I was staying at my parents place and my mom banged on my door and told me to turn on the TV...that a plane had just hit the WTC.
My first thought was that someone in the tower at LaGuardia or JFK was gonna get fired.
Flipped on the TV listening to Jon Scott on FNC...some talking head was on and the towers were in a box in the left corner of the screen.
All of the sudden I saw the second tower get hit.
Fox guys were asking if that was a tape loop of the first one or did another plane hit?
Confirmed...another plane has struck the WTC.
“That’s not an accident” I say to myself suddenly very panicked.
Throw my clothes on come down the stairs and stop at the tv in my mom’s office to hear the president give his first briefing on the situation from the school in Florida.
Race out to my car and floor it...gotta get to the station.
All five stations in our cluster have switched to AP News piped in through our AM studio.
Ten minutes out from the station AP news is talking w/ Ron Fournier from Crystal City...looks like a plane has struck the Pentagon.
Screeching into the parking lot in my station sprint up the stairs with my alert roster in hand.
Hit the front door as my GM...a former Force Recon Marine comes out of his office.
“You getting called up”?
“Don’t know yet Dale...let me call and see what the situation is.”
“If you’ve got to go to Austin,” he tells me, “get out of here and take all the time you need”.
Left the station a couple hours later got a haircut while the replay of the towers coming down was playing...all eyes on THIS GUY
Drove back to Midland about mid day...drove past my daughters school...Sheriff’s Deputy parked squarely in front of the building in the parking lot.
Went to my g/f’s house (now my wife) and we just held each other.
Drove home that night looked to my right at the skyline of downtown...nothing...pitch black...first time in my life.
Didn’t sleep for the next 24 hours.
It’s probably the single most defining moment in my life.
Put things into sharp focus and perspective for me.
It’s the reason I’m back on active duty today.
And seven years down the road it does NOT get easier to remember what I was doing that morning.
When I first heard this, was great we are going to have Martial Law in this country (I knew it was a attack).. Granted it was over the top, but my fear is a real devastating attack on this country I think we may have Martial Law..