Reflecting on the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks
“Good things happened after the bad,” writes Eric Chandler. But 20 years on, there is a painful contrast to the national unity that followed the attacks.
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DonateEric “Shmo” Chandler is a husband and father who cross-country skis as fast as he can in Duluth, Minnesota. He flew 145 F-16 combat sorties during seven deployments to the Middle East. He flew more than 3,000 hours in the F-16 during his 24-year career in both the active-duty Air Force and the Minnesota Air National Guard. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2013. His writing has appeared in Grey Sparrow Journal, The Talking Stick, Great Lakes Review, Sleet Magazine, O-Dark-Thirty, Aqueous Magazine, and Northern Wilds. He’s a member of Lake Superior Writers and an Associate Member of the Military Writers Guild. Visit ericchandler.wordpress.com to read his published fiction, non-fiction, books, and poetry.
“Good things happened after the bad,” writes Eric Chandler. But 20 years on, there is a painful contrast to the national unity that followed the attacks.
Eric Chandler vividly remembers dropping bombs and spraying bullets on the brown mountains of Afghanistan. The time he didn’t shoot haunts him the most.