The 9/11 the Call to Serve!

Today is the anniversary of the attack on United States of America that shook the world peace and reshaped international security and global market in ways never before seen. It was a day when the people of US mourned; innocent people. They wept for fathers, uncles, cousins, aunts, relatives, and firefighters who lost their lives evacuating the twin towers. A day that more than 3,000 were slain by heartless human beings-they were husbands, wives, aunts, friends, black, white, Arabs, Asians, CEOs, business men. It was the day the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) went down in smoke.
In Washington D.C., the Pentagon was also attacked, almost unknown to many as the WTC dominated all cable TV live telecasts that day. A day when wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, received phone calls from another flight that went down in the fields in Pennsylvania that would be the last time they heard their voices. A flight intended for the White House or the House of Congress. There was no time to say goodbye. But with the smoke covered downtown Manhattan, New York, and with the symbol of world power and dominance vanishing in matter of minutes, patriotism found its way into the heart of America. Young people flocked into Marine, Army, Air Force, and Navy recruitment offices nationwide; educated people signed up to avenge their country, professional football players left behind their million dollar contracts to travel to the deserts of Afghanistan to fight on behalf of this great country. It was a day that changed American and the world forever, but where were you when this occurred?

My 9/11 Morning!
I still remember where I was and what I did that day. It was 9/11, just like any other fall morning, as the temperature in Hawaii dropped bellow 70 degree Fahrenheit, I made my way to class, half awake. It was 7:20 a.m. and our class was about to start-a schedule I hated to the bones. It was a Religion class. Our instructor was a tall old-timer with a wonderful Southern accent who speak with the same tone for 90 minutes and never seemed to get tired. He was never late to class, but this time he was.
The cold weather outside was almost a sign of misfortune, and the unusual quietness seemed to say something, but only if I were superstitious. It was just the total opposite of what actually happened that day. There was no breeze outside, but it was cold.
The truth is that we were flocking into our class knowing little of what was going on in the world. My friend came in whispered "morning" as he passed me and sat about three chairs to the rear. As everyone settled in, our teacher walked. Something wasn't right as he removed his glasses slowly and started talking to us about terrorists hijacking multiple planes. He announced that the school was going to meet in the Gym where the administration will talk about what happened and for the whole school to watch the replay of the events that took place in New York. If the attack in New York occurred in broad daylight, were were still in bed as Hawaii is five hours behind East Coast timezone.
I raced back to my room, changed clothes and headed to the Gym. The atmosphere was tight, tears were flowing from almost every one's eyes. I am not easily moved by things, but this time I joint everyone as we sat and watch the two towers coming down in flames and dust. It was anger that I felt first, but what moved me to tears was those who jumped off the Twin Towers because they couldn't stand the heat. These were men who didn't know anything about politics and care less about American foreign police. There was no hope for them.
After the closing prayer, I found myself laying in bed and just imagined wild things. What if this is the beginning of a Word War Three (WW-III)? What next? What is my future? Why is US so powerful yet being attacked like this? The following few days, I watched the Foxnews, CNN, ABC, and other news network and the more I did the more I felt hurt.
The following Semester I decided to join the Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC). Amazingly, I wasn't alone. The first 4 am meeting point I was instructed to go to was not too far from my room, and when the first day of the Army training arrived, I found myself standing there with students of many colors, nationalities and backgrounds. There were Liberians (Africa), Kiribati (Micronesia), Tongans, Samoans, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Romanians, Americans, Cambodians, Mongolians. In our first class, I introduced myself as a Solomon Islands, and also expressed my willingness to fight for US if I had the opportunity. Almost all who attended that day expressed the same willingness and sympathy for this country.
I spent the next four semesters (2001-2002 and part of 2003) with the Army school at the University of Hawaii. We went through drills: both theory and out in the field, marksmanship, land-navigation, knocking out bunkers, commanding soldiers in the battlefield, training how to respond to an ambush and everything else that army soldiers do in the battle field. Toward the end of the Spring semester, we camped out for a whole week behind the Army training schools in Schofield barracks. Those were the hardest trainings I've ever done in my life, but I enjoyed every bit of it. I was amongst the best swimmers and Aced all my army trainings, both in class and out in the field, but my dream joining the army and give those who died in the this very day, the justice they didn't live to see, fell apart when Politics kicks in.
I was denied the opportunity to serve unless I was married to an American, sponsored by American friends or family members as a resident. The 9/11 changed the military intake of foreign nationals. I was released without being commissioned. But it was a desire I had at the time so as many foreign nationals studying in USA.

Patriotism and Heroism
Today (9/11) , seven years ago, brought out heroes in innocent people. Looking back after all these years, my life had been filled with joy, but I know some are mourning the lose of their love ones in the war either in Afgahnistan or Iraq. Those who have answered the 9/11 call to serve their country. Our ROTC Battalion commander, and the 1999, Pacific Army soldier of the year, was killed in Iraq. He name was Nainoa. He was a man of courage and military leader for the army schools at University of Hawaii. I didn't know he was killed until I searched his name online last year. I found out that he was killed in 2005.
Before then, one of our ROTC leaders was also killed. He was Lieut. Jeremy Wolfe who was attending Hawaii Pacific University when he joint our ROTC school. He was killed in 2003 in Mosul, during the most difficult days of the Iraqi invasion. These are a few of the fallen heroes that I learned to respect during our "training days". They were the best leaders we had, but also the toughest.
No matter how the politics shapes and shifts the meaning and implication of the war, the voices of the innocent people who have answered this 9/11 call to serve this country, voices that were often confined to their own immediate family, must be heard and those that fallen must be remembered. This 9/11 should be a day when we remember them. It could have been me, it could have been my casket. But things happened for a reason.

Politics Undermines Victims
It is said that the symbolic strength of America had been brought to the ground by terrorists, but it also unified American in ways never imagined. The country was more unified as when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1940s. It was a day when women, men, boys and girls, wanted to serve their country. There was a new sense of belonging to a country under attack with a profound feeling of revenge. US fags were flown in almost homes, national anthem was sung in every places, churches were filled to the max every Sunday.
Unfortunately today, this feeling have been gradually diminished over the years. Politics once again filled the hearts of politicians and after seven years, they retreated to their partisan comfort, attacking each other and criticizing their government.
Tears have dried, emotion running low, and patriotism taking a different turn. This current political battle between the parties, Republicans and Democatics have been dominating everyday activities, and the real victims and heroes of 9/11 have been forgotten.