I will always remember this day as if was just yesterday. I was sitting out on the loading dock at my then duty assignment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl Germany. It was a beautiful, calm but unusually calm day. I could hear all the planes and helicopter landing over at Ramstein AFB, for a slit second I thought it was very unusal to suddenly hear so many aircraft engines all at once. As I returned inside one of the civillian supervisors was running frantically up the hallway of our section, as I went to ask was she ok she and the phone she was hold both fell to the floor she began to cry out "No, this cannot be happening". Immediately I figured she'd got news that a loved one had passed. As I went to help her up my supervisor began to inform me that a plane had just hit the Sears Tower in New York, I replied no you mean a plane hit the Twin Towers in NY. Confused he kept saying the Sears Tower. We were not able to access the media outlet via internet, so we made a dash to the nearest television (which was in our dining facility). As we sat there watching what we thought was the pre-recorded video of the first Tower being hit, someone yelled as though we weren't seeing the same thing that's the second tower. I did not know whether to cry, yell or run out of sheer fear. I immediately came to the conclusion that this was not an accident, to see the size of the second plane? I knew, I could only think back to the bombing of the Towers in 1993 and the terrorist saying something to the effect of "we will get it next time". I adventurely made my way back to the office following announcements that the hospital was on lockdown, to learn that the Pentagon had been hit then as we would all find out the fate of Flight 93. At that moment I experienced a full throttle of negative emotions that I had never felt before. I felt hurt for my country, helpless for the victims and their families, and hopeless as the greatest nation with the best damn military has been attacked right in its own yard. I was so mad at the thought that we are the only nation that will take any forgein born person in regardless if we are enemies or allies, it was a lot to take in seeing this happened. I kept saying the Pentagon attack and the hijacking of Flight 93 (which its said that its intended destination was somewhere in DC) made more sense from a "terrorist attack" standpoint but NY, why? I couldn't come terms with that at all. My anger turned into fear as the day went on and it donned on me that if the terrorist are attacking us directly on our native soil, what is our fate here in all the other countires we are present in. I later found out that the supervisor was on the phone with her sister when she collapased she'd been informed that the plane was hijacked out of Dulles, the Tuesday prior she'd boarded the same plane airline somewhere in the timeframe of this plane.  I went to a conference in Silver Springs, MD in December of that same year. Just like it was that day, the Mall on Washington was beautiful, but I couldn't enjoy myself. Just three months earlier just across the bridge or river the nucleus of America's military was attacked. A few of my colleagues went to on a shopping trip to the Pentagon City Mall, but I couldn't bring myself to ride past the Pentagon as I had earlier in the week and see the huge drapes that covered the massive hole. It really hit me hard to see it, it was more sombering to sit and talk with the park ranger at the Mall as he told me how he heard the sound seen the smoke but thought it was an explosion. As we talked you could see how it wouldn't  been unusal for it to see planes in that area as the Reagan Airport flight path is along the Potomac River. All in all I know of only two people that lost a family member in the attacks but it doesn't matter if it was two people or the thousands that were killed, they all were citizens of the great nation that I support and defend. I feel that day I lost not only brothers and sisters that serve our public but brothers and sisters of my nation. I have always wanted to visit NY to see the Towers and Lady Liberty, now I am making it a lifetime commitment to visit all three of the sites to pay my respect to our fallen. GONE BUT NEVER FORGETTEN, LEST WE NEVER FORGET THEM AND PRAY AND HOLD THEIR LOVED ONES.