September 11th, 2001

I was never more grateful to be in Arlington than on 9/11! I was one year retired from active service in the Air Force and in the midst of my next academic challenge with the American Psychological Association. My University of Houston colleague Lois was wheels up from Houston early that morning with American Airlines saying her flight was on time. On the way to DFW Airport I said "Oh yea, War of the Worlds stuff again." only to quickly realize that this was for real. The airline counters were vacated, a virtual ghost town, and flights were landing ASAP. Lois was on time, all smiles as we were about to put our next major book to bed. She was shocked by the news, not a word said in flight. I called home and announced we'd have a house guest that night, then we headed to UTA to get our work done. We were not in harms way, we had a task and a mission, and we were not going to let the bad guys shut down our way of life. Lois and Sheri were in prayer vigils that night while I went to my graduate class and said I understood those who needed to be in prayer vigils, but for those of us who were defiant of bad guys that wanted to destroy our way of life...not on my watch. Sure, if we were in harm's way, we would not be in class. But we were in Arlington, Texas...safe and secure. So, roll up your sleeves and get out your pencils, we're going to work. Lois' and my Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology came out on time and as of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is in the Third Edition. The sad footnote is that 13 of us were called back 2008-2011, to the Defense Health Board by the Secretary of Defense, because of the toll the Long War was taking on our men and women still serving.