Memories from South Korea
1. "From Idaho, but was in the military station in Korea.
Time zones being what they are, I had just fallen asleep. There was a banging on doors up and down the hallway in the barracks followed by calls of,
'We are under attack!'
At first I thought it was a joke. There was no shortage of pranksters in my unit. I turned on the TV just in time to see coverage of the second plane collide with the tower. Seconds after, the screen went black. We truly were under attack, and a media blackout meant I had no idea what the extent of the attack was. I picked up my cellphone, desperate to know that my wife and son were safe, but cell towers were overloaded and I couldn’t get a call through.
I was still trying to call home when all leadership got called to report to the commanding officer for a briefing. We were told there were coordinated attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon, and that the theatre commander had ordered a media blackout. All information would come through the chain of command. All flights had been grounded, so if we had any personnel on leave we needed to get in contact with them ASAP. The gates were locked and no one was allowed through under any circumstances, so if were had personnel outside we needed to find them at the fence line to give them an update and set a daily meeting time to check on them as well.
It was five days before two of my soldiers were allowed back in the gate. It was seven days before I was able to talk to my wife and hear that she was okay. There was one soldier who lived across the hall in the barracks who was in NYC on the day and rushed into the towers to help where he could. He never made it back."
- N. E.
Time zones being what they are, I had just fallen asleep. There was a banging on doors up and down the hallway in the barracks followed by calls of,
'We are under attack!'
At first I thought it was a joke. There was no shortage of pranksters in my unit. I turned on the TV just in time to see coverage of the second plane collide with the tower. Seconds after, the screen went black. We truly were under attack, and a media blackout meant I had no idea what the extent of the attack was. I picked up my cellphone, desperate to know that my wife and son were safe, but cell towers were overloaded and I couldn’t get a call through.
I was still trying to call home when all leadership got called to report to the commanding officer for a briefing. We were told there were coordinated attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon, and that the theatre commander had ordered a media blackout. All information would come through the chain of command. All flights had been grounded, so if we had any personnel on leave we needed to get in contact with them ASAP. The gates were locked and no one was allowed through under any circumstances, so if were had personnel outside we needed to find them at the fence line to give them an update and set a daily meeting time to check on them as well.
It was five days before two of my soldiers were allowed back in the gate. It was seven days before I was able to talk to my wife and hear that she was okay. There was one soldier who lived across the hall in the barracks who was in NYC on the day and rushed into the towers to help where he could. He never made it back."
- N. E.