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Home » Marketing » Writing » “The world can change in an instant” for Air Pulse
(Offutt AFB Newspaper)


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“THE WORLD CAN CHANGE IN AN INSTANT” FOR AIR PULSE
(OFFUTT AFB NEWSPAPER)

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged Air Force writing on September 21,
2016 by Sarah Anne Carter

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I was working part-time during college at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha,
Nebraska, when the USS Cole was attacked on Oct. 12, 2000. I remember thinking
how many people on the ship were close to my age. I worked on the base
newspaper, so I was allowed to get my thoughts down on paper and they printed it
in the next edition. Here is the PDF and the entire editorial is also below.

PDF: world-can-change-in-instant

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THE WORLD CAN CHANGE IN AN INSTANT

By Sarah Anne Carter
55th Wing Public Affairs

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (ACCNS) — I will always remember the day the Gulf
War started.

I was sitting in my sixth-grade classroom at Yokota Air Base, Japan, when the
principal announced over the intercom we were at war with Iraq. Some of us
started crying, some of us sat in stunned silence and others laughed. It was
nervous laughter, though. For us, the people fighting in this war were not
far-off camouflaged figures but our fathers and mothers.

Our lives changed dramatically in that instant. Children my age and even younger
started watching the news. We didn’t ooh and aah over the pretty colors when the
reporter said, “The skies of Baghdad have been illuminated.” We intently watched
the screen for glimpses of people we knew.

It was a short war, but it felt like it went on forever. The end did not mean
that everyone was coming back home immediately. We wrote letters to troops
stationed in the Gulf. We baked cookies. We made valentines. We had pen pals.

Eventually our lives adjusted back to “normal,” but we always lived with the
knowledge that the world can change in an instant.

Now the people in uniform are my age. And they are risking their lives daily for
freedom. The reality of how quickly the world can change hit me again Oct.12.

Two hundred and ninety-three sailors were aboard the USS Cole, a
state-of-the-art destroyer, to help enforce the U.N. oil embargo against Iraq.
While refueling at the port of Aden in Yemen, a small boat pulled alongside it
and detonated a bomb that left a 40-by-40-foot hole in the side of the ship.
Seventeen sailors died in the explosion.

Twelve of those sailors were between 19 and 24 years old. I’m only 21, and
realizing five 19-year-olds and two 21-year-olds died for my freedom hits home.
Some of those sailors were married. Some of them had children. All of them had
people who loved them.

Day after day, Americans in uniform perform the mission our nation expects of
them. In an instant, the world could change, and anyone in uniform could be
called to defend our freedom.

So I want to take a minute to say “Thank you.” As a military brat and an
American citizen, I am indebted to everyone who chooses to take the oath, put on
a uniform and defend my freedom, even if it means sacrificing their own lives.

Originally published in the Offutt AFB Air Pulse newspaper Nov. 10, 2000.


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ABOUT SARAH ANNE CARTER

Sarah Anne Carter is a writer and reader. She grew up all over the world as a
military brat and is now putting down roots with her family in Ohio. Family life
keeps her busy, but any spare moment is spent reading, writing or thinking about
plots for novels.
View all posts by Sarah Anne Carter →



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