changed when terrorists hijacked four civilian airliners and turned them into weapons of war. Their cowardly acts killed nearly 3,000 Americans and launched a global war on terror that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 7,000 U.S. servicemembers and left more than 53,000 wounded.
The world watched in horror that clear September morning as airliners smashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a rural Pennsylvania field. Faced with the largest terrorist attack on American soil in history, people were scared; they were angry. For others—including many of the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives in the years that followed to wage the subsequent war on terror—the attacks were a call to serve.
Enlistment and commissioning in military service surged, as did American pride. Red, white and blue signs emblazoned with “United We Stand” adorned windows across the country. Flags waved from overpasses, and a sense of togetherness united Americans as people cast aside differences in political parties and demographics and came together as people. We were all Americans, and we had all been attacked.
I’ll never forget that morning. I was in California on active duty as a public affairs soldier when I received a call from a local television station asking what the Army’s response was going to be and what it would mean for where I served—the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. It was the first I had heard of the attacks, and in the following hours, days and months, we—along with so many across the country and around the globe—made significant changes to protect our people and rose to meet the needs of a post-9/11 America.
Less than three years later and just more than a year after finishing my enlisted service, I volunteered to serve in Iraq as a civilian spokesperson for the Army’s reconstruction effort. The spirit that united America in the wake of 9/11 was omnipresent in the team I served alongside—a team committed to working with the Iraqi people to bring new electricity generation to the population oppressed under the reign of Hussein. Led by then Brig. Gen. Tom Bostick (one of the greatest leaders I have ever served alongside who would go on to earn his third star before retiring in 2016), the team traveled nearly every day to sites across the country, breathing new life into dilapidated infrastructure. Once again, despite all the challenges of operating in a warzone, we were united—no politics, no divisive issues—just people working together to make a difference and make the world a safer, better place.
Today, nearly a quarter of a century later, the sense of unity that brought us together in the wake of the horrific attacks appears fleeting. Too often America finds herself divided by politics and issues of the moment. The “United We Stand” spirit has faded, and the service of those who answered the call is too often overlooked.
It’s time to restore what once brought us together as Americans: freedom, patriotism, service and a collective commitment to advancing something far greater than ourselves. Let’s honor the service of the men and women who answered the call to protect and defend this great nation. Let’s recognize our differences, focus on solutions and define the next chapter of American history with a new era of “United We Stand”—one built on purpose, unity and prosperity for all.•
__________
Frazier is president of IBJ Media. Reach him at [email protected].
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
