News Search

Uniting us all

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christian Sullivan
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

I was five years old. At that age I didn’t worry much, I had other people to do that for me—my food, where I slept, when to go to school, all that good stuff. Although I was young and it didn’t make much sense to me at the time, I will never forget where I was and what I was doing at five years old when those planes hit the twin towers.

 

I hadn’t been in school long that day when I noticed we weren’t in our normal routine. At the time I didn’t know any better, so I thought it was cool that we were watching TV instead of the usual school activities. That’s when I noticed things were off.

 

The adults were consoling the kids who were old enough to know what was going on, and both teachers and students were crying at what they saw on the news. I specifically remember one older kid holding tears back and telling everyone not to worry, because his dad was in the military and that he would take care of what had just happened.

 

Now, 15 years later, at 20 years old, I realize the magnitude this historical event not only held on me, but on everyone else in this country since the day it happened. It started one of the longest wars in U.S. history and it may or may not have won the president at-the-time’s second term, but most importantly, it united America as a people. For a long time afterwards, Americans were all brought together by that one event, as tragic as it was.

 

On the 15th anniversary of this horrific day, I was tasked to document the on-base fire department’s tribute to those who died in the terror attacks. At first it was just another day in the office, an after-duty shoot that I’ve done several times before. But this time it was different.

 

When I woke up and put my uniform on, I wasn’t complaining that I was waking up early on a Sunday to go do my job when I could be watching NFL Sunday Countdown, as it was the first week of the NFL season. No, for some reason I was ready for this shoot. When I arrived, I was going through my normal progressions of my pre-shoot routine—what kind of shots I want, the lighting, typical stuff. Then I noticed the turnout the fire department had for the event; nearly the whole shop it seemed, was standing there, waiting to begin. People who were off work, and even off base, were participating in this memorial. That’s how important it was. That’s how this horrible event, no matter how divided this country may be during the rest of the year, constantly brings us all together on this day to honor the innocent lives lost.

 

As a photojournalist in the United States military, I may not directly “fight the war on terror,” but there could be a situation where I could be called to do so. This is one of the main reasons I joined the military—to be ready if called upon. When people ask me why I joined the Air Force, oftentimes I think about this day. I think about how I felt when I was five, staring at the TV screen with the sounds of my classmates’ tears surrounding me. I think about the firemen, meeting on their day off to honor sacrifice and courage. I think about the way Americans come together on this one day and set conflicts aside because this event was and is more important than that. And then I gather up these reasons and continue to represent the red, white and blue.