We Have a New Life Now
We
are 9/11
But
we are more than 9/11.
We
had a physical and spiritual life
Before
that day.
And
we have a New Life now.
As
with the innocent 9/11 civilians,
We
were murdered that day
By
Jihadi’s who sucker-punched
Us
with flesh melting jet fuel
And
granite stone projectiles
That
many think ended our lives.
But
Americans leave no Americans behind.
Not
their wounded or dead bodies,
Nor
their memories, nor their stories.
This
is why, children, we honor
Chief
Army Warrant Officer William Ruth
And Navy Lt. Commander Ronald J. Vauk
And
all who went to work on 9/11
Only
to be taken from us due to
Vicious,
cunning, murdering Jihadi’s
Who
know well their 1400-year legacy
Killing
Christians, Jews, Hindus,
Pagans,
atheists, or anyone else
Who
does not submit, convert, or die,
When
they strike in Mohammad’s name
To
arbitrarily decide who lives, and who dies.
According
to their craven earthly ideology.
Chief
Warrant Officer Ruth
Was
a Marine Corps Pilot who in Vietnam
Evacuated
the dead and wounded
Under
heavy enemy fire
Went
on to earn a Master’s degree
When
he returned from the war.
He
taught social studies and history
For
30 years to middle school students
But
was pulled from the classroom
In
the best tradition of the citizen soldier
To
fight in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
He
presided one time
As
Commander of the Mt. Airy VFW
Before
God called him home,
Serving
to the last minute
After
a life of non-stop service.
Lt.
Vauk graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy,
Served
on the submarines U.S.S. Lipscomb
And
U.S.S. Oklahoma City,
Was
a supervisor in submarine technology
At
the Johns Hopkins University
Applied
Physics Laboratory,
And
was the Watch Commander
At
the Pentagon Command Center
On
the phone trying to get jets to scramble
When
the Jihadi-hijacked plane
Hit
the Pentagon like a cruise missile,
As
he served to the last minute
After
a life of non-stop service.
Hear,
Children, what they say from Heaven:
“We
both left children behind
But
we now preside with millions
Of
Saints guarding the Gates of Heaven
And
we are patiently waiting for you.
When
your faith is weak
Know
we stand post guarding
The
gates of earth against the onslaught
Of
the Jihadi’s who even today
Burn
down Christian churches
And
continue to rape, oppress and murder
Wherever
they can find an opening
To
slaughter the Holy Innocents.”
Remember
always, children,
To
cry out to these Heavenly Saints,
Chief
Army Warrant Officer William Ruth
Navy
Lt. Commander Ronald J. Vauk
And
all who have been martyred
In
this 1400 year old war, and pray:
“Jesus,
help us to know how
To
defeat them and their ideology
And
be worthy of Your Crucifixition.”
Both
men fought in a 2000 year old line
That
bookends from Charles the Hammer Martel
At
Tours in 732 A.D.
And
Polish King of Poland John Soboliski
At
the Gates of Vienna in 1632 AD
These
men join a long line of heroes
Who
have met the God’s Commands
And
saved Christendom In a Code of Chivalry
That
demands we protect women and children
We
are 9/11.
But
we are more than 9/11.
We
had a physical and spiritual life
Before
that day.
And
we have a New Life now.
Let
us celebrate our New Life together.
i
Attack Location: Pentagon
Edward Earhart, Matthew Flocco, and their supervisor Lt. Nancy
McKeown are inside the Pentagon, watching the televised footage of the burning World Trade
Center. They belong to a
small meteorological unit based in the Navy Command
Center, located on the
first floor of the building’s southwest face. McKeown asks her two young aides
to bring up New York on the computer because
the Command Center is going to send some fighter
jets there, in case there is another attack on the city. She orders them to
program weather updates for military aircraft converging on New York. However, very soon after this, the
Command Center is directly impacted when the
Pentagon is hit, and both Flocco and Earhart are killed. [WASHINGTON
POST, 9/16/2001; READER'S DIGEST, 9/2002;CNN, 9/8/2002; NEWSDAY, 4/12/2006] Ronald
Vauk, the watch commander in the Navy Command Center,
is on the phone trying to get more fighters scrambled at the time the Pentagon
is hit, though news reports say he wants them to protect Washington,
not New York. [JOHN HOPKINS
MAGAZINE, 11/2001; NEW YORK TIMES, 11/17/2001;BALTIMORE SUN,
9/11/2002] At
9:24 a.m., NORAD had ordered fighters at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to
scramble (see 9:24 a.m.
