story11196.xml
Title
story11196.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-12-12
911DA Story: Story
September 11, 2001 began like any other day. I was in California, at the Marine Base in Twenty-nine Palms. I was attached to the First Marine Expeditionary Brigade, and I was preparing for a deployment later that month to Egypt. I rolled out of bed at 0530, as I had to prepare for an inspection later that morning. My plans were to grab a quick breakfast, draw my weapon from the armory, and then head over to begin setting up.
At 0600, 15 minutes after the first plane hit, I was in the mess hall eating. I remember seeing something on TV about a plane crash, but I didn?t think too much about it. I was upset that I had to go through another redundant inspection, and I did not have time for a simple plane crash. I arrived at the armory at 0620, and talked to a friend of mine for about ten minutes. Neither of us had any idea of what was happening. At 0630, I found myself standing around waiting for the morning formation. There were people talking about what had happened, but I wrote it off as ?water-cooler? talk. I could not believe that our country had just been attacked.
As the formation started, everything became painfully clear. The simple plane crash that I had ignored turned out to be a terrorist attack. As I stood there holding my rifle, I felt helpless. The first emotion to register was anger. I was angry not only because I wanted to get the people who did this and make them pay, but angry that all I could do is stand there.
My feelings of anger soon changed to uncertainty when we were told that our supposed month-long deployment might be a little longer than expected. In fact, we were told to start preparing for a deployment of six to nine months. The full impact of what was going on finally hit me; America was at war.
Events such as September 11th are tragic, but do serve a purpose. They unite us as a country in order to overcome the tragedy and begin to heal. They also give us common experiences that can be shared years down the line. Even perfect strangers have common ground when they share stories of the same event.
At 0600, 15 minutes after the first plane hit, I was in the mess hall eating. I remember seeing something on TV about a plane crash, but I didn?t think too much about it. I was upset that I had to go through another redundant inspection, and I did not have time for a simple plane crash. I arrived at the armory at 0620, and talked to a friend of mine for about ten minutes. Neither of us had any idea of what was happening. At 0630, I found myself standing around waiting for the morning formation. There were people talking about what had happened, but I wrote it off as ?water-cooler? talk. I could not believe that our country had just been attacked.
As the formation started, everything became painfully clear. The simple plane crash that I had ignored turned out to be a terrorist attack. As I stood there holding my rifle, I felt helpless. The first emotion to register was anger. I was angry not only because I wanted to get the people who did this and make them pay, but angry that all I could do is stand there.
My feelings of anger soon changed to uncertainty when we were told that our supposed month-long deployment might be a little longer than expected. In fact, we were told to start preparing for a deployment of six to nine months. The full impact of what was going on finally hit me; America was at war.
Events such as September 11th are tragic, but do serve a purpose. They unite us as a country in order to overcome the tragedy and begin to heal. They also give us common experiences that can be shared years down the line. Even perfect strangers have common ground when they share stories of the same event.
Collection
Citation
“story11196.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 23, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/18288.