Judith Michaud , Palm Coast
A nation of laws?
When planes struck the towers on September 11, 2001, I was a Seabreeze High School teacher and coach. I loved serving to empower youth, especially in this town where I was raised.
I d sometimes grade papers before school at the Starbucks in Bel Air Plaza (no longer there), or after school, outside Larry s – that Seabreeze fixture. The sight of the Twin Towers falling never left me, though.
Most evenings, I d take a stroll around my hood, growing incensed with each day s lives lost to IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan. During those strolls, I decided to take an oath to protect our great nation against foreign and domestic enemies. I enlisted to serve in the Navy special operations community and would do so meritoriously for more than 12 years before my honorable separation.