Where were you during 9/11? What has changed in 20 years?

Great question! My daugher was born one month prior to 9/11, so I was on maternity leave. I watched the events unfold on TV all morning long...with extra caffeine & hormones. I remember thinking the world was never going to be the same, and my newborn daughter & 2 yr old son wouldn't know a time without it being in their history.

I was on the wash rack of Camp Garry Owen in Korea serving with C Troop, 4-7 CAV; Changing the Transmission on C-11 while the Rest of the Troop was conducting a presence patrol near the DMZ.  I called the XO on the radio and told him to get his ass back to base ASAP.  It was a weird, sad day.  The whole Troop was amped up and ready to fight.

I was on permissive TDY to Armstrong Atlantic State University.  I had completed my Physics class and was in the cafeteria finishing up a my last few Calc problems before that class started.  I was watching TV in the school's theater when the second plane impacted.  I finished out the day of school (hearing about the pentagon and the PA crash from other students) and called my unit to see if we were going anywhere.  Because we were mech infantry, we weren't equipped for Anaconda....so we didn't go anywhere right away and I was able to finish out the semester before I went back to work.  I was planning on separating at the end of my first enlistment.  I have now been in nearly 15 years and I am going nowhere any time soon.

I was a Small Group Leader at the Ft. Stewart NCO Academy on the last day of a cycle break when the attacks occurred. I had just gotten out of bed and was sipping my first cup of coffee of the day when I turned on Fox news in time to learn of the first plane hitting the Twin Towers and then watching live as the second struck and KNOWING that this was not an accident but an attack. Needless to say I spent the day in shock watching over and over the planes striking the Towers and the Pentagon and then the collapse of both of the Towers. Needless to say my life and that of my brothers and sisters-in- arms changed forever that morning.

On that tragic day, I was a member of the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron based in Okinawa, Japan.  I remember the situation vividly…was pulling a 12 hour shift due to a typhoon. Finished the shift, went home, and crashed on the bed still in uniform with the TV on.  I started having what I thought was a dream of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.  As I came to, I realized it wasn't a dream and called up my buddy and we watched in horror as the second tower was hit.  Everything after that was a blur…...

I had night watch that whole week so I was in the rack asleep. Caught it all on the six o'clock news right after waking up that evening. Last good sleep I had for weeks.

I was on PCS leave, enroute to Korea.  I was watching the news and saw it happen.  I called my losing unit to find out what was going to happen and if I needed to return and sign back in from leave.  Nobody knew anything about what was going on and thought it was a prank call.  I ended up in Korea on 17SEP01 and was on lock down for the first month.  The following months were "high stress" with the North Korean Government moving a Division size element of tanks within 1 km of the DMZ, and then the riots that ensued after the incident that killed two LN school girls by a convoy of heavy engineer vehicles.  Rough year.

I was stationed at Kirtland AFB, NM. I was teaching water survival that day. So I was up very early to get equipment to the pool and set up before students starting arriving. Class went off without a hitch. Took all the equipment outside and started the long drying out process. Got everything dried and packed away sometime during the early evening. So the truth of the whole thing, I didn't know anything had happened until it was late on the East Coast and most of the day was over. But, the next few week were crazy. I didn't see any part live. I still have some recording of what happened. Strangely I feel left out on a major historically event in US history.

I had just started an AG/R tour with the CalGuard, and was just finishing my facility qualifications.  I double-timed to the squadron, bypassing chow.  We were all in disbelief that something like this could happen.  I remember The Old Man pacing back and forth mumbling something about tactical nukes to retaliate.  (it was right then, I knew not to screw with him)  All non-essential personnel were sent home, so I went back to my quarters and called my wife to let her know it would be a few days before I got home to start our cross-country PCS, as I was scheduled to fly back east that night.

I was deployed to kuwait desert on a 5 month tour