Early on the morning of 9/11, I woke with a start. It was not because I instinctively knew something bad was going to happen – it was because my crew partner was screaming my name and asking me to get out of bed. As a First Lieutenant missileer stationed at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, I was responsible for launch operations of the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile – the most powerful weapon in our nation’s nuclear deterrent arsenal.