Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Anishka Calder | New York native Petty Officer 2nd Class Cyrus Khemalaap, assigned to Naval...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Pfc. Christopher Grammer
50th Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait -- The alarm clock rings and wakes Cyrus Khemalaap, who immediately hits the snooze button. While he gets ready for the day, a talk radio station gives the news. He begins to wash his face when a female voice interrupts the broadcast and delivers a message no one was ready to hear. The twin towers of the World Trade Center were gone.
"That's when time stopped," relates New York City native, Petty Officer 2nd Class Cyrus Khemalaap, assigned to the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group, currently in the Third Army/U.S. Army Central area of operations.
Shock and disbelief was felt by the American public on Sept. 11, 2001, as they watched news stations cover the disaster as it unfolded.
The first plane struck the north tower around 8:45 a.m. A second plane hit the south tower only 15 minutes later. All airports, bridges and tunnels in the city area were closed. Within two hours the towers were rendered down to dust and debris.
Among the feelings of sadness and confusion caused by the attack was anger and cries for retribution, Khemalaap said.
"It was not only an attack on America, it was an attack on our homes," Khemalaap said.
This attack was a harsh lesson to a nation which was becoming increasingly complacent, Khemalaap said. Though the attacks were intended to bring the nation to its knees, it only succeeded in strengthening the people's resolve and expanded American influence.
"Our nation cannot afford to be isolated from the world, we need to be out there representing our country," Khemalaap said.
Where were you on Sept. 11?
This is a question asked constantly that produces a different answer each time, but is usually answered in great detail as if drilled into the memory of people world-wide.
"I was stationed in Germany as the community chaplain at Vilseck Grafenwoehr," said Chaplain (Col.) Chet Lanious, 1st Support Command (Theater) command chaplain. "I felt disbelief and a realization that life had changed for us (in the military) forever."
For some, the loss of friends and family to the attacks on Sept. 11 made the situation all the more real.
"A few days after (the attacks) my mom called me and told me that the daughter of a family friend had died when the towers collapsed," Khemalaap said.
The family friend was a nurse at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital. Her daughter, Salanya Lawansrimuan, a graduate of Boston University, had started working at the twin towers just seven months earlier, Khemalaap said.
The morning of Sept. 11, Lawansrimuan's older brother had dropped her off at for work. He returned home from dropping her off to see the towers collapse on television.
Lawansrimuan is one among many who started that day like it was just another day in New York City, only to have it brought to an abrupt and violent close.
For Khemalaap and many others in the military the attacks were not only a source of sadness but of motivation.
"I believe that being in the military is the best way to serve our country in a time of need and honor our friends, and those who died on Sept. 11," Khemalaap said.
The events that day affected the military in a profound way, bringing about a war on terror and radical idealism.
"Sept. 11 is far more real to the people serving in the military than it is for most Americans, who do not feel the effects day-to-day of being at war," Lanious said.
Those who serve in the United States military today continue to serve in combat zones as a part of today's all volunteer military. They chose to serve their country when it needed them and stood up against our nation's enemies.
"I believe that our nation is stronger because of (the attacks) and we are more aware of what goes on around us," Khemalaap said.
| Date Taken: | 09.09.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 09.09.2007 10:13 |
| Story ID: | 12247 |
| Location: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 291 |
| Downloads: | 222 |
This work, Third Army remembers Sept. 11, by SPC Christopher Grammer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT