On the recordSeptember 11, 2019
18 years ago, on a bright, clear-skied, September morning, without warning, our Nation was attacked. Many of us probably remember where we were on that horrible day. I had that morning off. I was at home with my nearly 2-year-old daughter. We didn't have the TV on. We had a couple of gentlemen at the house. I was getting a brandnew furnace on that day. What would normally be a couple-of-hours-long installation turned into an all-day event as those men would take time off from installing our new furnace to run into the other room so we could see what was going on on the television. I had two phone calls that morning. The first was early. It was from a neighbor. She said: Joni, do you have the TV on? I said: Well, no, Wanda. I don't. What's going on? She said: Joni, you just need to turn the TV on. So I did, and I saw the horrible events unfolding right in front of us. The second phone call I got was from my Iowa Army National Guard unit: Captain Ernst, we are doing a 100-percent accountability check. We need you to stay by the phone all day so we know how we can get ahold of you--100 percent accountability. It was an experience many of us had never felt before--the terrifying shock of knowing that the country we love and our fellow Americans were under attack.…





