By Ruth Ann Ruiz

The Post Newspaper Features Editor

Twenty-four years ago, our nation was under attack. Many of us sat in shock and horror as we watched the attack unfold on our television screens. We watched as people ran from the twin towers after a commercial jet had flown into one of them.

We continued to watch as a second commercial jet crashed into the other tower. Then we watched in disbelief as the towers collapsed, and we gasped at the loss of human life that we knew was happening before our eyes.

Fear overcame us as we learned a third commercial plane had crashed into the Pentagon. The reality that we were under attack began to grip the nation.

It was September 11, 2001. With another plane heading toward Washington, D.C., high-level decisions had to be made quickly. Those de

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