On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I watched the attack against our nation unfold alongside all other Americans with a mixture of horror, grief and anger. The images that I remember from that day, 23 years ago now, come back to me every year as our nation comes together to reflect and remember – firefighters running into the towers as others ran out, a heartbreaking field of debris in Pennsylvania, smoke billowing out of the Pentagon.

As the dust in New York City settled and President Bush vowed that the world would hear from us soon, a new emotion began to grow in me – resolve. While I had watched the attacks the same as every other American, I was in a much different position than most. I was months away from completing my final training as a Navy fighter pilot.

I was assigned to my squadron aboard the USS Nimitz, and shortly after was deployed to the Middle East. I was one of the first naval aviators to conduct combat operations in Iraq, but I wasn’t the last. Millions of others came after my service concluded. These brave men and women were America’s security blanket during the War on Terror.

But it is these patriots, these precious........

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