BehindBlueI's
Grandmaster
- Oct 3, 2012
- 26,608
- 113
I was asleep. I worked late shift at an IT help desk. My grandmother called me frantically and said "they are bombing us" and something about New York. I didn't own a television, so I threw the shotgun in the truck (I had no idea what was going on) and went to town to see what was going on. I heard Howard Stern on the radio, since I had Fox radio (the rock station out of Louisville) on from the drive home. He was doing serious news and not his usual schtick since he was in NYC.
At first it didn't affect me much. Over time, it drew me back in to having a sense of purpose and helped me get away from a pointless life. I hated my post military experience up that point, I hated IT, I hated the feeling of not contributing to something that really mattered, and I heard a radio story on NPR one evening about the British military having retention issues because contracting was so lucrative for them. That was the last catalyst I needed, and I ended up quitting my job, getting a contracting gig, and leaving the US for two years. That was the anvil that broke the back of an already failing marriage, and I ended up with an amicable divorce. There were no children from that one and we didn't have much besides debt, so we just went our separate ways. Contracting paid off the debt I'd accumulated being young and stupid with money and made a decent nest egg for a new life, I met someone new and remarried and started a family, and the experience I gathered overseas helped me into law enforcement. In many ways, 9/11 put my life back on track and helped me live with a purpose again. Tragedy also makes opportunities, and while I'm deeply saddened by what our nation went through I'm grateful for the chance to start again.
At first it didn't affect me much. Over time, it drew me back in to having a sense of purpose and helped me get away from a pointless life. I hated my post military experience up that point, I hated IT, I hated the feeling of not contributing to something that really mattered, and I heard a radio story on NPR one evening about the British military having retention issues because contracting was so lucrative for them. That was the last catalyst I needed, and I ended up quitting my job, getting a contracting gig, and leaving the US for two years. That was the anvil that broke the back of an already failing marriage, and I ended up with an amicable divorce. There were no children from that one and we didn't have much besides debt, so we just went our separate ways. Contracting paid off the debt I'd accumulated being young and stupid with money and made a decent nest egg for a new life, I met someone new and remarried and started a family, and the experience I gathered overseas helped me into law enforcement. In many ways, 9/11 put my life back on track and helped me live with a purpose again. Tragedy also makes opportunities, and while I'm deeply saddened by what our nation went through I'm grateful for the chance to start again.