How 9/11 changed the US military and how it fights

Few had more repeated deployments than the Special Operations community after 9/11, another part of the U.S. military transformed by a global war against suicide bombers and a brutal ideology.

Gersten was a Major in the Air Force one corridor away from where the plane hit the Pentagon. His commander told him to get back to work after the first plane hit the World Trade Center. "So my commander said, hey, you guys, the report's due to the chairman by noon. It's not ready yet. Go back to your desk, get these reports ready for presentation," Gunz recalled. "I sat at my desk, and then a massive explosion occurred. Windows shattered around me. I fell off my chair. My computer came down. There was confusion as to where the explosion was. I had been near explosions before, but inside the building, I couldn't tell where it was from." He grabbed his top secret computer, trained to protect it at all costs.