Let Us In Remembrance - Stand Up
Sep 11, 2019
Every year we have remembrances, every year it seems like for many it becomes more and more, a distant memory.
Me?
I remember it like it was yesterday…
Hell… how could I forget? I was there!
At the time I’d been off active duty for several years and I was in the Marine Reserves serving as the Intelligence Officer for 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. I was at work that day actually in a training class in Queens, NY for Managers for my company at the time, Con Edison of NY Inc.
The first report came in during one of our breaks in the morning where someone came into the room and said that a plane had hit one of the buildings at the world trade center. At first like most people I had thought it was a small plane that had it the building however, as people began to flock out of the building and look across the East River towards the towers. It was clear to all this was no small plane.
Now, I have to confess at the time in spite of the obvious damage it still hadn’t occurred to me that this was an act of terror.
However, the Islamo-Fascist who perpetrated the attack and those who supported them (and still do to this day), would change that opinion soon enough as we saw the second plane fly into the other tower. From that point on there was no question as to where we were at that time even if we didn’t fully acknowledge it, we were at war!
Because of my responsibilities in the company as one of the emergency responders I can remember the frantic moments driving across the Queens borough Bridge to our response assembly area. At the time I ran emergency response for Steam Distribution and was in charge of one of the company’s other major response teams (CBRT). During my transit, I was informed over one of our emergency channels that the Pentagon had been hit. Bastards!
Upon arriving and trying to get an account for everyone it was as we were unassing ourselves that the towers fell.
The strikes would usher in a chain of events that would lead to a path to war that would see me and others in my reserve unit return to active duty for well over a decade. Serving multiple combat tours in both theaters and for some of my brothers and sisters in arms “elsewhere”.
On that day we lost many and there probably isn’t a community in the New York or D.C. metropolitan areas that hadn’t lost someone. We lost friends, police officers, firemen, fathers, mothers even fellow Marines and employees in the company I had worked for at the time. In the years that have followed we have lost many, to war, on our streets through acts of terror, and through sickness. To say that that I am “far from all right” with that shit is an understatement.
We can debate how we got here all we want, we can blame whoever we want but the truth is we got caught sleeping, we got caught because we forgot who we were. We got caught because we forgot that there is evil in the world, that not everyone is afraid of us. That we have real enemies and it really doesn’t matter what you or I think or what our beliefs are. So, if you think this is just a problem for the military or law enforcement etc., let me help you here, in case you haven’t noticed you’re in this shit with us.
You see the problem is we’ve been at war with the militant Islamo-Fascist probably for at least forty years and probably longer. So while we at the time we were more focused on going to the mall, still pissed about the outcome of the 2000 election and, who killed Chandra Levy? They were waiting and “they” had been very patient. But we shouldn’t have been surprised because they had hit us numerous times over the years through various acts of terror.
But we got caught with our pants down because we didn’t take them at their word, in spite of their previous actions we didn’t believe they meant what they said. More to the point we forgot the most important fact of war, the enemy gets a vote and ain’t down with your plan or what your desires are. So they showed us the seriousness of their resolve. This mindset kind of reminds me of every time is see someone with a bumper sticker on their car saying “Honor Our Veterans - No More Wars”, gee maybe they should ask our enemies about that first and see how that goes over. Like I said the enemy gets a vote!
I know there are some who will not like what I just said but you know what? The sooner people accept that fact the firmer our resolve will be to never let such a thing ever happen again.
You see, we forgot we were the people who threw off the yoke of oppression numerous times in our past and won WWII by defeating our enemies in two theaters. We treated our power as a toy and took it for granted. We forgot who we were.
Now to be fair, over the years we’ve fought the good fight, we have crushed many people who needed to be crushed and I make no apologies for it. And for those like myself, we’ve done our duty and will continue to do so. As I told my wife recently when she asked if they called me out of retirement would I go? I told her, “They would only have to ask once”.
I have no illusions here and I have “perfect clarity” on this issue…
Personally speaking, I think this lack of understanding over the years, this “perfect clarity” amongst our policymakers have robbed us overall of our ability to use our power decisively and go “Roman” on our enemies and wage “righteous battle”.
