I know I am a couple of days late, but I had to really contemplate this piece. It was hard for me to write.
September 11th 2001 started like any other day, I was supposed to go to a class that day with the rest of my division. I woke up, showered, got dressed in my uniform and went to get my breakfast. I was stationed on the USS Lake Champlain CG-57 in San Diego, CA. I grabbed my breakfast and sat down to watch the news. My breakfast was left half eaten. I watched as the second plane hit, then with the reports of a bomb at the Pentagon, I knew the world had changed.
I woke up my wife, told her I wouldn’t be coming home for a while, kissed my three sleeping babies, grabbed my sea-bag and left for war. The Lake Champlain was underway by noon. For several days we patrolled off the coast of southern California with orders to shoot down anything that flies. As the skies opened up again we were deployed in support of Operation Nobel Eagle, the protection of US airspace. Early in December we returned to port late one afternoon, we left the next day for the Arabian Sea. We spent the next seven months deployed off the coast of Pakistan and in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In all we were deployed for a little over nine months. It was a very trying time but I was greatly honored to be serving our great country on that day.
I retired on September 7th, 2007 on the USS George Washington, CVN-73. If ever my services are needed again, I will gladly go.
thank you for serving, and i am proud to be by your side.
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