ADT IV remembers 9/11 during ceremony at FOB Finley-Shields

Dr. Andrew Haviland, Dept. of State, offers his personal remembrances of 9/11 and speaks of the implications for the redevelopment mission. (from the left) Senior Master Sergeant Jerry Blankenship, senior enlisted advisor MONG ADT IV, and Col. Mike Fortune, commander ADT IV, also shared their personal experiences in the after-shock of the attacks. (Photo by Army Capt. Marie Orlando, MONG ADT IV)

By Capt. Marie Orlando
Ngmo.pao@us.army.mil

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - On Sept. 11, a remembrance ceremony was conducted at Forward Operating Base Finley-Shields, in Nangarhar Province where the al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden lived during the 1990s.

Members of the Missouri National Guard Nangarhar Agri-business Development Team IV planned a short ceremony which began at 8:46 a.m. EST which was nine years to the minute when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Many of the Soldiers and Airmen from the ADT attended the ceremony, which also included others from the Provincial Reconstruction Team and civilians working at the Forward Operating Base.

Remarks were made by Lt. Col. North Charles, deputy commander of the team; Col. Michael Fortune, commander of the team; and Senior Master Sergeant Jerry Blankenship, senior enlisted advisor of the team. Sgt. Nelson Bunch provided the invocation and benediction.

Blankenship spoke of the eerie silence that passed over the Lambert International Airport in St. Louis when all flights were shut down and the 131st Fighter Wing provided strip alert for the Midwest.

Charles noted that the nature of all our lives changed that day and pointed out that just a mile away is the same airport Osama Bin Laden landed in when he arrived in Afghanistan.

Fortune spoke of the changes that had evolved as a result of 9/11 and told the group, "This is not the National Guard I joined. I see a lot of young blood and a lot of combat patches. We are a leaner, meaner Guard as a result of September 11."

A part of the ceremony included personal remembrances open to anyone that wanted to share their thoughts with the group. Several people spoke, including Dr. Andrew Haviland, Department of State.

Haviland spoke of the personal toll the attacks had on his family. He was serving in Afghanistan with the State Department at the time, and his younger brother was in the World Trade Center when it was attacked. His brother-in-law was a fireman that was also lost when the second tower collapsed.

He said, his father, an Episcopalian priest, called and told Haviland, despite the pain he and the family was going through, to tell the Afghans we need to continue the work to build bridges, not knock them down.

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