nmah6722.xml

nmah6722.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-09-10

I was working in Washington, DC on 9/11/01 watching the the WTC disater unfold on TV. From the 5th floor of our office building I looked out and could see the Pentagon hit. It was a strange scenario to look at the TV one minute and watch the WTC come down and then glance out the window and see thick black smoke rising from the Pentagon that was just hit. We were told the State Department was bombed and that a bomb went off on the "Mall" and that a plane was circling Dulles headed for the Capital and that we had to evacuate. My brother was actaully catching a plane from Dulles Airport, VA to California that day and was there when the terrorists took the doomed CA bound flight. We both thought the plane was heading down the Potomac for Reagan National when it veered off and hit the Pentagon. He didn't fly for 8 months. What struck me the most was the silence in the air except for the F-16 fighters circling overhead. Just the thought of armed F-16's circling over the DC area looking for a civilian airliner to shoot down was daunting. I went to the Pentagon on 9/12/01 and it was still on burning till about 11am. I stood there refusing to believe someone came all the way from a cave in Afghanistan to take an airplane from Dulles and fly it into the side of the Pentagon. My mind was numb. I couldn't even have imagined the WTC carnage.

9/11/01 did change my life. I was recalled back to active duty for 3 years to fight the War on Terrorism as an Apache Helicopter Pilot. Less then 10 months later I would find myself fighting on Afghan soil.

Everything!