Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: This is a hard thing to explain, but I will try. At the time I was stationed at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas NV. I didnt worry too much about anything really. The Air Force was just a job for me. I got up in the morning and I put my uniform on and went to work. Then I came home took the uniform off and did it all over the next day. To really understand what went thru my mind on September 11, 2001 I have to go back to September 7, 2001. That Friday was a mandatory fun day for my squadron. We were at Freedom Park on base. I remember that it was a beautiful day. I did something stupid. I decided to play flag football. Well I ended up dislocating my shoulder. Really messed it up too; took a surgery and a total ten months of rehab to get it back to normal. Well any way I was taken to the hospital and got help. Because of the medication I wasnt allowed to work. At the time I joked that it was hard way to get an extra long weekend. Well I pretty much had all of Monday off because of the meds. I decided that I would go back to work on Tuesday the 11th. So I made an appointment to turn in my medication and go back to work. Well the apt wasnt until 8 am so I could sleep in a little. I got up as usual and put my uniform on as usual. Just took a little longer than normal is all. I got in my truck and headed to the Hospital. The Federal Hospital at Nellis is across the street from the main base. Well I wasnt on the road for more than a few minutes when the song that was being played was stopped in the middle and the DJ said some had happened in New York at the World Trade Center. I changed the radio to the all news am station. It was like bad dream. I couldnt believe what was going on. It didnt seem possible. When they said the first tower had collapsed I was in total shock. By the time I got to the hospital things were already starting to get ugly. The second tower had fallen and I also heard about the Pentagon. The local Force Protection Level had been elevated to Bravo. When I got my medication turned in finally I headed for the door to go back to work and do something. I didnt know what I could do with my arm still in a sling, but I was going to get to work. I just made it out the door when the Force Protection Level was elevated to Delta (the highest level). I just made it out before the entire building was locked down. I wasnt about to stay at the hospital any longer than I needed to. When I got on the road and got in the turning lane to enter the base I discovered that traffic was at a total stand still. I realized that the base was locked down as well. No one enters or leaves. I saw over the fence that the base Security Forces were geared up and armed up as much as they could. SO I pulled out my cell phone and called work and asked what I should do. They told me they didnt know. So I said This is what I am going to do. I am going to go home and wait by my phone. If you need me to come in on a night shift call me there, at least that way you will know where I am. I sure as hell wasnt doing any good sitting in a traffic jam. So I pulled out into traffic and counted myself lucky that I did it while I still could. On the way Home I called my Parents and told them I was ok and that nothing bad had happened in Las Vegas. I told them that I loved them and I would call them latter. So I went home and waited by the phone, and I watched it all happen on TV, Me sitting there in my uniform and my arm in a sling. I felt so useless that day. It made me sick to my stomach. I didnt sleep that night at all. I kept thinking my country needs me and I am useless to my country. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story10489.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-03-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 217.86.65.180