Remembering 9/11/2001 22 years later!
By Commander Christopher Mulrooney Chief of Website Engineering USS Angeles
We all remember where we were when we heard the news a plane hit the World Trade Center, then the second trade center, and then the Pentagon then the brave passengers who attacked the hijackers and brought down the plane in a field in Pennsylvania.
I remember very well where I was, Earlier in the year I enlisted in the Army National Guard and was awaiting my time to go off to Basic Combat training Mid October 2001, in the mean time I was working at a Taco Bell in Spencer, Iowa which just open earlier in the year. It was just the start of the Clay County Fair so we were expecting a busy day, I was the opening Shift Manager assisting getting prepped for the opening,. I can remember exactly what I was prepping at the time when I heard on the radio come on saying breaking news a plane hit into the World Trade Center in New York. Mind you younger folks we didn’t have smart phones yet and YouTube wasn’t even a figment of someone imagination yet. We discussed it thinking it was a small plane maybe got lost in some fog or something and hit the tower, then we heard it was a Jet Liner, then the second plane hit, That’s when we knew something more was up that we were under some kind of attack. The General Manager called me said he was coming in to take over the shift that I should go to me National Guard Armory the nation is under attack. When the manager arrived i headed out and stopped to see at a friends Video Rental store (yeah you used to go rent Movies on DVD and VCR Tapes then) That’s when I saw the first footage of what was inspiring over there in New York, that’s when I witnessed Live on TV the first Tower going down then the second one. I did report to my National Guard Armory and started working Guarding the Armory with my Sergeant and started We were put on High Alert, The unit was activated in response top the trying time some of the soldiers from our unit were assigned to the Clay County Fair and others to the area airports. Since I hadn’t even went to Basic Training yet I was assigned at the Armory with my Supply Sergeant prepping the unit and supplies, Later Mid October I left for Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina later to Fort Lee for Advance Training for my Job as a Unit Supply Specialist. Completed training March 2002 Later towards the end of the Year I was prepping for Deployment to Iraq which I deployed in 2003 to 2004. Later to Served in New Orleasns after Hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005, US Boarder Mission in Yuma Arizona 2006-2007 then moving to Los Angeles where I joined the Crew of the USS-Angeles, Region 4 of STARFLEET International. while I continued my Service till the end of my Enlistment in the US Army January 2012.
