ON GUARD: Remember Sept. 11, 2001

By Maj. Gen. William T. Nesbitt

Most anniversaries celebrate happy events. Birthdays, weddings, even revolutions and military victories. Yet this poignant 10th anniversary of 9-11, with its deep memories of dangerous attacks and terrifying images, clearly falls into a different category.

Yet, not unlike Pearl Harbor Day, we choose to take the time on the anniversary to recall the old pain freshly to mind. Just as the news will repeat time and again the images of fire and smoke, so too many of us will replay in our hearts and minds the thoughts and fears of that day.

Addressing a high school assembly on the first anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, one of our officers, a lieutenant at the time, remarked that Al Queda’s goal was for the attacks to make us all curl up in the fetal position on the floor. To pull in, to lie there, collectively to quit the world stage out of grief and the fear of more to come.

Yet quickly and readily, the resilience that is the mark of strong character kicked in. We straightened up. We uncurled from that ball. We as a nation joined the first responders—who never stopped working—and got back to work. Our military transitioned from defense to offense, and flags unfurled from every building and even car roof that I passed in a day.

See, we all understand as individuals that it’s not always what happens to people that matters. It’s how they react. This is true of our nation following 9-11, and it is true of the Georgia National Guard as well.

Not only did the nation get back to work, the Georgia Guard got to work. It’s easy to forget now; however, consider that in the years leading up to 9-11, some of the most exciting things we did was send a brigade to the National Training Center in California or the Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana. Our Airmen were already deployed but to more familiar places—and not into combat.

Today we have over 200 airmen and nearly 1,000 soldiers overseas. The 560th BFSB and the 648th MEB are preparing for major deployments. Our role in the State Partnership Program has grown considerably. The 165th Airlift Wing has just returned from combat. The 116th Airwing has been continuously deployed since the war started. The 48th Infantry Brigade has played a decisive role in two theaters of combat.

Indeed, the combat role of the Georgia National Guard since 9-11 has been truly historic.

And let’s not forget that right here at home, Guardsmen who haven’t even necessarily deployed have provided decisive support to the global war we’re fighting. Our all-volunteer State Defense Force has matured considerably in the last decade, now fielding a successful and professional search and rescue force for the state. Our CBRNE teams are world-class. Our leaders and trainers have managed resources and effort to answer their mandate to provide effective, well trained, well led and well equipped forces to combatant commanders.

True these deployments have been hard on those we love and have cost us too many of the people we loved to serve with. Yet all of this incredible response stretches right back in a straight line to 9-11. Our steps today can be traced to a field in Stonycreek Township, Pa., to the Twin Towers in New York and to the very door of the Pentagon.

To our Guardsmen, the professionalism, the enthusiasm, the excellence of the Georgia National Guard in response to 9-11 has amazed all but surprised no one who knew you. Your excellence is an outgrowth of your values, your hard work and your excellent qualities as soldiers, airmen and volunteers. The war has but brought this all to light.

In fact, I would say that doing what we were always meant to do allowed us to become what we were always meant to be.

So while we recall this awful anniversary, let’s take a moment to do two things. First, to recall all the happy anniversaries we’ve had since that awful day 10 years ago—the birthdays and the weddings, the first steps and the graduations, the children and grandchildren we’ve celebrated in peace and safety. Second, let’s celebrate and recall the powerful reaction, the incredible and positive response our nation made since 9-11 that has made this peace and safety possible.

So whether you are the newest member of the Georgia Guard or our most-deployed veteran, I want you to know that I am immensely proud of your work and service to our state and nation. Thank you for what you do to continue to keep us safe.

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