September 11, 2001), though these will not arrive over
the Pentagon until after it is hit (see (Between 9:49
a.m. and 11:00 a.m.) Sptember 11, 2001). [9/11 COMMISSION,
6/17/2004] According
to Lt. Kevin Shaeffer, who works in the Command
Center, just prior to the attack on
the Pentagon, the watch section and watch leaders in the center are actively
engaged in logging and recording the events going on in New York. He later says, “they all responded
in exactly the way they were trained,” and, “Had the Command Center
not been destroyed it surely would have been able to provide the highest levels
of our Navy leadership with updates as to exactly what was occurring.” [CHIPS, 3/2003]
Navy
reservist Ronald Vauk - who was killed two weeks ago when a hijacked jetliner
crashed into the Pentagon - will be awarded the Purple Heart on Friday, the day
before his body is buried in Arlington
National Cemetery.
The
medal will be presented to Vauk's wife, Jennifer.
The
37-year-old graduate of the Naval
Academy and a former
submarine officer had begun his two-week reserve training at the Pentagon just
the day before the
Press Report: 27 September 2001:
A Mass
of Christian burial for Ronald James Vauk of
Mount
Airy, who was killed at the Pentagon
on September 11, will be offered at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at the
Arlington National Cemetery
Memorial Chapel.
Commander
Vauk, 37, was beginning two weeks of annual active duty for the Naval Reserve
and serving as watch commander in the Naval Command
Center at the Pentagon
when a hijacked plane struck the building. Since 1997, he had been an assistant
group supervisor in submarine technology at the Johns
Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel.
Born
in Nampa, Idaho,
Vauk was a 1987 graduate of the Naval
Academy, where he earned
a degree in political science. He served on the submarines USS Glenard P.
Lipscomb and the USS Oklahoma City, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander
and receiving several medals and commendations. After about seven years of
active duty, he entered the reserves and began working for Delex Corp. in
Tyson's Corner, Virginia,
where he was project manager for naval contracts.
A
devoted family man, Commander Vauk also enjoyed woodworking and golf.
Visiting
hours at Sterling Ashton Schwab Funeral Home, 736 Edmondson Ave., are from 2
p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today.
He is
survived by his wife of 14 years, the former Jennifer Mooney, who is expecting
a child in November, and their 3-year-old son, Liam; four brothers, Charles
Vauk of Boise, Idaho, David Vauk of Nampa, Gary Vauk of Grapevine, Texas, and
Dennis Vauk of Houston; and four sisters, Teri Masterson of Carson City, Nev.,
Celia Shikuma of Huntington Beach, Calif., Lynne Caba of Nampa and Patricia
Vauk of Minneapolis.
A
Ronald James Vauk Memorial Fund for his wife and children has been
established in care of First Mariner Bank, 1801 S. Clinton St., Baltimore
21224.
Press Report 30 September 2001:
Within
view of the blackened Pentagon where he was killed September 11, Nampa native Ron Vauk was buried with full military honors
Saturday in Arlington
National Cemetery.
About
300 mourners, many wearing Navy dress whites, filled a chapel on the grounds of
Fort Myer to attend Vauk's funeral Mass and a
graveside service afterward.
Vauk,
who was born and grew up in Nampa, was one of 189 people who died when
hijackers slammed a commercial jetliner into the Pentagon. A Lieutenant
Commander in the Naval Reserves, Vauk was serving as the Watch Commander at the
Naval Command Center and was just starting his second day of annual active
duty.
Two
weeks before he was killed, the 37-year-old father of one with a second child
due in November prepared a resume for the Navy, his brother-in-law Chris DeBoy
said in his eulogy.
"He
listed his first goal to be the best father and husband he could be,"
DeBoy said. "Ron stood watch for the nation on September 11. Now he stands
watch for all of us."
DeBoy
said Vauk was a dedicated son. Every year he returned to Nampa to visit his parents, Hubert and
Dorothy Vauk. He was talented, funny and a playful teaser.
A 1982
Nampa High School graduate, Vauk was the baby
of the family who always won at Scrabble, DeBoy said.
With
their 3-year-old son, Liam, in her arms, Vauk's wife, Jennifer, led the
mourners out of the chapel into a gray afternoon.
There
a military honor guard lifted Vauk's flag-draped metal casket onto a
horse-drawn caisson. As the mourners followed in cars, the caisson slowly made
its way to the burial site.
In
front of the caisson was a 15-piece military band and a 21-member escort
platoon, all decked out in Navy dress whites.
Seven
dark horses, mounted by four riders, pulled the caisson. Five more sailors
brought up the rear.
