By Brigadier General (Retired) Shawn Harris, Candidate for Congress, Georgia’s 14th Congressional District | Rockmart, GA | September 11, 2026

Twenty-five years ago, our nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. Like millions of Americans, I remember the shock, grief, and uncertainty that followed. We watched our fellow citizens murdered at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and aboard United Airlines Flight 93. We watched first responders run toward danger. We watched ordinary Americans come together in an extraordinary time of need.

For those of us who wore the uniform in the years that followed, September 11 was not simply a date on a calendar, but a call to service.

I had already spent years serving our country, first as an enlisted Marine and later as an Army National Guard officer. After the attacks of 9/11, I commanded an Embedded Training Team (ETT) in combat in the mountains of Kapisa, Afghanistan as part of our nation’s prosecution of the Global War on Terror. I saw firsthand the commitment of American service members, young men and women from every background and every corner of the nation who carried out difficult missions far from home because they believed in their oath, their fellow soldiers, and the country they served.

A commander in combat makes decisions knowing that the lives of soldiers, families, and innocent civilians may hang in the balance. The most difficult part of military leadership is not the ceremony, the rank, or the recognition. It is caring for the people entrusted to you, and at times, having to tell a family that someone they love will not be coming home. 

Georgia understands the values of service and sacrifice, because Georgia is a state that supports the military. Our state is home to service members, veterans, military families, National Guard members, Reservists, and civilian employees who support America’s defense every day. From Fort Benning and Fort Stewart to Hunter Army Airfield, Robins Air Force Base, Moody Air Force Base, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Fort Gordon, and Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia’s military communities are woven into the life of our state. 

That spirit of service is familiar to me because I grew up on a farm in Blakely, Georgia. I learned early that work must be done, promises must be kept, and people must look after one another. Those lessons carried me from the Marine Corps to the Army, from combat in Afghanistan to senior leadership assignments and eventually to my retirement forty years later as an Army Brigadier General. Today, my wife Karla and I operate a grass-fed cattle farm back home in Rockmart, Georgia, where our neighbors understand that service is not a slogan. It is a way of life.

The lesson of September 11 is not only in how America was attacked. It is in how Americans responded.

We responded when firefighters entered buildings from which others were fleeing. They responded when police officers, medical professionals, construction workers, volunteers, and neighbors came to Ground Zero. We responded when Americans donated blood, raised flags, prayed for strangers, and comforted families they had never met. We responded when more than 250,000 young patriotic Americans joined the military in the year after September 11. In the two decades that followed, millions of Americans served in Afghanistan and Iraq. And thousands never returned home.

Their service is part of the story of September 11. So are the families who waited through deployments, the veterans who came home with visible and invisible wounds, and the Gold Star families who continue to live with an absence no words can fill.

On this anniversary, Georgia should remember that our veterans are not distant figures from history. They are part of every community in the 14th Congressional District and throughout our state.

We honor them best not only with ceremonies, flags, and speeches, but by keeping our promises to them. That means ensuring that veterans receive the health care, benefits, job opportunities, education, and support they earn through their service. It means respecting military families and recognizing the burdens that deployments place on spouses, children, and caregivers. It means sending leaders to Washington who understand the consequences of war, the value of peace, and the lifelong responsibility our nation owes to those who served.

Georgia has always produced citizens willing to serve something greater than themselves. That is who we are. It is what our military communities represent. It is the legacy we must preserve for the next generation.

On September 11, we remember. We honor and recommit ourselves to the country and the people for whom so many have sacrificed.