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[ Music ]

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On September 11th I was in
Geometry class in high school

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and it was a day that I
will absolutely never forget

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because my dad was
traveling that day

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so we couldn't get a hold of
him for a really long time

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because his flight was switched
from Chicago to another city,

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Philadelphia and we had no
idea where he was all day.

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And you instantly are scared

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for our whole family
and for his safety.

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And I feel terrible
for all the people

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that lost somebody
on September 11th.

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I remember on September 11th
I was sitting in a meeting

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in the morning and my
wife called me to tell me

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that a plane had crashed
into the World Trade Center.

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Recall the meeting,
people getting wind of it

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and the meeting breaking up and
people retreating to offices,

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in a lot of cases just in time

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to watch the second
plane hit the twin towers

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and just a feeling of utter
disbelief and uncertainty

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as to what was gonna happen next

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and wondering what the
country would be dragged into.

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911 to me and that you're not
as prepared as you think you are

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and you can never have
too much planning,

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too much contingency planning
in place, too much training

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in first response and
also there's circumstances

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that no one can control.

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There's always gonna
be disasters

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that we might not be
able to fully prevent.

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We just have to be prepared
mentally and physically

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to respond to those disasters.

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It was the beginning of the loss
of innocence for this country.

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To have something actually occur

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on our shores was
really devastating,

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the loss of lives,
the impact of it all.

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It was devastating.

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When I first heard about it
I was still at home and at

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that time they thought it
was just a horrible accident.

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By the time I got to work, first
thing I did was find a radio

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and turn it on to see
what else was happening.

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By then they knew that
it was not an accident.

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By then I think the second
plane had already hit

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and I remember I just
knew at that moment

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that our world would
never be the same.

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I was across the street from the
Pentagon when the plane went in.

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Jet fuel immediately filled
the meeting room at our hotel.

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What mattered most to me is
that I saw the best of people

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in the face of the tragedy.

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The hotel staff actually went
home and baked cookies for all

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of us that were stuck
in the hotel.

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For me personally the
bravest person in my life

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through that whole time
was my wife who drove

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down from Cleveland to
Baltimore alone to pick me up.

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Baltimore was as far
away from Washington

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as I could get on
September 11th.

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And I was watching things
unfold on TV and I found

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out my wife was trying
to get a hold of me.

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And I thought well she
probably wants to tell me

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that this is happening.

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That must be what she
wants but I'll call her.

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I called her up and she was
pretty upset and she explained

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that Stevie, our nephew,

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is in one of the twin towers
there taking training.

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And he worked for Morgan
Stanley at the time.

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He was a new employee.

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And watching it unfold before
I knew that we had a relative

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in there was a different
feeling and it really hit home.

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And we were both pretty upset.

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And it was a short time later
that one of the towers fell.

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I don't think I could
ever describe the feeling

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that I felt seeing the
tower go down thinking

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that we had family
in that tower.

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As it turns out, Stevie made it

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out with just a couple
minutes to spare.

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And he came home and we all met

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as a family there,
a whole group of us.

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And he said I'm only gonna
talk about it one time.

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He explained what he saw
and what he went through

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and he's never really
spoken of it again.

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That's my story from 9-11.

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On September 11th, 2001, I
was at Randolph Air Force Base

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in Texas, near San Antonio,
where I was the Director

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of Logistics for the Air
Force's Training Command.

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Shortly after I got
to the office

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in the morning I was informed of
the first attack and then turned

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on the TV in my office and
watched the second attack

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on the twin towers
as well as pictures

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of the destruction
at the Pentagon.

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Shortly after that
our base was directed

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to shut down completely.

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And like all bases
around the world,

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our security forces were bent

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on finding people
intending similar destruction

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and killing them before
that could happen.

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As you know, that
did not happen.

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My mission on that day was
to make sure that the people

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in the three buildings that
made up my operation were safe

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and that we would begin as a
team to prepare for operating

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in a completely different
normal.

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Terrorism uses publicity
to magnify the impacts

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of its atrocities to compel
compliance with its demands.

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And by that measure this
terrorist campaign has

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mostly failed.

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History teaches us, however,
that we must be relentless

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about our pursuit of
these people to make sure

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that they cannot
complete their mission.

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People ask, are we winning?

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Can we win?

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My answer is yes and yes.

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America has done it before and
America will surely do it again.