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Saturday-- May 4, 2002—Ground Zero Plus 235

The F-18 Mission Of Vigilance
by
Cliff McKenzie
Editor, New York City Combat Correspondent News 

        GROUND ZERO, New York City, May 4--I have a new mission.   I received my orders last night.
         Michelle, a friend of both my daughters, is a peacenik.   The is anti-war and anti-violence.  But her brother isn't.   While cut from the same cloth, they both enjoy different viewpoints, attitudes.   Like my own children, they represent the maximum diversity of opinion offered by a free society.   Yet they are as close as it is possible for siblings to be.
         Michelle's brother is a F-18 pilot.   He flew on the first missions against the Terrorists in Afghanistan.   He's still there, providing close air support for U.S. ground troops.
         To get to his target zones, he has to fly 1,500 miles.   He has been under attack by ground forces trying to lock on him with radar to blow him out of the sky.
         In his heart and soul, as with so many young and courageous warriors, he is fighting for peace and freedom.   His missions are designed to protect the children, parents and grandparents of both America and the world from Terrorism's insidious reach.
         He's proud of what he does.   And Michelle, despite her anti-war and anti-violence viewpoints, is proud of him..  Just as my anti-war, anti-violence daughter is proud of her sister who is a federal agent and daily hunts down bad guys with her 9mm Glock strapped to her side to keep the streets safe from criminals who threaten the homeland security.
         My mission, which I accepted last night, is to take a United States Flag to the first firehouse that responded to the Nine Eleven attacks on the World Trade Center.  The firehouse is Engine Company 7, featured in the CBS documentary "9/11" filmed by Jules and Gideon Naudat.
         The flag was a passenger in the cramped cockpit of Michelle's brother's F-18 on his first mission to fight Terrorism.  It flew 1,500 miles with him to provide air support to Special Forces troops on the ground.
         He sent the flag to his sister and asked her if she could get a picture of the firemen with it who were the first to respond to the Terrorist attacks on September 11.   He wants her to let as many people know as possible that he and his buddies are fighting daily to protect them from Terrorism's harm.  
         His squadron had seen the "9/11" documentary about the daily lives of firemen.  It was shot over many months preceding the attack.  The filmmakers picked a rookie in training, Tony Benetatos, and followed him (see photo at right). They were filming at the station house the day the Terrorists attacked, and captured the first plane hitting the World Trade Center in their camera's lens.  It is now a historic piece of photographic history.
        Michelle's brother and his crew were inspired by the film.   They wanted all the firemen in New York City and around the world, as well as all the other hero's of that "day of infamy" to know they were risking their lives to support the safety of others--and to pay tribute to those fire, police and emergency workers who perished on the Second Tuesday of September.
        Michelle showed me the letter and the flag her brother had flown with to represent their Vigilance over Terrorism.  She asked me if I would go with her to the fire station and take pictures to be sent back to her brother's buddies so they might know their message of Vigilance had been transmitted.
       I heartily agreed.
      What inspired me the most about her attitude was that while she stands on the opposite pole of violence, her appreciation of those risking their lives to deal deathly blows to Terrorism was untarnished.    If there is a symbol of freedom of democracy, it is when two opposing moral and ethical viewpoints can coexist in the same space, each recognizing the right of the other to disagree and still live in harmony.
       This is in total contrast to the principles of Terrorism.   Under Terrorism, if one disagrees then one is shot, or tortured, or a suicide bomber walks into a room of those who hold opposite political, religious and moral views and is blown to bits in an attempt to claim victory through Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.
       I was honored to be asked to participate in such a ceremony.
       We are planning to go down to the fire station, located closes to the former World Trade Center where we will shoot pictures to send to her brother.
       Democracy's highest honor is the allowance of diversity.   And for me, to be able to take such a picture for people on both sides of the moral and ethical coin, is like raising a flag of Vigilance over the world of Terrorism.   It tells me there is much hope for our Victory over Terrorism when young men such as Michelle's brother ask their counter parts to respect their diversity.
        I will report what happens in a future article.    But, there is one last thing I would like to share about he U.S. Flag, and its symbols of diversity.  
       In my Google.com search for pictures to support this story, I ran across the meaning of a folded U.S. Flag.   I had never seen nor heard why the flag was folded in thirteen different sections.  Below is the information I found for your review.
       As you read the reasons, think about the rights we have been blessed with by our original Parents of Vigilance, the shapers of our U.S. Constitution.   These men, who were highly influenced by the women in their lives, constructed a system of diversity in which all peoples could live in harmony despite their unique beliefs and outlooks.   As this country matured in its outlook and support of our powerful Constitution of Equality, we learned many lessons--some which were laced with the blood of heroes such as Michelle's brother and his buddies who willingly risk their lives every day to support our Constitutional right to live in peace and harmony.
        Dwell on the thirteen reasons listed below and see if you don't appreciate and respect just a little more the flag that flies over your head--for it is ultimately the greatest symbol of Vigilance in the world.
       And, remember that as Parents of Vigilance, your children may one day have the right to choose to either fight Terrorism, or pray for its elimination.  In either case, your children will be Soldiers of Violence.

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