{"id":54493,"date":"2021-09-09T21:30:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/09\/not-something-you-should-ever-really-see-veterans-reflect-on-911\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:10:56","slug":"not-something-you-should-ever-really-see-veterans-reflect-on-911","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2021\/09\/09\/not-something-you-should-ever-really-see-veterans-reflect-on-911\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not something you should ever really see\u2019: Veterans reflect on 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spc. Bryan Stern was hungover. It was a sunny near-autumn day, but after a night of partying to bid a friend farewell, he didn\u2019t want to be anywhere but bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stationed in Lower Manhattan with the 227th Military Intelligence Company housed at 7 World Trade Center, he was riding the subway to work from Brooklyn, wishing he had stayed home on September 11, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was having a slow, slow morning,\u201d he told Military Times. \u201cI was just kind of in my own little world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Struggling, he continued his daily routine, making a much-needed stop at a street cart where he\u2019d order a bagel and coffee each morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy friend, I\u2019m so happy you\u2019re okay,\u201d the cart owner said. Not feeling particularly fine, Stern asked what he meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cart owner pointed up, at the flaming hole in the side of 1 World Trade Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Nearly 3,000 miles away at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, Lt. Amy McGrath was sound asleep when her sister called to tell her to turn on the news. A plane had hit the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hung up and thought to myself that it was probably just a Cessna,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Unable to reach anyone using his early-era cell phone, Stern made his way to the building, hoping he might be able to assist with whatever had happened.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
Twenty years after the attack of 9\/11, a group of military veterans speak about their experience of that day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

\u201cI figured people needed help,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a lot of medical training, so I made my way down and I was just north of the South Tower, right in between them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then a plane smashed into the second tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt it on my face,\u201d he said. \u201cThe exit hole of the second tower was right above me. I thought, \u2018Holy shit, I\u2019m going to get clobbered with all this debris.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

McGrath turned on her television just in time to see footage of the plane making impact. Her command called and asked her to head to the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got my flight suit on, put my flight boots on and got in my car,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I lived so close to the gate, I was one of the first air crew on the base that morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Staff Sgt. Stefan Still was stationed at Fort Myer with the Army\u2019s Old Guard, just outside Washington, D.C., and three miles from the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just an absolutely beautiful morning,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of the first morning where the temperature had broken and it first started to feel like fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After PT, while waiting for assignments, he and members of his platoon were listening to the radio when they heard about the crash in New York. They switched a television to CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then they felt their building shake. Flight 77 had crashed into the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I\u2019m opening the door, I can already see the smoke coming up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still instructed his unit to call their loved ones and tell them they were okay. He phoned his wife at the time, who was still sleeping. She screamed as she turned on the TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very surreal feeling to see F-16s churning and burning above the barracks when you\u2019re underneath combat air patrol for the nation\u2019s capital,\u201d Still said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that you should ever really see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Col. Randy Rosin was stationed at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida. While he believed the first plane crash into the side of the North Tower was an accident, when the second tower was struck, he quickly began to piece together exactly what was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had all this activity that was going on, this chatter \u2014 they called it the \u2018big wedding,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIn August, there was an intelligence assessment that came out, that said that something big is going to happen. But they placed it in Africa not New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the second plane hit the south tower, he began to realize that perhaps the intel about this large-scale al-Qaida event was correct about everything but the location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosin, who had previously worked on plans for a response to the USS Cole bombing \u2014 the al-Qaida suicide attack against the guided missile destroyer on Oct. 12, 2000 in Yemen \u2014 recognized that the two attacks could be connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started to think, \u2018Holy shit. This is the big wedding.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Stern was injured and bleeding from surface cuts. People were screaming, running in every direction. Medics treated him, and he returned to the base of the towers to continue helping. A few workers in the towers even began jumping, hopelessness spread, and panic ensued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the second tower began to fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ran north,\u201d Stern said. \u201cMy big idea was to get onto the West Side Highway kind of and bolt. There are no words to describe it. I remember thinking I\u2019m going to die, I hope that I\u2019m found, and I hope it\u2019s not too painful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He found a car to hide under, and as the plume of debris washed over everything in sight, Stern waited to die. Minutes or maybe hours later, he emerged, with a mouth full of soot, and made his way back towards Ground Zero. Along the way, he spotted a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wreckage from World Trade Center at ground zero on September 11. (FEMA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking for a bathroom, the pair stumbled across the only building with lights on \u2014 340 West Street, a Bloomberg office with a generator. With permission from a lingering employee, the pair worked to set up a mobile command center to direct survivors stuck in lower Manhattan to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stern stepped out for a cigarette when he noticed something odd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little city bus stop, and all the glass is gone,\u201d he said. \u201cI looked down and there\u2019s this American flag. It\u2019s all crumpled up and messed up, and had probably been hanging over a building somewhere before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He picked it up, hung it over the door of the building, and he and the friend called the Army to connect with survivors in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust tell them to look for the flag,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

