Veteran’s Corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

11btwk@gmail.com
Twenty three years have passed since 9/11/2001. I recall working a very late night at an oil refinery. I woke to a phone call from my mother Lois. She was describing how a plane hit one of the twin towers. I turned the news on and wham the second tower was hit I knew then as we all did life was going to change. Once flight 93 and the Pentagon were reported I knew it was war. War with who?
As a civilian watching you suspected life would be different. Seems every generation has a tragic event.
As a military member or even belonging to the National Guard you knew life would be different. Many of my friends and family members were on active duty.
We heard about weapons of mass destruction being stockpiled in the desert. We found cockpit make ups in the desert. We knew we had enemies. But did we resolve the issues that caused 9/11? Or did we bring full gas cans to a fire?
Islamic terror had adapted. There was a “near and far” enemy concept. A good example is the assassination of Anwar Sadat. This had negative blowback on those that committed the act. Shortly afterwards all the bad actors decided far enemies were better targets. Nightclub bombings in Germany, Achille Lauro cruise ship takeover, hostage taking, Lockerbie bombing. These are all far enemy attacks. Perhaps our tepid responses to these attacks led to 9/11. The far enemies strategy has worked much better and helped gather recruits and cash for their western hatred bloodlust. Almost everyone agrees another 9/11 attack is not an if, but a when.
One thinks how can we address the reasons, the people and the causes. My personal conclusions are there is too many them and theys to address. If one goes away two pop up.
Sadly, preventing attacks will be our best way to stay safe.
Bob “Robert” Olson has passed away. He was probably one of the best people I’ve worked for. He and I both smoked and liked to have a beer or eight. I found out he had a discomfort level with spiders. When he and I went to Florida for three weeks I had twenty some rubber spiders with me. Believe me he dug back on me several times. He was never afraid to get his hands dirty even as a supervisor. I really appreciated his work ethic and values. He we will be missed.