Ten years ago I was just beginning my Sophomore year in college. My high school boyfriend was in the Army National Guard, an Infantry man. He’d returned from basic training the year before feeling like he wanted to be in the “real Army.” In early September 2001, we made plans for me drop him off at the recruiting station on the 11th early in the morning. They needed to go to his National Guard unit and get some papers signed releasing him from his commitment to the guard to go full time in the Army.

I didn’t have a class until that afternoon, so I dropped him off and went home. I dozed a bit in bed, then turned on the radio and heard that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. I thought it was some little plane, an accident. I went downstairs and flipped on the TV before making breakfast. When I sat down to watch, I realized every channel was covering the same thing, then a second plane hit.

Shortly after, my boyfriend called to tell me he’d be dropped off at the house. The military would be busy, waiting, watching that day. On 9-17, “America’s War on Terror” began as we decided to enter Afghanistan to look for Osama Bin Laden. On 9-21-11 my boyfriend’s enlistment in the “real Army” was finalized. I wrote in my journal, I hope the man I love doesn’t go to this “war” we’ve started.

He left October 2001 to go to Ft Lewis, Wa. 3 SBCT (not yet called that), 2ID (2/3 INF). Over the next 6 years, he would serve two tours of duty in Iraq. The first, 12 months. The second, a surprise 15-month. Though we did not stay a couple throughout all those years, we are now married. He will be at 10th Mountain soon and looking at another deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

I cannot begin to explain the effect that the events of one day had on the rest of our lives, personally. The way they changed us, our family, and now the way our young son will grow up — with a daddy in the US Infantry while our nation is at war.

It breaks my heart that such an atrocious event led us into an even more broken country, two generations of young men and women serving in combat over and over again. Each of them volunteering to shoulder the weight of this country and the weight of combat that they cannot fully understand until they’re standing in the thick of it.

Thank you to all the men and women who answered the call of the nation. Take a moment today to remember the lives lost, thank a soldier, and use this as a reminder to tell the people you love that you love them, squeeze your kids extra tight for someone who can’t hug their own, and enjoy being alive and free.