The Days After....
In a matter of 24 hours the world and history gears shifted. Shifted dramatically.
Wednesday Sept 12 at the Vicksburg District foreshadowed what was to come in the following weeks,and remaining months what would be shaped into the World of Post 9/11. For some us post 9/11 isn't far off. We remember what happened the day after at work,home, in large towns, small towns Tuesday 9/11 had a dramatic effect some subtle,some in plain sight.
At work it's as if the Army side had taken over since the events of the day before. A war mode I sense was settling in. As that sense became a reality one of my late grandfather who died of a heart attack popped in my mind and Daddy Bill Harrison as we called him remain with me. U might say it was a way of coping. But historically I went back to December 7,1941. Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese in a surprise attack. I couldn't help think how Daddy Bill and my late grandmother Mary Will reacted when they heard news over the radio.
Unlike my late grandfather, my own experince was different: I grew up with television sets. I saw the rubble of ground zero of WTC in real time. With over 2,000 lives lost some compared it to the number of lives lost at Pearl Harbor. For some this Al Qaeda terrorist attack was hard to grasp. Unbelievable. And for some New Yorkers who had family members who worked at the World Trade Center, they wanted to know of thier remains. Some found solstice others didn't. The country was in Grief.
However at work, things did resume somewhat normal. Contracts taken care, of mail taken care of etc. Gradually I was developing a self awareness of my own enviroment around me. But it wasn't paranoid. I dismissed the 9/11 truthers with their conspiracy theories. For 9/11 hit hard in the gut even in the days after. One thing when I check the mail in the fall,at time of Anthrax scare, I open letters to make sure there wasn't no anthrax powder. I didn't open all I would hold them against the light to see anything out of the ordinary. Also I would read letter addresses for anything written incorrectly that could also stand out as clue to a threat. Miliatry side was stepping with thier own security procedures for the time being.
Here's another fact those of us USACE district Vicksburg we didn't have our threatcon orders sent DC HQ on what security procedures to take. SO we acted on our own for the time being. During my tenure with the Army Corps I learned Counter Terrorism training on all levels. Purpose to make you self aware in certain sitiuations outside the Duty Station. I passed with high marks everytime. Other security procedures were in temporily in place outside cyber sites where we could read out personal emails were temporily blocked for fear of a cyber attack. Inconvient but nessecessary.
For remaining work days after Sept 11 Security gradually set in. Some by habit others for nesscissity. Like Magnatomers for example. Yes, the days that followed that's how the world changed.
