The following message is from my son, a cadet candidate at the USAF Academy Prepatory School.
I'm not sure if ya'll will get this or not since we are at Delta. I woke up this morning, still not believing this happened until I saw a picture of a neverending caravan of ambulances on the streets of NY and the hundreds of body bags laid out in front of the Pentagon. Another friend of my sent me this picture, and another young Cadet Candidate, Jonathan Lee, wrote this statement. I myself am afraid for our country, our children. But, maybe this is the wakeup call that this country needs. I love you all, and I'm thankful that we share a common bond, the greatest of all.
The next message is from a classmate of my son's. The author is 18 years old.
To Whom it May Concern: Today was devastating. There is not much I can say right now. I have cried through pretty much most of it. I know a lot of people can not seem to believe or understand what has happened to us today, but I do. And I am very proud of my country because I know we will prevail. We have become soft as a nation, but will grow stronger because of these acts against us. Like our President George Bush said, "We will hunt down whoever did this." As I watched and saw the Israel Prime Minister stand up and speak to his nation, and tell them and us that his country will do everything that they can to help us, I was proud to be an American. I knew that all those times that we helped save their country their doing the same for us now. I know a lot of people were very critical of us sending troops to vietnam, but they also didn't understand what we were fighting for. The moment that they were fighting for was now. In order to form a better world we must all stick together. And in order to do that we must have Love and respect for each other. It is sad that it takes measures such as these to bring us together as a society but there is a reason for everything. Unfortunately, from day to day most of us who are realist just live to tomorrow and whatever happens tomorrow we will worry about tomorrow. There are however those few idealists that I know sound stupid sometimes but look to tomorrow to prevent these kinds of things. It may not be hard for those that didn't know anybody in that area or that this happened to but for me I realize that those were real people who had normal lives just like you and me. They are no longer with us. A lot of people may say that they don't care, well, some won't care until the brief ten seconds before they die and it happens to them too. Colonel [name withheld] said that most of those people in that building probably thought it would never happen to them. Well, it did. That just made me realize that, it could happen to me. To me, today struck at my heart in two ways. The first was when I saw that plane ram into the tower. I felt I had just been shot in the heart. The second was when I saw the senate stand up together at the press confrence and sing together and show the unity of America even in our diversity. For me this was truly an awesome moment. They were strong. We are strong. And I love America with every bit of my heart. That is why I am here. To protect her. Thank you for listening.
This, from our future military leaders, bodes well for our country. And here's a picture my son sent to me.