Former Fort Bliss commanding general reflects on 20th anniversary of 9/11

EL PASO, Texas -- Nearly 20 years ago, Americans witnessed the country under attack on September 1, 2001. It was a day, that many, including Former Commanding General of Fort Bliss and the 1st Armored Division, Dana Pittard, would never forget. 

“I thought about leaving the army twice before that, but after that, it was like, Oh no," Pittard said. "This is what I've been trained to do my entire life, so the thoughts of leaving that time ended right there with 9/11 was going to stay.” 

Then LTC(P) Pittard was a student at Harvard, completing a year long fellow ship. Former class mate and now Chief of Staff of the Army, James McConville, grabbed Pittard on their way to class tell him about the attack.

“So we ran real quick to the what's a building called the forum...just as we walked in there, and we started watching the second plane hit the other tower," We looked at each other, and we knew, we knew that we were going to war.”

Now retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Pittard said he felt helpless knowing he couldn’t step in right away. It wasn’t until 2004 where he took his brigade to Iraq.

“We started taking casualties and and we had soldiers die." It was a pain that thousands of service member faced.

“America over time, I think would would move on. But for those of us in uniform, it completely transformed our lives, the lives of our families. We just didn't know at that time that we would be going back and forth for multiplying deployments for decades after that.” 

Now, with the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan complete, for Pittard, “the fact that the Taliban has just taken over Afghanistan, just doesn't feel right.” 

Despite differing opinions on how the withdrawal was conducted.. Pittard will never forget those we’ve lost.. but also that feeling of being "united". "That didn't last long. but it was a neat feeling at the time, in some ways, and a tough price to pay for that.”

Pittard, who's now vice president with a global manufacturing company, said he's hopeful that on this 20th anniversary, the country can be untied again. 

“America needs to be that bright, shining light. There's so much we need to do in our own country, now, for hope for the future.”