The News Source for Webster University

Sept. 7- 13, 2011

Volume 65 Issue 3 www.websterjournal.com
The
Journal
News | 3
For more content on Sept. 11,
visit websterjournal.com.
Watch Webster reactions to the terrorist attacks,
read a point-counterpoint on whether 9/11
should be a national holiday and learn how the
science of memories may impact remembrance
of that tragic day.
An American Tragedy Remembered
defning a decade.
O
n the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States of America was attacked by members of a radical Is-
lamist group called al-Qaida. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four 747 commercial jet airliners. Tree of
the planes brought devastation, destroying the World Trade Center Towers in New York City and colliding
with the Pentagon. Te fnal jet crashed in Pennsylvania afer passengers attacked their hijackers. Nearly
3,000 lives were lost that day, and countless more have been lost bringing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida
members to justice. In the decade since, the world has been shaped by the events of that day. Ten years later,
Te Journal seeks to examine the impact locally and globally of this moment, and honor the lives lost. With
student testimony, expert commentary and the dedication of our entire staf, we hope to shed what dim
spotlight we can on the darkness of this numbing tragedy.
September 11, 2001
One month to the day that
Gladys Smith started her new
job at Webster University in
the counseling and life devel-
opment center, a group of ex-
treme Islamists few planes into
the World Trade Center towers,
the Pentagon and an empty
feld in Pennsylvania. Tat
day was Sept. 11, 2001. Smith,
who joined the United States
Navy in 1984, couldnt have an-
ticipated all the emotions she
would feel.
It was overwhelming a
true dichotomy, Smith said.
On the one end, I knew people
in the military, but on the other
hand, I had my students here.
Smith, who entered the U.S.
Navy in 1984 and has spent the
past nine years in the Navy re-
serves, sometimes joked with
colleagues that nothing could
happen that would call her back
into service. She was wrong. In
October 2001, Smith was called
to Guam, a small island in the
Pacifc Ocean.
Tey told us we had three
days to get our things together,
Smith said. It was such a short
period. Before, it would be nine
months (warning for a new de-
ployment). It was a jolt to the
system.
Afer spending a few weeks
training for weapons, security
and medical procedures in Mil-
lington, Tenn., Smith arrived
at Naval Base Guam. Smith is
a Chief Petty Ofcer Hospital
Coreman for the Navy, so she
was performing jobs for troops
similar to an emergency medi-
cal technician, while carrying
out 12- to 14-hour guard duty.
Guams base was closed
down before Smith and her
troops arrived, but with the
attacks in September bringing
the national security threat lev-
el to the highest it had been in
decades, the base opened again.
Tough the island is a vacation
spot for the Japanese, Smith
said U.S. troops were the only
people she saw around Guam
for almost six months.
We had to be suspect of
everything, Smith said. We
had to remind ourselves to re-
lax, and be alert only as much
as we needed to be. We had to
take care of each other. Tere
was just so much unbelief. We
had never been attacked to
that degree. Tey could attack
us here (Guam), they could at-
tack there (America). We didnt
know, and the fear for civilians
was the same.
Smith spent nearly two
years in Guam. She said that
the experience was difcult,
having to leave her family and
job to start over across the sea.
Her time in Guam has stayed
with her, and Smith takes the
lessons she learned and applies
them to her counseling job at
Webster.
(A lot of people have) is-
sues now related to some im-
pact from 9/11, Smith said.
You dont have to be deployed
abroad to be impacted. Here
at Webster, we have so many
Webster
counselor,
grad student
deployed
after Sept. 11
attacks
BY ANDREA SISNEY
Editor-in-Chief
See Service Page S2
the numbers.
The Mission
Continues
aids post-
9/11 war
veterans
1,776 ft.
height of the World Trade Center Memorial
building, in honor of Americas founding year
2,996
number of total casualties
of the attacks
19
number of total
hijackers
on Sept. 11
5
number of Webster University
alumni killed in the attacks
89%
approval rating for George W. Bush
in the 30 days following Sept. 11
57
minutes
time it took for the South Tower
to collapse after impact
3,521 days
from Sept. 11, 2001 to May 2, 2011, the day Bin Laden
was killed by U.S. Special Forces.
$3.1 billion
estimated cost of the 1 WTC Memorial
6,229
total number of American forces
killed in Iraq and Afghanistan
to date
411
number of
emergency workers killed
refections. perspectives. changes.
Page S2 Page S2 Page S3
Webster professors and Te
Journals opinion editor
refect on Sept. 11 through
personal commentary.
Tree Webster faculty discuss
Sept. 11 as they remember it 10
years ago.
A look at how Sept. 11 changed
American pop-culture,
politics and culture.
Patrick Ryan Alban of-
cially joined the Army in Janu-
ary 2010. His decision to enlist,
however, came years earlier
when he was in high school.
For Alban, the question was
not why, but when. He enrolled
as a political science major at
Webster University and gradu-
ated in December 2009.
Alban said he decided to
serve for two reasons his
experience volunteering along-
side military personnel on hu-
manitarian missions, and his
internship with the nonproft
organization Te Mission Con-
tinues, based in St. Louis.
Te Mission Continues en-
courages veterans of post-9/11
wars who are disabled or in-
jured to continue serving their
country through community
service. Te organization also
promotes service projects be-
tween veterans and civilians.
(Te veterans) have given
so much of themselves, Alban
said. (What convinced me
to join the Army was) all the
incredible people Ive worked
with. Tere is so much strength
that comes through service in
the military.
Eric Greitens founded Te
Mission Continues in 2007.
Afer serving as a Navy SEAL
in Iraq, Greitens visited Ma-
rines at the Bethesda Naval
Hospital in Maryland. Greitens
said when he asked the injured
Marines what they planned do
post-military, each expressed
the desire to continue serving
the American people. Inspired
by the soldiers commitment to
their country, Greitens started
the Mission Continues.
A signature feature of the
Mission Continues is the Fel-
lowship Program. Te program
partners injured post-9/11 vet-
erans with a local charitable
organization. Trough this
avenue, veterans use the skills
they learned in the military
to serve the community. To
date, 171 veterans in 31 states
have fulflled their fellowships.
Greitens hopes one day when
veterans return from combat,
there will be an expectation of
them to continue serving their
country at home.
You know how in St. Louis,
the frst question you are asked
is Where did you go to high
school? Greitens said. For
veterans, we want to change the
question from Where did you
serve? to Where did you serve
your post-military service?
Tifany Garcia is an alumna
of the Fellowship Program.
Garcia joined the Marine
Corps in 2003 and worked as
a aircraf mechanic for fve
years During her time in the
Marines, Garcia fell from an
aircraf, injuring her neck and
back. She persevered through
the pain and continued serving
until her tour ended in 2008.
While attending St. Louis
Community College-Mer-
amec, Garcia learned about
Te Mission Continues. She
applied and received a fellow-
ship working for Te Mission
Continues in 2010. In her fel-
lowship, Garcia processed 15
fellowship applications of vet-
erans like herself. Garcia said
her community service not
only aided veterans, but herself.
It has just helped me grow
professionally and personally
in a lot of stuf I need to work
on, Garcia said.
Garcia now works for Te
Mission Continues as a Fellow-
ship Program Associate. She
said she loves watching veter-
ans fnd confdence and pur-
pose through their service.
Te Mission Continues is
planning 300 service projects
nationwide. Tose interested
can sign up at www.missioncon-
tinues.com.

BY DAN BAUMAN
Staf Writer
Contact the writer:
wujournal@gmail.com
PHOTO BY SARAH RUSNAK