In a
halting fashion, six sailors removed the casket from the caisson and carried it
to the grave. As they did so, the sun peeked out from behind clouds.
The
sailors set the casket down and lifted the flag from the coffin and held it
horizontally.
Navy
chaplain Darold Bigger said a prayer.
A
seven-man firing team then shot a three-round volley. A lone bugler played
"Taps."
The
casket team slowly folded the flag with crisp movements, while the band played
the Navy hymn.
"On
behalf of a grateful nation and a proud Navy, we present you this flag,"
Rear Admiral Michael Loose said as he handed the folded Stars and Stripes to
Jennifer Vauk.
When
the ceremony ended, Jennifer and Liam, a pacifier in his mouth, walked to the
casket with other family members, tearfully touched it and placed small red
paper flowers on it.
In
general, only military retirees, those who died in active duty, and their
spouses can be buried at Arlington
National Cemetery,
though certain others may qualify for the honor.
After
high school, Ron Vauk attended the U.S.
Naval Academy
and was an officer on the submarines USS Glenard P. Lipscomb and USS Oklahoma City. He left
active duty in 1993.
At the
time of his death, Vauk was employed at Johns
Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel,
Maryland, where he worked on
submarine technology.
The
Navy awarded Vauk the Purple Heart in a ceremony at the Johns Hopkins laboratory on Friday. Jennifer Vauk
accepted the Purple Heart, and young Liam received a polished wooden box to
hold his fathers' medals.
Local
services
A
local memorial Mass for Ron Vauk will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul's Catholic
Church, 1515 8th St. S.,
Nampa.
Lynn
Caba, Ron Vauk's sister, is manager of the Wells Fargo
main branch in Nampa.
Her team members established and contributed to the Ron Vauk Benefit Fund to
cover immediate expenses for his pregnant wife, Jennifer Vauk, and their
3-year-old son, Liam. Additional money will be used as an educational fund for
Vauk's children. Donations are being accepted at any Wells Fargo branch.
U.S.
Navy Rear Admiral Mike Loose salutes Jennifer Vauk and her son Liam, 3, after
giving her a U.S. flag in honor of her husband, Lt. Commander Ron Vauk.
Lieutenant Commander Ronald J. Vauk
Lieutenant
Commander Ronald James Vauk was on the second day of his annual two-week Navy
Reserve stint at the Pentagon when the Boeing 757 plunged into the building
Tuesday morning.
His
family thought the damaged section housed mostly Army personnel. But by 7 that
night, when there was still no word of him, relatives began to fear the worst.
Then they learned that Vauk, of Mount
Airy, Virginia, was
assigned to the Naval Command Center under the section that had
been hit. Yesterday, the Navy listed him as missing.
He has
a 3-year-old son, and his wife is pregnant with their second child. Vauk, who
attended the U.S. Naval Academy and spent five years in the Navy before joining
the reserves, works at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
in research.
"I'm
trying to hope for a miracle, like everyone else," said a sister, Pat
Vauk, who arrived home from work yesterday to find the unwelcome sight of
funeral flowers sitting on her table. "You try to hold out hope, but as
time goes on, it gets harder."
Pat
Vauk last saw her brother, whom she described as a "fabulous human
being," on Friday, when she came to Baltimore
from her Minneapolis
home on business.
She
said rescuers had been unable to penetrate the area where they believe her
brother was working. The family -- he is the youngest of nine siblings -- is
spread out across the country, and the others have been unable to come to
Washington because of
the commercial aviation ban.
"It's
just not easy, not easy at all to go through this," she said.
--
Jo Becker
NOTE: Lieutenant Vauk was laid to rest in Section 64 of Arlington National Cemetery,
in the shadows of the Pentagon.
One guy who heard my talk really made my trip to Utah, and the expense, worth it all. Earlier he told me he worked at the Skunk Works(r) on the U-2 and SR-71 for decades. 
I was in Salt Lake City 30 years ago when the Great Salt Lake rose five feet and flooded the valley. Thousands of volunteers, at the prodding of the elders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, filled sand bags and channeled the flood waters through downtown Salt Lake City to Lake Provo. Local people did this. Not the Feds. And they saved countless lives and property by doing so. Here are some links for background.
I stood on a mountain above the Utah State Capital Building and saw the flood for miles, from the overflowed chemical waste ponds to channeled river on State Street. It was a marvel to behold.
When the next "flood of the century" like that in Salt Lake City in 1983 strikes again, emergency managers and the LDS elders have a few more tools (see the slides here for a few pointers) in their toolkit than shovels, heavy plastic bags, and sand.
