[Denis]

i was in school when i first heard...they really didnt give us much information at the time. not sure if it was to keep us sheltered from what was really happening or just because they didnt really know either. all i was told was that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center...then not long after that one had also hit the Pentagon.

about an hour or two later my mother came and picked myself and sister up from school...i remember going straight for the TV and putting on the news (fox news if i remember correctly) and just staring at it and not being able to believe it. the Twin Towers were a land mark, something i had seen with my own eyes, and being inside countless times being from southern NY.

My father is a Firefighter in Mamaroneck, NY and was called into work that day because the guys that were on duty went down to the city to help. they ended up taking over a firehouse that was empty and taking their calls for them. as it turned out, the guys working that day were first responders down to the World Trade Center site and everyone that was working that day had died when the towers came down.

i still remember the first time i saw the NY skyline without the towers in it...i rememebr it almost as vividly as i remember the 11th itself...it was a few months later i think. i was in Jersey and could see across the river...it just didnt look the same...didnt look like home anymore, like something was taken from it....

i would say 9/11 was abiut 50% of the reason i joined the military. and ive done 3 westpac deployments bringing the fight back to people that were responsible. i even had the pleasure of being on board the USS Carl Vinson when they brought that special guest on board and we buried him in the sea. that was a great day.