September 11th by the numbers

  • Published
  • By Lt Col Jonathan Tamblyn
  • 54 Air Refueling Squadron Commander
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  In the month of September, 121 months after the tragedies of September 11th 2001, let's take 5 minutes to remember a crucial reason we all serve ... by the numbers ...

19 is the number of attackers who boarded airplanes in the morning of September 11th, 2001.

70 is the number of minutes it took to accomplish the attack from the first impact to the last.

246 is the number of innocent men, women and children who died on all four airplanes.

2,727* is the number of innocent people who died in their workplaces at the Twin Towers or the Pentagon.

2,992* is the number of people who are no longer with us. Living parents of the victims' will surely be missing their lost children this Thanksgiving.

3,289 is the number of days family and friends of the 2,992 have had to live without their loved ones.

21,963 is the number of days between the September 11 attacks and the last time our United States of America was assaulted so audaciously on December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.

307,006,550 is the number of people resident in the United States of America on or about July, 2009. The terrorists would be pleased if every one of us were threatened with the same, brutal fate.

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27 is the number of days between the terrorists attack and our own attack in land-locked Afghanistan, targeting Al Qaeda and the Taliban who harbored them.

32 is the number of ships involved when Operation ENDURING FREEDOM kicked off, 7 October 2001.

393 is the number of US and allied aircraft involved in hostilities that night--the first night of what the President called the Global War on Terror.

793 is the number of allied combat fatalities fighting in Afghanistan to date.

1,278 is the number of American combat fatalities fighting in Afghanistan to date.

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22,542 is the number of mobility crewmembers Altus AFB has graduated from formal training since September 11, 2001. They learned to employ the C-5, C-17 and KC-135 airframes in support of military and humanitarian missions. These crewmembers have contributed to the following...by the numbers...

1,730,000 is the number of passengers delivered to the fight, only counting the last year
606,000 is the number of tons of cargo delivered last year.

13,000 is the approximate number of casualties transported from the CENTCOM area of operations in the past year.

4 is the number of children I put to sleep every night, thankful for the sacrifices of so many for their safety.

** All the numbers published in this article were derived from open sources to include: CNN's public website; U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division; "American Soldier", by Tommy Franks; 2010 AF Posture Statement to Congress; CENTCOM's public website; 97 TRS/TRA; numbers of days are based on expected publication 11 September 2010. *The exact numbers of dead from September 11th is in dispute.