9/11 Memorial
“Where were you on 9/11?”
It’s something I’m sure that everyone in our generation will be able to recall decades from now. Some were asleep, half a world away. Others were right there in New York City and Washington, D.C., just starting their day.
I was just getting out of class at Iowa State University. I was a cadet in Air Force ROTC, and it was about 8 a.m. Central Standard Time. The first plane had just flown into the buildings. Moments after I started watching, in the company of several fellow cadets, as well as the officers and NCOs in charge of the program, we watched in horror as the second plane collided with the buildings.
I didn’t know what to do. For hours, myself and dozens of other cadets, having only hours earlier been conducting formation and uniform inspections, sat in the “Wing Room” watching events unfold live on CNN. Then the towers crumbled, and we knew there was no way anyone could have survived. The death toll had to be in the thousands. I skipped my classes, part of my mind wondering whether or not it really mattered anymore.
Ultimately, I made my way across campus and back to my dorm room. The entire campus was unnaturally quiet, somber. How many of these students had friends, family in those towers? I may never know. I tried to call my family, but even in Iowa, the phone lines were jammed. It was hours before I got word from across campus that all Air Force ROTC cadets had been instructed to change into civilian clothes until further notice. It was more than a month before we started wearing our uniforms again, and several days before I could force myself to get back into my life and start going to classes again.
New York City
Washington, D.C.
