Personal Narrative: My Platoon Sergeant

The morning of September 11th, 2001, started just like any other morning when my Platoon was out in the field. At 0500 hours I was woke up to start my morning hygiene routine, and reapply camouflage face paint before we started training. Shortly after quickly eating a Meal Ready to Eat (MRE), my squad leader was directing the guys in my squad to execute the morning maintenance on the Mortar System and our personal weapons. I distinctly remember that morning seemed to be going a lot smoother than usual, everyone was pulling their equal share of duties, no arguing or shirking of duties due to a little seniority. The squad had completed all of the morning duties, and we were awaiting further instructions from our squad leader. We started

My Platoon Sergeant then called in the entire Platoon for a huddle. My PSG then informed us that we needed to start preparing all equipment, and personnel ready for movement back to the Company are because something terrible had happened. We were informed that at approximately 0845 hours a plane had been hijacked and crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. He stated that he was” unclear of the details, but we needed to get back to the company area and await further instructions.” Once we arrived back to the company area, we downloaded all equipment from the trucks. Once the turn in of weapons, and other sensitive items was complete, we all gathered in the day room, where we learned that a second plane had crashed into the other World Trade Center tower. I recall staring at the television with pure disbelief. I remember thinking to myself “is this really happening, terrorism in our own country?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, what I was hearing, what had actually happened. We gathered in a formation outside the company to get a small description of what had happened from my Company Commander, and the First Sergeant. We had a prayer for those who were still trapped in the towers, and for those who were killed. Approximately one hour later we had a Battalion formation, where we were informed of two other planes that had crashed. One plane crashed into the Pentagon, and another had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. I had a lot of different emotions going on at one time, it was very overwhelming. We were placed on a 2 hour recall, and told to expect the unexpected, and to be prepared to answer our nations call to these heinous act of