9/11 remembered

The morning of September 11th.  We never state the year, the date alone brings back an immediate memory.  I had been selected for Chief, USN at Camp Pendleton.  Our group of selectees were on our way from the Naval Hospital shuttled in our sponsors vehicles to San Diego. We were in training and on our way to San Diego to meet our fellow Chief selectees at 6:30am.  Going in the gate was long and brutal.  All military bases were in high alert.  We watched the TV with horror of the events.  I called my husband who wasn't answering the phone (of course) and all I could think about was how horrific the damage.  Who could do such a thing on American soil.  Why would anyone want to do this, when we share so much with so many people and countries.  What about my 3 teenage boys, how would this effect them.  Were we at war and if so with whom.  It brought the USA together, a reunification of nationalism that we hadn't seen in decades.