BON in Guantanamo Bay...
by txtwstr7 on Aug 9, 2009 5:02 PM CDT
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Print...in my last post, we discussed the connection (if any) between academic prestige and athletic success. One of the residing themes in the comments was how the overall prestige and "identity" of a school can be increased by athletic success. However, while athletics can definitely increase the stature of a school, there are other ways to promote and project what a school represents to the general public.
A few weeks ago, as part of my Army JAG Internship, I was provided with the opportunity to visit Guantanamo Bay. As part of our four-day visit, we were asked to bring a memento of our school to display at the base. In e-mailing several friends for advice, including the BON authors, I wanted to take something special. I wanted to leave something unique. In short, I wanted to bring something that would make the entire UT Community proud.
After the jump, I want to share with all of you the two items that I took to Guantanamo and provide some additional pictures from the trip. Feel free to skip the post, but I think many of you will be moved by at least one of the images, especially those who attended UT during the 9-11 attacks.
Seeking further advice, I contacted some UT administrators and told them about my visit. After some back-and-forth discussions, I wound up receiving an image that absolutely blew me away. I was sent a picture of the UT Tower on 9-14-01, which showed the giant US flag hung to honor the victims of 9-11. I turned this picture into a plaque, which included a handwritten explanation of the picture.
Additionally, I had to bring an image of the UT Tower from our 2005 National Championship season. Once again, the image was provided by UT officials and turned into a plaque.
Hook 'em!
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Awesome
I would love to have that plaque hanging somewhere in my room.
by goingforthecorner on Aug 9, 2009 6:59 PM CDT reply actions
Memories
I was in the Air Force during that time and on 9-11 I sat in the break room and watched the attacks, 8 days later I was over seas doing my part. This brought back memories,
My boy sleeps with one eye open and a foot in your ass!!
More memories
The 2005 Championship holds more memoires, because my wife, (girlfriend at the time) was deployed during that time. She is in that group of people with signs they show from Kirkuk AB Iraq. So I got to see my woman on TV and see the Longhorns Kick ass. Pretty god memories,
My boy sleeps with one eye open and a foot in your ass!!
Rigger
Thank you for your service to our country and I salute you. I pray we never forget to honor those who have served us so we can do things like this and so many other freedoms taken for granted everyday.
great post....
although I have to ask a question, isn’t Guantanamo going to be closed? So isn’t the pictures going to move somewhere else?
I was a junior at UT on 9/11
and I’ll never forget that day. That picture’s a nice tribute. Thanks for the post.
I was a sophmore at UT on 9/11
Nice story. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 8 years.
It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.
I was in my second day rifle marksmanship in basic training. We were all pulled off the range, bussed back to our battalion barracks with our heads tucked between our knees, and then hit with the news by a drill sergeant. We all thought it was just a mental game, a high-stress situation drill or something like that, until a kid who had gone to the medical center and seen it on a waiting room TV came back and told us about it. Other than that news and what we received in letters, we received no other news on the whole thing until we were out of basic, because we of course weren’t allowed access to newspapers, televions, radio, etc. in basic.
by burntorangehorn on Aug 10, 2009 10:53 AM CDT reply actions
I was riding shotgun on flight out ABIA.....
….to keep the pilot company on flight out to West texas. We saw the attacks on the big screen at the charter terminal as we got ready to leave and took off as planned. we were held for 10 minutes then Controllers let us take off. We listened to the radio chatter as the FAA slowly closed more and more air space over the country. Finally Houston Control made the announcement that the entire air of the US was closed and all aircraft must land at the nearest safe landing site. There was a Air France 747 on route to LA that was told to land at San Antonio where the pilot who didn’t speak much english had never flown and didn’t know the airport layout and none of the controllers spoke french. You need a lot of information on the approach for a big plane to land and it’s a slow process with language differences.
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