Yesterday , December 7th ,
1941
a date which will live in information .
We were incredibly fortunate to be able
to visit the US S Arizona memorial as a
group , us navy personnel buried us out
there because of our military status .
We were allowed to visit when no one
else was , it was quiet and it was
enough time for us to reflect upon what
it actually meant to those service
members who had paid the ultimate
sacrifice during an attack . So on the
day that we visited the US S Arizona
memorial , um it was an incredibly
surreal and emotional experience . Um
So being out there and having the
opportunity uh to , to see the memorial
um with just the service members uh was ,
was a tremendous opportunity for sure .
And , and , and being there and seeing
the US Arizona , you know , below the
water , looking out at the bay
and just kind of imagining
the chaos that was occurring and
what must have been going through the
minds of the sailors as they tried to
fight back as they try to take care of
each other um as they tried to make
decisions , do that chaos , an
unexpected attack . Um And just , just
trying to think through that , um that ,
that experience that they may have had
is uh uh there's no words I can't , I
don't , I don't know that I can put a
II , I don't know if there's a word
that I can put . That , that describes
what I felt . It was just very , very
emotional um experience . Um trying to
think through that day ,
seeing , seeing the displays and seeing
the names on the wall um of the sailors
that lost their lives that are still
there . How powerful that was to the
fact that even to this day as you know ,
sailors that were assigned to that ship
um passed away from natural causes , um
have their bodies and their
remains um given back to the
US S Arizona to be with their crewmates .
Um just incredibly powerful and
emotional experience and having the
opportunity to be out there and seeing
our airmen and seeing , seeing their
reactions and seeing how they're
processing that information and um
listening to some of the conversations
that they had and um you know , really
does bring everybody together and to ,
to , you know , to what , you know ,
what it means to serve and what it
means to truly give the ultimate
sacrifice . They didn't wake up at war ,
which hammered home . The thought of
you have to stay ready . If you wear
this uniform , it can be a sleepy
Sunday , it could be a weekend and
someone can come and attack you . Uh ,
being able to read the wall , the
memorial and , and see some of the
names that I recognized from the 1/11
made me think are these descendants ?
Are they , are they relatives ? And
then you realize that these are men who
never , some of them never got to have
Children . And I think that's why us
standing there for that photo in front
of the names of the service members we
had lost was so impactful . I think it
was us sharing the camaraderie of the
moment and reminding ourselves that as
warriors , as citizen soldiers , we
need to remain ready for the next
attack . And even if it means remaining
ready so that it never happens . So no
one ever wants to try us again . No
matter how long it may take us to
overcome this premeditated invasion .
The American people in their righteous
might will win through to absolute
fiction .