Deployed members pay respect on 9/11

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Members of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing read the inscription on the 9/11 memorial plaque after the remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11 at an air base in Southwest Asia. The ceremony included a wreath laying ceremony, a twenty-one-gun salute and the playing of taps to honor the memory of those that perished and survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Raheem Moore)

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SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Col. Cameron Torrens, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, gives a speech on the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the way they changed the military mindset during the 9/11 Remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11 at an air base in Southwest Asia. The ceremony included a wreath laying ceremony, a twenty-one-gun salute and the playing of taps to honor the memory of those that perished and survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Raheem Moore)

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SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Master Sgt. Thomas Jennings, 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, plays taps during the 9/11 Remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11 at an air base in Southwest Asia. The ceremony included a wreath laying ceremony, a twenty-one-gun salute and the playing of taps to honor the memory of those that perished and survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Raheem Moore).

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SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Members of the 387th Air Expeditionary Group rifle team wait patiently before rendering a twenty-one-gun salute during the 9/11 Remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11 at an air base in Southwest Asia. The ceremony included a wreath laying ceremony and the playing of taps to honor the memory of those that perished and survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Raheem Moore)

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SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Col. Cameron Torrens, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Antwine, 386th AEW Command Chief, place a wreath at the 9/11 memorial during the remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11 at an air base in Southwest Asia. The ceremony included a wreath laying ceremony, a twenty-one-gun salute and the playing of taps to honor the memory of those that perished and survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Raheem Moore)

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9/11 ceremony inspires deployed members to never forget

Published Sept. 11, 2008
By Capt Suzanne VanderWeyst
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Airmen of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing gathered with coalition forces and sister servicemembers at sunrise on Sept. 11 here on the grounds of a newly constructed memorial for a 9/11 Remembrance ceremony.

Col. Cameron Torrens, 386th AEW commander, presided over the ceremony on the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"How fitting that we meet here, on the front lines of the fight, to remember the people we have lost, and the patriots who gave their lives so that our children may not suffer through the same pain," Colonel Torrens said.

Somber faces filled the crowd as members of the 386th AEW Honor Guard brought forth a wreath, laid at the memorial site by Colonel Torrens and Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Antwine, 386th AEW command chief. A twenty-one gun salute and the playing of taps followed the wreath laying, in honor of the almost 3,000 men and women who died in the attacks.

Tech Sgt. Masashi Kido, a photographer with the Japan Air Self Defense Force's Iraq Reconstruction Support Airlift Wing here, came to the ceremony with the mission to take photos of the event, but he was unable to do so--honoring coalition comrades respectfully was more important.

"I could not take [photos] today ... it would not have been right," Sergeant Kido said.

As the final note of taps was played, each servicemember attending was left with the hopefulness of words just heard a few moments before the ceremony's conclusion.

"Let this day be somber. Let our hearts ache. But do not let your spirits flag," said Colonel Torrens. "The wreath we lay today, our newest memorial in front of you and the stars and stripes above us symbolize what has passed, what is now and what is yet to come.

"What has passed is tragic, what you do every day is heroic and what is yet to come will be great."

Deployed members pay respect on 9/11