|
Home / Presidents Perspective - 2001 / My, How Things Have Changed Since Last Christmas |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
My, How Things Have Changed Since Last Christmas |
|
|
|
Written On: December 14, 2001 |
|
|
|
In America, we have been blessed for a long, long time. War and terrorism were something that happened only on foreign soils—that is, until September 11 when it struck home.
This Christmas, things in the United States are very different. If you’ve flown in the last three months, you know what I mean. Soldiers with loaded weapons now guard security checkpoints throughout the nation’s airports. Even in Moses Lake, where Big Sky Airlines flies commuter routes to Seattle, Spokane and Portland, there are armed National Guardsmen.
At Ft. Lewis and McChord Air Force Base in western Washington, security is tight. There are armed guards with M-16 rifles posted at the gates, and Humvees topped with machine guns are positioned to stop any “gate crashers.” These aren’t “play rifles,” they are the real thing.
What we are now experiencing has been a way of life for most Europeans for years. I remember one of my last military trips to Germany in December, 1984. As commander of a small Washington National Guard unit, I was sent to Heidelberg to make preparations for our unit to participate in a month-long military exercise.
Walking off the airplane in Frankfurt was like entering into a different world. Security was extremely tight. Machine gun-toting soldiers patrolled the terminal in pairs. Then when I arrived in Heidelberg, I saw concrete barricades and machine guns at the entrance to every military installation.
When I departed from Germany that December, I left a country with white
Christmas lights adorning trees, homes, government buildings, and businesses. It looked like the holidays, but it sure didn’t feel that way to me. Germany was a nation very different from the one I was returning to.
I remember that on the long flight home I wondered how, during the season of peace and goodwill toward our fellow man, anyone in his right mind could purposefully plot to kill innocent people let alone soldiers like me. What would motivate terrorists? I still can’t figure that one out.
In retrospect, 1984 was a reality check for me, and September 11, 2001 was the reality check for all Americans.
This Christmas, things have changed dramatically in the United States. Terrorism has hit home. Terrorism will not end with the capture of Osama Bin Laden, but hopefully, our newfound patriotism and appreciation for life and freedom will endure.
This Christmas, perhaps the greatest gift of all would be something we’ve taken for granted for years—the security of our homeland.
|
|
|
|
|
