What if? War on Terror edition

A very good friend of mine was in the area tonight to do a little Christmas shopping, so I went out to have a beer with him after he was done. Our conversation drifted to something we've never really discussed even though we've known each other for ten years: Our experiences on 9-11. That conversation then drifted to military service. After 9-11, he was pretty fresh out of college, and I was a couple of years out but in career limbo. We discussed how close we both were to enlisting and how, with just a bit of a push, we would have. I can't help but wonder where we would be if the Bush administration and Congress had put this nation on a full war footing right away after 9-11 and had fully taken the fight to all of our enemies. I know there are many others like he and I who would have answered the call for our service if it just would have been made.