It seems to have been only a few years ago … but it is now the 25th anniversary of 9/11. I will never forget. September 11, 2001, started as a beautiful, normal day with clear skies and pleasant temperatures. I was at my desk working at Langley Air Force Base, listening to the radio broadcast of The Today Show with Katie Couric. At approximately 8:50 a.m., Katie announced the breaking news of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Oh my, what an awful accident, I thought. We all rushed to the conference room and turned on the television. Approximately ten minutes later, a second plane crashed into the south tower. Then, around 9:37 a.m., another airliner struck the Pentagon, followed by a final crash into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. It was hard to believe someone was actively attacking the United States. Suddenly, everything became surreal. Two of Langley’s F-16s screamed directly over my building. The roar of their engines sounded different this time—it was a sound of...