Dustin C. Morphis🌵

From @CBSSportsCFB 🏈🇺🇸 Times change. This choice – this harder choice – does not. Those who make it do so not because it was easy. Not because they wanted praise. But because that’s who they are. Today, the 126th Army-Navy Game honors all who have made that choice.

September 11, 2001, a day indelibly etched on the fabric of America. The truth is that I don’t just think about 9/11 on its anniversary; I think about 9/11 every day. That attack, and the years that followed, forged me into the leader, the tactician, the husband, the father, and the writer I am today. I continue to study the events that led up to that Tuesday morning, and the actions we took in its wake - the mistakes we made, along with the successes, many of which have not, and might not ever, see the light of day. I think of all those who stepped up in the aftermath of the attacks, running to Ground Zero to assist in rescue and recovery operations, and I think of those who flooded military recruiting offices to answer their generation’s call. I think of those who gave their last full measure on the battlefield, those I knew and those I did not. What have we learned in the years since that fateful day? All these years later, do we have a better understanding of the nature of the conflict to which we committed and sacrificed so much? Can we learn from the lessons of 9/11 and the decades that followed and apply those lessons going forward as wisdom? I find myself drawn to this barn with the American Flag in a small valley against the mountains in the days around the anniversary of September 11th. I think it is because, on this day, I choose to reflect on the flags raised from the ashes of 9/11. That flag reminds me that at this very moment, there are troops deployed abroad at the tactical level, special operators and intelligence officers tasked with keeping America safe, dedicated to preventing another 9/11. And, there are firefighters, paramedics and police officers responding to calls right now, protecting and serving their fellow citizens, ready to run into collapsing buildings as others run out. Today, more than any other for the generation that lived it, is a day to remember why we fought, what we stand for, and how, no matter what, as Americans, we always get back up and keep moving forward. Strength and Honor.