As a former resident of north Jersey, I can tell you that it's had a profound impact on me. My best friend's father was on the 100th floor of WTC2 (first tower to be hit) and we all assume was instantly vaporized. I saw those towers smoking from my town across the water, and those images mean a lot more to me than I would expect them to mean to a lot of people.
Case in point: since then, I've gone overseas five times and fought in two wars, and I'm not even 30 years old.
On the flip side, I'm pretty sick of hearing about it as well. It defines me as a person now to a large degree. The thing to keep in mind about those numbers of killed/wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan is that troops over there are basically adding to those numbers like a "drop in the bucket" - those people are killing each other at an EXTREMELY high rate. The way I've seen grown men treat one another in those countries with total disregard for life is one of the most disgusting things I've ever had to witness.
