Marlow said, “After 9/11, we were all unified.

Cotton replied, “It is a notable contrast — that for the days and months after 9/11, we were fairly unified as a nation.

Even our political leaders — who have severe differences of opinion when it came to the direction of the country — were relatively unified.

Cotton, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, reflected on his decision to enlist in the military after the events of 9/11 while he was studying at Harvard Law School.

“I remember on the morning of 9/11, I was in law school sitting in evidence class.

… I know it may be hard for your younger listeners to understand that back then — the days before the flood — we didn’t have Wi-Fi, and we didn’t have smartphones with text messages and social media.

After leaving his class on the morning of 9/11, Cotton remembered seeing dozens of students “with shocked looks on their faces.” He then realized “America was under attack.” He stated, “I was going to go and be a lawyer, but from that day forward, I resolved that I wanted to serve in our military and go overseas to defend America and defend our freedom.”.