5 years...

I recall the day vividly. September 11, 2001. I had arrived at Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, Texas, a couple months before, to begin my technical training for the Air Force. At the time I had actually been in the Air Force for 2 years, and had enjoyed it immensely. I thought I had a grasp of what the military was all about.

I had been sitting in my class for hours, and was definitely ready for a break. Petty Officer Bergreen, our instructor (POB G, as we liked to call him), could tell that most of us were drifting and allowed us to take a ten minute break. So as usual, we all drifted out to the lounge area of our schoolhouse, to sit and watch the news, or play chess, etc.

As I stepped into the lounge, I knew something was wrong. The room was filled to near overflowing, but it was deathly quiet. On the television, CNN was running live footage of the World Trade Center, its one tower spewing smoke. I wondered what had happened, but didn't dare ask in the silence. Minutes passed as everyone stared.

It wasn't long before we all were horrified to watch the live feed of a second airliner ram into the other tower, the flames erupting through the other side. Tears flowed freely from even the most hardened eye in the room. The significance of the event magnified exponentially.

At the end of our break our instructor came into the room. He had seen the same footage in the teachers lounge area. He knew what was occurring, understood the significance. Yet he herded us into our room, reminding us that our training didn't stop because of these events. We needed to continue our training if these types of actions were to be stopped.

Our base went to Force Protection Condition (FPCON) Delta, which meant a total lockdown of the base. In fact we were not even allowed to leave our building for many hours after the attacks. There was a lot of concern and speculation, as our base was with training focused on military intelligence.

The day continued on like that. Breaks were spent in the lounge watching news coverage of the attacks over and over. More news continued to pour in... the attack on the Pentagon, Flight 93. And conversations hinged on the events for days to come.

Do I remember wher I was on 9-11? Absolutely! It was a day I can never forget. My understanding of my postition as a member of the United States military underwent a significant change. My understanding of the world, and my standing in it has never be the same.

May we never forget the events of that day, or the sacrifices made.