09/11/01

Exactly one year ago I was in New York City for work. I flew from Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Newark Airport in NJ. Every day for 2 weeks I took the path train to the World Trade Center, as an entrance to New York City. I went to the roof of the WTC to look out upon NYC. I ate at a pizza place across the street from the WTC. This morning I watched it be destroyed. After working a 10 hour night, I came back to my hotel room in Chicago and turned on my TV. The first thing I saw was a giant hole in the WTC. "That's the WTC, there's a huge hole in it, and it's on fire!" I shouted to my coworker who was sharing a hotel room with me. Then just 3 minutes later I watched as a 2nd plane hit the other tower. For 6 hours I sat unable to take my eyes off the TV. I watched as another plane crashed into the Pentagon, and then as yet another crashed into a field. I watched as both WTC towers collapsed, all on Live TV.
As the news continued to pour in, I found that the terrorists had trained at a flying school in Venice Florida. Last year I vacationed in Venice Florida, and drove past the airport where these terrorists learned to fly at every day on my way to the beach. I can't beleive I've been to so many places that were involved with yesterdays events.

About a month ago I joined the United States Air Force. As I watched Tuesday's events, the first thoughts running through my mind were "I'm going to war". As of right now I am still on my original departure date of January 15th 2002. I have a feeling that when war is declared on who ever commited these terrible acts, I will be leaving much sooner.