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

I got a phone call letting me know that I was going to war but we didn't know where yet.

I was a captain, serving in Boise, Idaho as an active duty advisor to the 116th Cav Brigade, ID Army National Guard. We were in Post Falls, ID on a week long training conference and being on Pacific time were conducting unit PT downtown at a park starting at 0600. I heard something on the radio when I drove to PT about a plane hitting a building in NYC, but not until after PT, at 0700, did I hear more and of course when I returned to my hotel, my roommate and I quickly turned on the TV.

What makes this day most memorable is that I was married on 11 September 1999, so when I called my wife back home in Boise, she initiated our conversation with a very pleasant, "Happy Anniversary," which I of course repeated back to her before I told her to turn on the TV!

We split that Tuesday between trying to conduct our training conference and watching the news. We cut short our trip, and my battle buddy and I drove back to Boise on Wednesday, then figured out what we had to do in our advising role with the IDANG and their Noble Eagle mission in addition to their other missions.