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**The Reaper** · 09-10-2007, 08:22

I flew to Yuma less than a week after 9/11.

I went into RDU airport, usually a pretty busy place, and there were less than a dozen passengers, as far as the eye could see. Everyone spoke softly, like in a library, or a museum. Pulling out a military ID meant profuse thanks and condolences from everyone. A dreadlocked guy who would never have even acknowledged me came over to shake my hand and say thanks for my service. Guardsmen with M-16s were everywhere, there was about one screener for every passenger, and all bags were closely scrutinized. Outside the secure area, people were pulling together, as Americans, and policitcs were put aside.

I knew that if we did not get people flying safely again soon, that was going to be the ruination of civil aviation in the U.S. I went ahead and scheduled all of my remaining trips for the year as soon as I got back to the office.

Contrast that with today, where discussions over the chain of custody of evidence with military prisoners, whining about the poor treatment of illegals and the impropriety of fencing our incredibly porous border, bleating about the cruelty of waterboarding, complaints about the erosion of personal freedoms with data mining and electronic monitoring, and any comment by the Dems or the MSM (pretty much the same thing) starts off by blaming the President and spitting on the ground.

I predict that when the WMD attack or serious terrorist incident occurs here, as I believe it will, Americans will band together briefly before again looking to assign blame and asking why we did not do more to protect ourselves or to prevent the attack. In fact, they will need to look no further than their bathroom mirrors.

TR

09-10-2007, 08:22	#11
The Reaper Quiet Professional Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Free Pineland Posts: 24,832	I flew to Yuma less than a week after 9/11. I went into RDU airport, usually a pretty busy place, and there were less than a dozen passengers, as far as the eye could see. Everyone spoke softly, like in a library, or a museum. Pulling out a military ID meant profuse thanks and condolences from everyone. A dreadlocked guy who would never have even acknowledged me came over to shake my hand and say thanks for my service. Guardsmen with M-16s were everywhere, there was about one screener for every passenger, and all bags were closely scrutinized. Outside the secure area, people were pulling together, as Americans, and policitcs were put aside. I knew that if we did not get people flying safely again soon, that was going to be the ruination of civil aviation in the U.S. I went ahead and scheduled all of my remaining trips for the year as soon as I got back to the office. Contrast that with today, where discussions over the chain of custody of evidence with military prisoners, whining about the poor treatment of illegals and the impropriety of fencing our incredibly porous border, bleating about the cruelty of waterboarding, complaints about the erosion of personal freedoms with data mining and electronic monitoring, and any comment by the Dems or the MSM (pretty much the same thing) starts off by blaming the President and spitting on the ground. I predict that when the WMD attack or serious terrorist incident occurs here, as I believe it will, Americans will band together briefly before again looking to assign blame and asking why we did not do more to protect ourselves or to prevent the attack. In fact, they will need to look no further than their bathroom mirrors. TR __________________ "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910 De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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