We Didn’t Know

December 7, 1941. November 22, 1963. September 11, 2011.

The last three generations have all experienced that feeling. We each had a day that left us with a feeling of confusion, fear, and anger. We didn’t know what it meant or what the future held.

If you know someone who was alive on that day, ask them where they were when Pearl Harbor happened. Ask your parents or grandparents where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. Anyone who was alive knows exactly where we were on September 11th.

Everyone has their story. I was an Army Captain in command of Bravo Company, 3-505 PIR at Fort Bragg. My daughter was two weeks old. As the morning unfolded, we didn’t know anything. My company First Sergeant was supposed to have surgery that morning. He watched the events on TV, pulled the IV out of his arm, and returned to work because we didn’t know. I sent all the married guys home for one hour. The guys living in the barracks started to draw weapons out of the armsroom because we didn’t know. I told my wife not to leave the house because we didn’t know.

The only thing we did know was we were ready to go do whatever it was the nation was about to ask of us. That was who we were and the life we were living. It wasn’t until the middle of the day when we actually knew anything, and it wasn’t much. Since we were proactive and drew weapons out of the armsroom, my company was assigned to secure a number of locations on Ft. Bragg. I didn’t go home for three days. None of us did.

There is nothing more uncomfortable than not knowing. The unknown that came from that day, from the attack, from not knowing who or why or how, was more unsettling than anything. Being assigned a mission that day was probably the best thing that could have happened for me. At least I knew what I had to do.

What we also didn’t know was the attack that morning was going to keep us all engaged in a war for the next twenty years. No matter what anyone tells you, they didn’t know that would be the result of that morning.

My grandparents experienced that feeling in 1941. My parents in 1963. We experienced it in 2001. Some of those people had to go through that feeling of not knowing two or three times.

The one thing I sincerely hope for my children is that they never have to go through a day like that. I hope they never have to experience that feeling of not knowing.