Sand Trap — Tom Fugate

Everyone daydreams about being the character in a favorite book or movie. Once in a great while the daydream can become reality. This is a tale about a young man who is one of those daydreamers and gets to be part of the reality that is the basis for the daydream. In 1981 the war on terror was still in its infancy. Americans had been held hostage in Iran for 444 days from November 1979 until January 1981. The attempt to rescue them had ended in embarrassing failure for the United States Military. The new administration had decided that we would not be put in that situation again. The twenty four hour news cycle was beginning to drive the actions of people and groups shouting for attention. These groups were learning to manipulate the media for their own ends. During this period in history there were many events that “officially” never occurred. Operation Sand Trap was one of these. Two aircraft hijackings and one failed hijacking combine to create a situation that could cause chaos if it becomes public. The President of the United States and his administration together with his counterparts in several other countries begin the wheels rolling that will rescue the hostages and hide the hijackings from the world press. This time at least the terrorists will discover that you cannot take credit for something that the world thinks never happened.