9 years ago, today....

For us, it was different.  More than half of our parents worked in the Pentagon.  The first rumors we heard on that infamous day hovered around bombs, explosions, etc. in our Nation's Capitol at that strangely shaped building, which seemed to swallow people whole in its mystery. Before the Towers fell, New York was almost an afterthought because the Pentagon was so close to home.

Nine Years Ago Today, I walked into my 8th grade 3rd period Spanish Class with every intention of burying myself in a book in the back corner until class started.  But as I walked in, I saw people were frantically running around the room with rumors that a bomb had gone off in the Pentagon!

At the time, I lived in Woodbridge, Virginia, also known as, Northern Virginia, also known as the suburbs of DC.  Most of the people who live in my hometown work in our Nation's Capitol because they are military personnel or DOD employees.  Probably half the teachers at Lake Ridge Middle had spouses or loved ones at the Pentagon and probably half the kids in my class had parents or relatives there.

I was one of those. I was one of those kids with a parent at the Pentagon.  I suddenly felt my heart beat faster in confusion and went to check my phone for any missed calls from my family.  At the time, only my dad worked at the Pentagon (my mom worked there later on), and I was desperately worried that his office might have been on that corner of the building. By midday, they let everyone in Prince William Country go home.  None of us were sure what might come next, what might happen, where the next attack might be.  So the schools sent us home to be with our families.

I found out thankfully that on that fateful day, my dad had been at a conference somewhere else in Virginia at the time of the attack.  He thankfully wasn't even in DC on 9/11.  I found out even later, that even though his office had not been hit it could have been which just a slightly different angle by that plane.  His office was actually on the same corner where the plane hit...For those of you who don't know the Pentagon is made up of 5 internal rings with the innermost ring labeled "A".  His office was located in the A ring. The plane hit three rings - C, D, and E. It still scares me sometimes knowing how close his office was to that awful attack even though he wasn't even there, and I'm thankful everyday that of all the corners to hit, the plane hit one that was being reconstructed with relatively few personnel near by.

In the end, it's not that I don't appreciate the gravity of the Twin Towers collapsing, as well as, the symbol they represented.  But I hope that people do not forget about the men and women who lost their lives in our Nation's Capitol at the Pentagon.  I joined the Air Force because I still remember that day, and I wanted to do something for my country.  I want to be part of the fight to assure something like this does not threaten our country and its citizens again. :)