Last week was the 17th anniversary of 9/11, an event that shaped my age group extremely significantly. Often, people compare the impact of September 11th to the impact of Pearl Harbor generationally. This is not inaccurate even though the comparison may not be perfect all the time.
When September 11th happened, I was on a military base. We were three hours behind New York time zone wise and elementary school started early. I know now that by the time class started, the first three planes had hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. At the time though, we arrived in class, put down our backpacks, and set ourselves up for the day.
The teacher had the class move up to the front of the classroom and sit on the floor. He pulled down our classroom map, making it more unusual. He then asked us if we knew where New York was, and a few people pointed it out on the map. Then he started trying to explain to us what was going on. The fire alarm interrupted him a couple minutes in.
Once we were outside, the teachers started talking amongst themselves. The principal came around and told them that they were evacuating, but it would take time. We stayed outside for two hours, being quiet and staying under the metal awning before the buses came to drop us back off at home. No one tried to explain to us anymore.
The bus ride back was tense, and fortunately, the bus stop was right behind the house we lived in at the time. Then came the confusion, because parents were not being released from duty. My mother ended up collecting everyone in our house until their parents could come. We did not see TV coverage over the next week, but that didn’t dissipate the tension.
The base spent the next three days on a total lockdown, essential personnel only. I spent those three days inside with my mother and siblings. When we left the house again, suddenly there were new security measures everywhere. The teachers gave us factual accounts of what happened. Military personnel received new orders, and my friends moved away. Security didn’t die down. It stayed all around us.
When I transitioned into civilian life, this is part of what made it a shock. Civilian life just kind of went on, the security went away. The new policies quickly went from being considered necessities to being nuisances. The war became something far away to anyone not connected to the military. Above all, no one seemed to discuss it. September 11th is one of the things that silence seemed to fix in that life.