McGrath, had never flown in combat, but was ordered to board a jet and take it to the edge of the runway, leave the engines running, and await further instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI played scenarios out in my head,\u201d McGrath said. \u201c[I wondered] \u2018Could we escort first?\u2019 We didn\u2019t train for this. We were sort of making it up as we went along in the hopes that we would never have to do the unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath flew combat missions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The orders she expected were to shoot down any hijacked aircraft on the West Coast headed towards densely populated centers or key buildings \u2014 planes that were transporting civilians, American men, women and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It never came to that. After several hours, McGrath was relieved, but she knew this assignment was just the beginning of what was to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Still\u2019s orders came the next day. His unit was one of several selected for recovery duty at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to see that on television,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s another thing to actually pull up to the site itself. It\u2019s still smoking, it\u2019s still on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His job was to pull casualties from the wreckage. His unit worked the lower floors. He felt lucky because there the intact bodies were fewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of what we were dealing with, we knew was a human at one point,\u201d Still said. \u201cBut you could just disassociate yourself from what it was because it was just a foot or a hand, as opposed to the higher floors. They were dealing with people that died of smoke inhalation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

For Stern, Sept. 11 was a tipping point in his career and his life. He left the Army and recommissioned with the Navy, working with intelligence and special operations, and dedicated much of the last 20 years to homeland security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day, when he leaves his house, however, he is reminded of that sunny Tuesday. The flag that served as a beacon for survivors at 340 West Street is prominently displayed in his living room. He recently reframed it, and it <\/b> brought him straight back to lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt still smells,\u201d he said. \u201cIt smelled like dust and dead people when I took it out of the frame. I had to go take a walk because it still smells like Ground Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stern said that for years after 9\/11, he was unable to go near construction sites because of the smell of the concrete and the sweat on the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Navy Officer Bryan Stern deployed multiple times after Sept. 11 with Special Operations Forces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reminders of the day can be difficult to contextualize for those who served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do you transition back from seeing all of that to going home and seeing your family and seeing your wife and seeing the dog?\u201d Still said. \u201cThere was a lot of anger, I think in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, whose unit didn\u2019t deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq, got out of the Army. He thought about rejoining so that he could be part of a combat unit, but ultimately chose to separate from service after two more years. He keeps in touch with members of the platoon he served with on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted, however, the way that the events that followed the attack altered the fabric of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody that signed up post-9\/11, every single one of them knew they were going to war,\u201d Still said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I would have been the person that would have done that absolutely knowing 100 percent and I\u2019m deploying to Afghanistan or Iraq soon after basic training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the last two decades of war, McGrath said the military has made great strides in inclusion and diversity that never would have come if not for 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we deployed to combat, we were the first women to deploy in these roles,\u201d McGrath said. \u201cWe were very aware that we were the first, not only from a combat aircrew experience, but also the maintainers and the mechanics that came out. This was really the first time that a combat unit like ours was integrated with women actually doing combat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the way women stepped up into combat roles during the Global War on Terror is part of the reason why, in 2015, all military occupations across all four branches were opened up to women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur performance in combat was a big part of why no one could make the argument effectively that we should keep these doors closed to women, to all these other jobs,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure that would have happened had it not been for our combat time after 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McGrath herself deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq, retiring in 2017 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 2020, she challenged Sen. Mitch McConnell for his Kentucky seat and lost. But now she will teach national security studies at the college level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

After four administrations and nearly 20 years at war, President Joe Biden, committed to pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan this summer. The withdrawal and evacuation, which was finalized Aug. 31<\/a>, leaves veterans of America\u2019s longest war with questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are asking ourselves, did the sacrifices of our families, and those people who lost their lives and their families<\/a>, who were our friends, was it all worth it?,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the span of a few weeks, the Afghan National Army ceded power to the Taliban and ISIS-K attacked evacuees, leaving 13 U.S. service members<\/a> and 170 civilians dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe gains of the Taliban have been happening for at least a decade,\u201d McGrath said. \u201cDid anybody think it would happen in in four days \u2014 a complete collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban taking over the entire country? No.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Rosin, the events of August 2021 signal the end of an era. His entire immediate <\/b>family has served in this war in some capacity, including his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy wife did three tours with USAID and Afghanistan, I did a tour, our daughter did a tour,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really disrupted our lives. And this was the inevitable outcome once we said we were going to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, McGrath advocates that to preserve the legacy of those that fought in the Global War on Terror is to prevent another 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to remind people that their service mattered because our country hasn\u2019t been attacked, in the same 9\/11 style for the last 20 years from Afghanistan\u201a\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure that we could have said that had we not gone there, at least initially.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While saddened, she doesn\u2019t believe the events of the last month should take away from what the U.S. military set out to do twenty years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe initial reasons to go in after 9\/11, were right and true,\u201d McGrath said. \u201cThey had attacked our country, and they needed to be ousted. And I\u2019m proud that we did that. We did it swiftly, we did it with the full backing of the American public, and not only did we do it with the full backing the American public, we did it with the full backing of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the last 20 years of war, veterans serving on 9\/11 look back at the 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