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

I was watching the events unfold on a television in my seventh grade drama classroom. Today I'm leading troops in Afghanistan. Proud to be here to wrap this thing up.

I was getting ready to go to school (high school) when my dad called me downstairs to show me what was on the news.

I was in Georgia sleeping before I had to go in for my shift.  My Army buddy called and woke me up telling me to turn on the TV.  I watched and immediately started calling home to check on my family.  Got an email the next day from them letting me know everyone was okay. 

I was 16, waiting for the school bus watching the news when it all happened. I didn't think it was real at first. I wasn't really exposed to the world having grown up in a small town ( Graduating class of 18.. ) So far out that recruiters never came to our neck of the woods. I remember wondering what was happening, and all the "Pearl Harbor" dialogue for the next few days. I didn't join as soon as I could, honestly thought I had another calling and wasn't until I matured that I joined when OIF was said and mostly done.

On deployment in Europe. That was my third overseas pump.

Well On that unforgettable day, I got up at 3AM to run Palm Circle on Ft. Shafter. I tied up my shoes watched Archie Bunker before I left, when I came home from my run, my Husband asked me if I say the TV, my only reply was no. He already had the news on, we watched the images over and over.  At that time I worked for the Schofield Dental Clinic, I called our staff duty to brief him, then the phone calls started to flood in. We spent the next several weeks in fear that Hawaii was going to be the next target. It was a sad and yet scary day, filled with so much grief and uncertainty. 

Tuttle TMC Hunter Army Airfield GA. I was a SPC with 1-3 AVN

I was a brand new team leader in the 82nd

I was assigned to the Air Force ROTC unit in Morgantown, WV.  I had taken a Cadet up to Pittsburgh that morning for his physical at the MEPS in the Federal Building, then all hell broke loose.  They evacuated the building and I couldn't find the cadet.  I couldn't leave because I didn't know where he was and downtown Pittsburgh became a ghost town I about 3 hours.  Late that afternoon the Cadet finally contacted the Detachment and told them the MEPS put him in a Taxi and sent him back to Morgantown.  Long day!

In the Basic Combat Skills phase of Rotary Wing  Qualification (Flight School). I was in the desert fighting 2 years later and have been back many times since.