My wife and I walked into our on-base apartment in Bitburg Germany after a 6 month well baby check up. She was pregnant with our child.

She turned on the news, and I seen what I had assumed was a movie about New York getting attacked. It depicted a building that was smoking. We discussed if it was real or not, seeing as it was on an actual German news channel, we knew it was an actual thing.

We were both sitting on the couch when the second plane hit, staring in disbelief, knowing it was an attack.

I went to the closet and grabbed my go-bags. In the bags was uniforms, socks, underwear, t-shirts, dopp kit, and anything else I would need for a short notice 6 month deployment. I tossed in my tooth brush and hair clippers. I waited for the phone call.

After I hung up the phone I kissed my wife. She asked when I think I’d be home. I told her I dont know. I left to get to work. We prepared equipment, aircraft and people for war with whomever the government pointed us at.

I joined the Air Force in 1998 and retired in 2025.