McFaul (DDG 74) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 15 text:

Top Lcfl: IC2 lloag. ET2 Davis, STQ2 Poole and ET1 iiu|)| enjoying the sun. ropRighl STQC Kowalsky finishing of) Ins lunch on the VLS deck. Middle: STG3 Baker, Sri Sullivan and SM Argueta-Ciu man waiting to eat lunch. Above: DK2 Muchendu enjoying a few minutes by himself. Bottom l.etl Oirl talk on tin llighl dec k with MCI Beck, MAI l.ocklear, HM2 Coleman, f- ' CJ Wright and FC2 f ' inley.

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pi .- , , , , , , , , , .- rreraor Trerar? MISSION Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done. President George W. Bush addressing a joint session of congress on 20 September 2001. Fithei y hi arc with us, or you are with the terrorists, ' the President further declared dur- ing his address. On September 1 1, 2001 our world changed. Mot just the military, not just Hew York and not just Washington, DC. The entire world. In less than an hour both of the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon had been struck by commercial airliners being flown by suspected terrorists operating for Usama bin Laden ' s a Qaeda network. Both symbols of American pros- perity and might, but only that symbols. They were neither representative of American brotherhood nor unity that have quickly overcome the initial feelings of violation. For USS McFaul on deployment in the Arabian Gulf carrying out duties of guarding tankers suspected of smuggling oil out of Iraq, the day began as normal. As we were waking to start our day many back home were just lying down to go to bed. Our day was slowly coming to a close when I first heard that the North Tower of the World Trade Center was on fire. No thought of an airliner intentionally crashing into the skyscraper had crossed my mind. Less than half an hour later the Commanding Officer asked us all to step inside the ship and he announced that both of the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon had been attacked, presumably by terrorists. I remember being on watch when I heard the first tower had col- lapsed and thinking that this is not happening not in America. With no newspapers, magazines or television stations readily available, we had to get our information through various other means. When reports did start coming into the ship, we were stunned. Images of the explosions in the upper floors of the towers, maimed bodies in the streets and innocent people leaping to certain death from the upper floors in some vain hope that they would be the one in a million who would survive such a fall. These images were indelibly etched into our minds. We wanted to do something about this putrid act of cowardice. We were angry. The military was put on alert, commerical air traffic was halted and our great nation watched and soaked up every morsel of horrific news as it developed. We grew angrier and focused on the rage. The rage congealed into resolve. With resolve we developed our plan. it is with a renewed sense of patriotism and pride as Americans that we dedicated this book to the memory of those who lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The sailors and other service members, the firemen, the policemen, passers-by and innocents who did nothing but go to work that morning. When we think of your faces, «j our mission becomes clearer, our purpose more defined. To everyone else, rest assured that McFaul will do her part to ensure that the freedom we •• enjoy as Americans endures.