Where Was I on September 11, 2001? – 9/11
On September 11th, 2001 I was in my second year serving in the United States Navy and we were underway being evaluated for one of the (many) assessments a ship & crew train for & must pass prior to the next scheduled deployment.
I remember during the exercise we had a “Battle Stations” drill, where we had to secure everything – hatches, doors, stairwells, etc. and get to our assigned position.
Ordinarily, after the drill was over, everything is put back into its normal operational order, but after this particular exercise we were instructed to set “Modified Zebra” (where only certain hatches, stairwells, etc. were modified back to normal from “Battle Stations”), I remember thinking this was odd, but didn’t think too much into it.
It was probably around 10:00 AM after the exercise and I went outside to the “smoke break” to have a cigarette (former smoker), where a few people were talking & I heard that a building in New York was just bombed. A few minutes later I overheard another conversation about how a high-jacked plane had crashed into a building.
I didn’t put much stock into what I was hearing, because while the “smoke break” was a great for getting information & news before it’s “officially” disseminated to the rest of the crew… a good rule of thumb on the ship was that only about ½ of what you’d hear in the “smoke break” turned out to be credible. Besides, high jacking a plane and then deliberately crashing it into a building? Not only did it not make any sense to me, but I never thought something like that happening was even possible (now I know better… we all do)
It wasn’t but maybe 20 minutes later when our Captain came on the 1MC (ship’s announcing system) and announced that there had been a terrorist attack on the U.S., air planes had been high jacked and crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City, that this was the reason that we did not set “condition yoke” throughout the ship (set everything back to normal) after the exercise/drill, and that the ship’s original schedule had now changed & we would not be heading back home into port that day as scheduled.
I wish I could remember exactly what was going through my mind, but I can only remember I was confused and none of what I was hearing seemed real to me.
We were close enough to land that we had cell phone reception and a lot of people were making phone calls, so I made a call to my Mom and I remember saying, “Hey mom, did you hear what happened?” She told me yes, asked if I was alright and if I had any idea about what was going on. I told her I didn’t know, that I just wanted to call and see if everything & everyone was okay where she was, and that I didn’t know where we were going but that I was certain we weren’t going home as planned. The signal didn’t last long and started to fade so I told her I loved her and that I had to go.
Everything was happening in slow motion and felt as if I were in the middle of some surreal dream. I had no way to get more information, and I hadn’t even heard about the other two planes. It wasn’t until later that evening and then over the next few days, when I was able to access my email that I learned more about what had happened.
We ended up on the east coast to provide air defense & watch the skies for the next week or so. When I did get back home to dry land, America wasn’t the same place that I ha
d left only a week before.
Thousands of innocent lives were ended by cowardly and despicable acts of evil. The terrorist attacks were an attempt to bring America to her knees. They failed. America immediately bounced back, this time standing taller and more vigilant than ever before. America is the World’s Brightest Beacon for Freedom, we always have been, we are still today, and in memory of those whose lives were unjustly stolen on September 11th, 2001 and to honor the men & women who sacrifice for all Americans in the War on Terror – America must always continue to be the world’s Shining Light of freedom.
We Will Never Forget. God Bless America
Jason Bradley
© 2009 ExcellenceInAmerica.com
“We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” – President George W. Bush, 2001
White House Shows its 9/11 Resolve – Michelle Malkin
Eight Years Later 9/11 – MichelleMalkin.com
Eight Years Later - Remembrance and Resolve - michellemalkin.com
Rudy Giuliani - 9/11 Is Part of Our Present Not Our Past
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