You see no matter where you stand, matter how you feel or what you believe, as I saw for myself in Iraq and Afghanistan, if you do not believe as they do (al-Qaeda, ISIS, MB, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, etc.) you are their enemy, if you are not on their side you are their enemy, even if you are of the same religion. Don’t get me wrong they still hate you and I more especially people such as myself who considers themselves “Crusaders” (I’m all about being a Crusader). But make no mistake about it they will kill anyone that gets in their way and their ambition of establishing a worldwide Caliphate.
Don’t take my word for it read their own writings it’s not like they hide their goals from us it's just that we have too many people lacking in the moral courage to accept them at their word. Get it in your head that these people, these evildoers are your enemy and mine and do not give a “rats ass” about your feelings, they can’t be bargained with and reasoned with.
Now, could get into many “other things” here and maybe that is the subject for another post.
But now I come to the punch line so to speak…
You see we have a choice here. You always have a choice and it’s never too late to make a good one. As a man, as a father, a mother, as a “Warrior”.
You see, like my brothers in arms, we didn’t survive multiple tours of combat and watch friends die in battle to come home to live in fear. Nor will we carry their memory and their sacrifice in vain.
We have a choice of where we will stand. You know it reminds me of a story the preacher in my church use to tell.
“One day in a southern Baptist church while the preacher was delivering a fire and brimstone speech. A mighty wind thrusts open the church doors and in walked ‘Satan’ himself.
Upon looking at Satan, the preacher immediately turned and ran out the back of the church. Next, he was followed by the choir, then the Deacons. Before you know it the whole congregation is running out the back of the church running from Satan.
Now, as Satan walked down the aisle he heard a noise from behind the church pew. As he got up to the pew he looked around the back and there was a little old lady cowering in fear all curled up in a ball. Satan looked down at her and she looked up at him and with a trembling voice she said, ‘Just to let you know I’ve always been on your side’”
We have a choice of who we are going to be from this moment forward. Of where we choose to stand and what we stand for.
Or, we can be like the old lady in the story, a poser, a false believer, shadow and no substance. That when it came her time to stand for what she believed she folded. She folded because she was never that person she pretented to be in the first place. In her moment of truth, she chose Hell over Heaven because she never until that moment considered the possibility that either was real.
We have a choice of whether or not we will continue to listen to the council of fools. To the Laodicean politicians who wish to treat people like children, who tell us everything is going to be all right while they amass power for themselves through the abuse of intrusive laws that strangle the spirit of liberty enshrined in the bill of rights. All, while they continue to engage in the absurd “kabuki” theater they call security.
Let us ignore the talking heads on TV and the internet who will offer their “uninformed opinions”, and let us ignore those who will politicize this day for their own selfish gain regardless of the political party.
Let us ignore the cowards who will debase our great nation through the spirit of fear and the council of serpents, who are afraid and want to make others just as afraid as they are.
My friend I ask that on this day… just for today, we focus on what is important and on who truly matters.
As we reflect in thought, in song, and prayer…
Let us remember those who we have lost.
Let us remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Let us also remember those who still stand on the wall, who stand on the bridge willing to stand in that space, to stand in the pass and hold the line.
Let us honor them by standing up ourselves, standing in that space ourselves through the renewal in both mind and spirit.
Let us be strong for our families, for each other, let us be of good courage and push fear and malice aside.
Most of all on this day September 11th, 2019, let us be all these things for each other, as Americans…
Al Ridenhour
CEO, Creator Warrior Flow State™
Al Ridenhour is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps with 28-years of service active and reserve with multiple combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served as a Law Enforcement consultant to the NJ State Police Special Operations Section, NJ Transit Police Operations Section, The NJ Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, the FBI Philadelphia Bomb Section, and subject matter expert to the US Department of Homeland Security's, Explosives Division. With nearly 40-years of Combative Arts experience, he is recognized as a self-defense expert worldwide and is highly sought out for seminars, workshops, lectures, and special individualized training. He is the author of "Warrior Flow Mind" (2019), Co-Author of "Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guided in Personal Protection (Human Kinetics, 2010) and the Co-Author of "How to Fight for Your Life" (June 2010).
For more go to https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/
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