Where were you September 11th
September 11th, 2001: I was stationed at Camp Humphreys, Korea, it was late in the evening. Football was on TV and I had fallen asleep. Something on the TV had awakened me. Just before I turned it off, I caught the live news coverage.
There was smoke billowing out of one of the Twin Towers. The news anchor said a plane had flown into one of the towers. As I pilot, I first thought, “What idiot in a Cessna flew into the tower. What a moron.”
As I stared in amazement, another plane hit the second tower. This time I knew it was on purpose; I called my commander. “Sir, sorry to wake you, turn on the news.”
“What am I watching?”
“Two jets just flew into the twin towers in New York.”
“Start the alert roster, get everyone in.”
“Roger, sir.”
Within minutes I was at the gate to the base. There were hundreds of cars in line trying to get on base. They weren’t letting anyone off the base and screening everyone and every vehicle coming through the gate. There was a buzz in the air; it was the kind of feeling that makes the hair on your neck stand up.
Rumors of other planes being hijacked started floating around even a plane attacking the Pentagon. Eventually the rumors were confirmed. Enlisted soldiers pulled guard duty on the flight line and the officers waited for our next orders. We stayed up all night, watching the TV waiting for more information.
I remember feeling helpless as I watched the images of people walking the streets of NYC showing strangers pictures of their loved ones hoping that someone, anyone, may have seen their missing family member wandering the streets.
Then feelings of anger, wanting to attack whatever country or person did this to America. No one does this to the United States and gets away with it. What would John Wayne do?
Two days after returning from Korea, half of my unit went to Afghanistan (I stayed in the States), and within two years, I found myself on one of nine cargo ships securing the 101st Airborne Divisions equipment, then flying over the cities and deserts of Iraq.
Today, I am in Baghdad, 93 combat patrols complete, a couple of months from returning home reflecting on the lives lost in the Pentagon, Pennsylvania, New York City, Afghanistan and Iraq.
God Bless America
GOD BLESS THE USA!!!! Thank you and all who you serve with for protecting us. I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 09/11/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
I was coming off a midnight shift when I was buying some beer in the local store when the first reports were coming over the radio.
I raced home and saw the second plane strike. Someday I will find the post I wrote the next day.
Thank you for what you do my friend. Get your tail home safe, we need you back.
chas
I was in my third grade class and the day was going by just a normal as any day. My teacher got called out of the room for a phone call. She comes back and says to all of us that that was her brother who lived in New York and that a plane had crashed into the world trade center. I hadnt a clue what that meant. She turned the news on (every class had a tv) and we watched footage from NYC. Now I can remember that it didnt mean anything to me. I was in 3rd grade and I had no understanding of the severity of the situation. Its one of those moments you will always remember, like when my mother remembers where she was when the Challenger exploded.