“Lifeliners” Remember 9/11

By Specialist LaTwanya Robinson
101st Sustainment Brigade
(photo by PV2 Kylee Burnham)

When Captain Tanya Bindernagel first joined the Army in 2001, she said it was for the experience. Things quickly turned real for her following the events of September 11, 2001.
She said she spent the entire day glued in front of her television set. A Delayed Entry Program recipient who attended basic training at Fort Jackson, SC in November, she said she never considered backing out of her enlistment.
“It made me more excited to leave,” Captain Bindernagel, chaplain for the 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, said. “Nothing in our training seemed general; everything had a purpose.”
The battalion chaplain joined hundreds of Soldiers of the “Lifeliners” brigade as they marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11th attack during a special luncheon at the Cole Park Commons.
Brigade Chaplain Major Sun Macupa said the Brigade Unit Ministry team organized the luncheon with the purpose of remembrance and reflection, as well as instilling a sense of camaraderie.
“It was important to hold this luncheon and other events like it because it’s shows how much the Brigade cares about the soldiers, physically, mentally and spiritually,” she said.
Fort Campbell Installation Chaplain Colonel Ken Brown was the keynote speaker for the event, and reminded Soldiers to keep going through the difficult periods.
“We have seen hard times before and we have come through those times, just as we will again and again. Never come down from the wall,” he said.
Sept. 11th had special meaning for other brigade Soldiers as well.
Private First Class Lyle Johnson, a Motor Transport Operator with the 129th CSSB, was in the eighth grade when 9/11 occurred. He said he remembers being given a choice: stay in his history class and watching the events unfold during that day, or continue on with his regular class schedule.
PFC Johnson said he chose to stay in his history class and “take pages of notes on what
he was hearing and seeing on the news.”
The 22-year-old Soldier from Post Falls, Idaho, said 9/11 had some influence on him joining the Army in 2007.
“I feel it’s important to remember the bravery that was shown that day by the officials that died attempting to save lives,” he said.
SFC Kim Bell, a Platoon Sergeant for the 101st Sustainment Brigades Integration and Reception
Team, was stationed at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and was in-processing a Soldier there when heard news of the attack. He said his unit instituted an alert, which meant all soldiers assigned to his unit had to report in to work, and security had increased.
It was a late night for SFC Bell, as he stayed at work longer than usual, he said.
SFC Bell, who joined the Army in January 1992, said the most important thing to remember about what transpired on 9/11 is that we are fighting for freedom.
He also recalled having mixed emotions.
“On one hand, I was saddened with what had happened and felt the deep sense of loss
that sparked a wide range of feelings. But on the other hand, it made me ready, ready for
war,” he said.