On Sept. 11, 2001, the Pentagon moved beneath Kirk Phillips’ feet. In an instant, an ordinary morning became history.

"A Breath Away From Eternity: The Long Road Home" is the deeply personal account of a retired U.S. Air Force veteran and Pentagon 9/11 survivor, and the 25-year journey that followed.

Phillips takes readers from the Pentagon on Sept. 11 through his later decision to volunteer for service in Afghanistan and, ultimately, the long road home. Along the way are moments of danger and loss, but also humor, friendship, family, service and the bonds formed among people living through extraordinary circumstances.

This is not simply a military memoir or a story about surviving 9/11. It is a veteran’s firsthand witness to history and an exploration of what happens after survival, when the headlines disappear but those who lived the events continue carrying them.

Twenty-five years later, an entire generation knows Sept. 11 only as history. Phillips wrote "A Breath Away From Eternity" so that one more firsthand story would be preserved before memory becomes history.

None of us knows which breath will be our last.

What will you do with the breaths you still have?