I knew something didn’t feel right when I heard a huge explosion right above me. I didn’t want to stop in the middle of the street to figure out what it was; I looked at someone that was on the sidewalk. Their mouths were dropped out and they started to shed a tear. I had to stop to take a look at what happened. As soon as I turned around, the second tower was being hit at that point. After it burned for about five seconds both towers started to just collapse in front of everyone in New York City’s eyes. Everyone started to run toward the Brooklyn Bridge so they could get away from all that ash that was falling. Every single one of the fire departments in New York City and around the area was coming to put out the fire and rescue people. They wanted to get everyone out of there.

I could not be one of those people that were running away from this problem. I knew that this problem was bigger than me but I had to do something. I was on active duty for the United States Army. I had to do something for my country, which was what kind of person I was. I started to push through everyone that was running away from the World Trade Center; I wanted to get there as fast as I could. No one would let me through because they were in a hurry to get out of there. Going into the thick, black smoke, I was ready to work. The NYPD was telling me to get out of the way. I didn’t want to take any of their orders because they weren’t my boss. My boss was my commander and George W. Bush. They were who I reported to for duty. No one can tell me otherwise. All the sirens were blaring from every direction. There was nothing wrong with that since it was a time that our country went into a panic.

I had to get into the debris so I could start looking for people. I knew that there had be survivors since there was screaming from every direction, some was the loved ones of the people that worked at the Twins Towers and others were the cries of the men and women that were trying to find the survivors. No one could understand why this would happen to the United States, I wanted to believe it was an accident, but I knew that deep down in my heart I couldn’t believe that. I knew that someone had gotten on those plans and hijacked them so they could try to destroy our main source of world trade. I stared at what use to be one of the tallest towers in New York City; now it’s just piles of walls and metal burning. The fire department was trying to put out the fires so the FBI, EMTs, and police department could go in and look for people. I went up to a FBI agent and started to follow him into the rubble. He had to ask me what I was doing since I was not in any uniform; I was just in everyday clothes like everyone else in New York City that day.

“Sir, I am in the United States Army. I was walking down the street and saw what happened. I had to help.” I said standing perfect form like I learned at boot camp three years ago. I spoke in a firm voice and looked him straight in the eyes when I talked to him.

“Okay sir, we could use your help. You should report to your commander and let him know that you’re here so they don’t call you for anything.” He knew that I was young and that I was doing something that I thought was right.

I didn’t follow his orders because I knew that if I called my commander, that would be less people found. I had to get out there and do my duty for my country. Getting my hands cut and dirty was nothing new to me since I have been through a lot since those three years in the Army. They have taught me a lot. I wanted to find everyone that I could. I wanted to make sure that everyone that went to work that day got home to see their friends and family. I knew that I would want to see a loved one comes home after something like this happened to our country. Something wouldn’t be right if they didn’t go home to them. Everyone was working their hardest to find people and make sure that they were okay and not hurt in any way.

At the end of the day, I thought I would stay all night to finish looking through everything but then I thought about my family that I had at home. They were probably worrying about me. I thought it would be best for me to go home to see how they were doing with this whole thing going on. When I got home, I went up to my wife and son and gave them the biggest hug that I could give anyone. My wife started to have that little tear fall down her cheek when she truly looked at me as a whole. She saw that I was covered in gray ash, all you could see was my blue eyes and I had cuts all over my hands and arms. My clothes were all ripped; it looked like I had gotten into a fight with a dog.

I looked at her and said, “I’m going to be fine, we got out of there right before anything happened. I had to go back and help all the others that were there for their work day.”
I knew deep down that she wanted to believe me but couldn’t because I wouldn’t answer my phone after she saw what happened on every news station. This was only the start of not answering my phone when she called. Things were going to be different for the next few years.