North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 8, 2011 Page: 1 of 8
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Sighting the arget
Student group teaches firearm safety
Arts and Life | Page 4
Teeing off
Men's golf team starts season in Minnesota
Sports | Page 5
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Volume 98 I Issue 9
Sunny
87° / 57°
North Texas lD'aJlv
News 1,2, 3
Arts & Life 4
Sports 5,6
Views 7
Classifieds 8
Games 8
O ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Defining a D ecade of Defense
UNT
UNIVERSITY OF
WORTH *TF Y Ac
Students' lives changed by war
Alex Macon
Senior Staff Writer
Adam Edwards, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran,
was in 9th grade when the attacks were made on
Sept. 11.
Now, after serving in the reserve from2005to 2011
and completing an eight-month tour of d uty in Iraq,
Edwards studies history as a senior at UNT.
" You know, I was 14, and I was madder than any
14-year-old had the right to be," Edwards said. "I
had never heard of al- Qaeda or Osama bin Laden,
and I didn't know the difference between normal
Islam and radical Islam. At first I had some revenge
issues."
Edwards watched the events of 9/11 and the
subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on tele-
vision and wanted justice for the victims of the 9/11
attacks, but he gradually became more motivated
by a sense of service and a desire to do good in the
world. Most of all, he said, 9/11 gave him a greater
sense of pride in his country.
"We were just Americans, not concerned with
divisiveness," Edwards said. "Like all adversity, it
made us stronger as a nation."
Edwards graduated from high school in 2005
and shortly after enlisted in the Marine Corps
Reserve.
"We were just
Americans, not
concerned with
divisiveness"
—Adam Edwards
U.S. Marine Corps veteran
"It wasn't like the day after 9/11 it was implanted
in my head," Edwards said. "But it definitely had an
effect on my decision to join."
Keenan Cobb, a theatre arts and radio, televi-
sion and film senior, was enlisted in the Air Force
and stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California
on Sept. 11,2001.
Cobb was finishing up an overnight shift at the
base when a news report interrupted a Ludacris
song on the radio: two airplanes had been flown
into the Twin Towers in New York City.
See VETERANS on Page 3
Photos by Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT
Photos by James Coreas/Senior Staff Photographer
Top: Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates lectures Wednesday night in the
UNT Coliseum. Gates came to speak for the week of 9/11 in commemoration of
its 10-year anniversary. He served as the 22nd defense secretary (2006-2011)
and is the only one in U.S. history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly
elected president.
Above: Audience members listen to former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
during his lecture Wednesday night in the UNT Coliseum.
Left: The color guard, representing all branches of the United States military,
stand at attention during a noontime ceremony at Mount Olivet Cemetery in
Fort Worth, Texas
Gates
gives 9/11
perspective
Isaac Wright
Assigning Editor
More than2,000people from the
UNT and Denton community filled
the Coliseum Wednesdaynightto
hear former Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates discusshowSept. 11,
2001 changed America.
Atop intelligence official under
eight differentpresidential admin-
istrations, Gates was able to shed
light on the events in the decade
before9/ll that allowed the latest
terrorist attack in U.S. history to
happen.
Though the World Trade Center's
bottomlevelwas bombed by terror-
ists in 1993, itwas one of ahandful
of small terrorist attacks that trans-
pired during the decade.
"9/11 made tragically evident
the drift and neglect of the previous
decade in respect to our govern-
ment's handling of intelligence
and homeland security," Gates
said. "The United States had just
neverbeenhit hard enough on our
own soil to take the threat truly
seriously."
Gates was brought to UNT as
part of the Distinguished Lecture
Series. His speech was one in a
week full of events to remember
9/11.
Gates met with student media
before taking the stage and also
responded to prepared questions
presented by Student Government
Association President and Vice
President Blake Windham and
Edwin Chavez. Questions ranged
from how the Bush and Obama
administrations differed in their
approach to counter-terrorism to
whathe thinks aboutthe University
of Texas leaving the Big XII confer-
ence.
Gates addressed current mili-
tary spending over the past decade
and said the present amount of the
federal budget set aside for mili-
tary spending is at its lowest ever
during wartime,
Gates said about 19 percent of
the budget is spent on military
needs, and 4.5 percent ofthe GDP
is spent by the military. In World
War II, 32 percent of the GDP was
allocated to the military.
"Defending Americans is the
one unambiguous role given to
the federal government by the
Constitution," Gates said. "There
are strategic consequences to
[defense budget] cuts. If you're not
considering the strategic conse-
quences, then all you're doing is
math."
In a previous story, the North
Texas Daily revealed Gates was
paid $108,000 for his lecture,
$33,500 of which was used for
travel expenses.
See GATES on Page 3
Faculty, staff reflect on initial reactions
Nicole Balderas
Senior Staff Writer
Ten years ago today, the world
had not experienced the Sept.
11 attacks, and in the midst
of shock when the attacks
happened, UNT administration
had to make quick decisions on
how to serve the university's
community.
"We were shell-shocked,"
said Mark Packer, University
Union assistant director for
programs. "People didn't know
how to react, and we were scared
because of the unknown."
Many students and faculty
arrived that day to empty class-
rooms because the majority
of people were in the Union
watching live coverage of the
tragedy.
"The Union staff had put up
TVs everywhere," Packer said.
"You were scrambling to try to
find a TV to watch so you could
get information."
Another Union staff member
recalls watching students and
faculty pack together in tiny
offices to witness the tragedy.
"They were all huddled in total
silence watching," said Claire
Medina, executive administra-
tive assistant for campus life.
"Students and faculty crowded
together in offices to watch any
TV they could find."
There was no school lock-
down because the univer-
sity had never experienced a
tragedy like it before, Packer
said. Instead, students were
released from school around
noon.
"The university did make a
decision late that morning to
close," Packer said. "There was
no Eagle Alerts yet, so the only
means we had was email and
news networks."
Moving forward
University officials came
together soon after the tragedy
to assess their options to help
grieving students.
"We tried to find out what
kinds of programs we could
do to help people process their
fears and feelings," Packer said.
"We had a wall where people
could write their thoughts, and it
remained up for some time."
Forthe first fewweeks it wasn't
quite clear what fueled the Sept.
11 attacks, Packer said.
See SEPTEMBER on Page 3
What's Inside
NEWS* Passes 1:0
v * gain members
Page 2
ARTS & LIFE: Students write letters
to service members a c
cpf ^DTTC. Mean Green gets ready
or WIVU. for Isiander Ciassic
Page 6
vtfws* Editorial: How to draw meaning
* from a national tragedy Page
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Pherigo, Josh. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 9, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 8, 2011, newspaper, September 8, 2011; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth209165/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.