NORWICH – “We wish people could be that way all the time,” said National Guardsman Jason Kelsey, after a member of Chenango County Republican Women’s Club recalled the patriotism and unity Americans displayed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

He and his wife Emerine spoke at the club’s monthly meeting Tuesday, the anniversary of largest terrorist attack on American soil.

Both are veterans of the U.S. Air Force. Out by 2003, Jason then joined the National Guard after the U.S. invaded Iraq. He was deployed there for 50 days a year and half ago.

“We realized we weren’t finished,” said Emerine, a 1994 graduate of Norwich High School, referring to her husband’s decision to get back into the military.

Admitting, as a military family, that their work may never be finished, she says their sense of duty began creeping in at childhood.

“We’re very patriotic. It’s how we are,” said Emerine. “And that’s how we were raised, as well.”

Both told the crowd inside the Guernsey Memorial Library that 9/11, for them, ushered in an entirely new feeling of respect for the people who protect and fight for this country.

“Our lives changed drastically,” Emerine said. “It was a whole new era of respect and admiration.”