On 9/11, Major Tim Shaffer was the commander of Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery, part of the 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas, and in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks - in support of Operation Noble Eagle - he was told that he'd be supporting a high-value asset defense mission at President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. "We were one of only two organizations at that point that had the capability in Texas to provide that support," he said, "so we were kind of proud it was coming to us. We also knew it was going to be an enduring mission for a while." Shaffer's participation ended up lasting about seven months before moving on to an ROTC instructor position at the University of Maine. Then, in June 2005, he became the senior air defense observer-controller (OC) at the Joint Readiness Training Center, tasked with ensuring that "any ADA elements that came to Fort Polk had training that challenged them and that they received quality coaching, teaching and mentorship from my OCs." During his two years in this job, Shaffer oversaw some two dozen brigade-level mission rehearsal exercises at JRTC and several other overseas exportable training packages, to locations as varied as Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan. "The next best thing short of being in combat," he said, "is preparing someone else to go into combat. We took our jobs very seriously, knowing that the soldiers were going into harm's way very soon after they left us."

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