[Tater]

I had a class that morning. I walked in and the TV was on. I asked "what movie is this?" Turns out it was CNN and I'd walked in about 5 min before the 2nd plane hit. Shortly thereafter the first tower fell and the class was cancelled and I went to work. I spent the next 10 hours running around on the flightline getting planes ready to take off on CAP missions. My wife (now my ex) was in Chicago for a class. Her class was taking place in a building right across from the Sears tower and I'd heard on my little radio that there was a plane unaccounted for in the vicinity of Chicago. The hardest thing I've ever had to do was put her out of my mind and do my job. A few days later we sent a group with our B-1s to Diego Garcia. A week later another group to Kuwait with our F-15Es. A week later I and another group headed off to Qatar. That was my first wartime deployment and it was awesome watching planes take off loaded and land empty knowing that I had a part in punishing those responsible and covering the good guys on the ground.