Where were you?

I remember waking up unusually early on Tuesday Sept 11, 2001. My platoon was going to the field that morning for a practice run before good size of the platoon was to head for Egypt for a few weeks of training. I went to check my email on AOL before heading across the street to the shop.

The week before, I was promoted to Corporal after years of being a LCpl, the day after Labor Day, and the same weekend my girlfriend and I broke up which was surprisingly more of a relief than a point of sadness since it seemed like it was more walking on eggshells than fun spending time together.

Back to Sept 11, 2001. I remember seeing a headline saying that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. My first thought was “What kind of dumbass couldn’t miss those towers?” Seeing that initially it was thought to be a small aircraft, and going back to 1995, while waiting to land in NYC on my way from Rhode Island to Boston, to NYC, to Los Angeles a pilot decided to take our airliner on a figure 8 around the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty.

After signing out and locking up the computer, I grabbed my cover and walked across the street for formation and to start loading vehicles with their radios and the encryption. I had a sense of relief as this was one of the very few times since July 2000, that I was not going to the field and I was not going to Egypt, even though my Maintenance Chief, SSgt Watts wished I was part of the team since I was the most experienced Comm Tech in the battalion and normally functioned as the Maintenance Chief in the field when he was running the shop, which often meant I was the only one out there.

Our morning was rather busy with us matching up serial numbers, to vehicles, installing the radios, loading the encryption, and testing to make sure they worked. While all that was going on, over the FM Radio we had tuned to a local station that played songs like “My Own Worst Enemy”, while we discussed the plane crash in NYC trying to decide if it was intentional, or an accident while continuing to load vehicles. Then there was a report of a second crash at the World Trade Center and at that time all doubt was erased.

As more information came in and the other attacks confirmed what we already knew, we were gathered into another formation and told that we were indeed attacked and that we would proceed as normal until directed otherwise.

The platoon and the units of the battalion that were going to Egypt, all went off to practice for the next few days. Meanwhile those of us that were not going to Egypt had nothing but time for the next few days. Those of us that lived in the barracks didn’t really have access to TVs, and shockingly YouTube did not exist then either. Everything outside of 29 Palms didn’t really exist for us. Since we didn’t generally leave the base until the weekend, we didn’t see the massive lines to get onto base where the MPs at the gate were checking everything in hopes of preventing any other attacks, and knowing from the pre-patrol briefings I had working with the MPs, there were often reports of known suspected terrorists in the area and questions they asked about the base including the massive ammo storage called the Center Magazine Area which holds all the explosive ordnance for training on the base.

The battalion was due to finish up their practice run Friday afternoon. Those of us remaining behind, had to wait to receive everything and make sure every serial number was accounted for. As the day dragged on into the evening. It became clear we were going to have a long night. I talked the shop chief into letting the guys go so they could eat dinner and rest up before the chow hall closed, and because I knew it was going to take hours to finish after everyone arrived to turn in their radios. Since I was the junior NCO, I stayed behind and would send word to get everyone back to work when the guys returned from the field.

By the time the Marines returned from training it was already night, and we had most of the guys make it back a few didn’t get the word, but we spent hours unloading radios setting them aside with their kits, making sure everything matched up and was complete. The Platoon Commander, Captain Lowrey’s wife arrived around 2200 (10PM for those that don’t understand the 24-hour clock), and brought with her beer for the platoon, which made everyone that had some happy.  After putting in a 20-hour day, we gathered in the tech shop, and were briefed on the plan for later in the day as it was around 2 or 3 in the morning Saturday. We were going to have 2 groups an early group and a late group because we had the fun task of testing every single piece of communications equipment in H&S (Headquarters & Service ) Company to make sure everything worked, and everything had all of its parts and the kits were complete.  Then we’d have to fix what we could, order parts and trade what we could to higher echelon maintenance. I volunteered to lead the early group in because nobody wanted to do it and I was once again the low man on the pole.

The next morning, the operators in the radio and wire sections laid out every radio, inventoried everything tested everything and ordered what was missing or needed to be replaced while we went to work on fixing and ordering parts for the radios and field phones that didn’t work. It was another long 19-hour day, but we managed to get everything to a point where everything was as done as we could get it. At end I was sent home first since I was the first one there even though I wanted to make sure that we were done but working about 49 hours in 2 days does get to you.

That Sunday we rested, and Monday we started receiving parts and had about 2 days to get all the repair work done.  After the battalion left we were on as relaxed as a schedule as possible. Most of the battalion was gone, and there was very little work to do. After 10 days from the attack, I finally had the weekend off to go home to see my parents. That was the first time I really saw any footage and video of what happened. It was stunning to see what all happened and to see that my parents were still watching the unending coverage.

I do remember heading to In N Out in my Purple Car and seeing an old friend from High School who worked in the one in Baldwin Park where the company was founded.  Ivett saw me and gave me a huge hug.