I was deployed to the CAOC (Combined Air Operations Center) at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. I was working in the JCCC (Joint Communications Control Center) on some frequency interference issues. We had a TV on the wall always tuned to the news, but usually with the volume down. Someone cranked it up really loud just in time for me to hear some knucklehead on CNN say something along the lines of "...plane must have been following a malfunctioning navigation beacon." I'd spent 10 years as an air traffic control radar maintenance technician so I knew that the knucklehead was talking out his a$$. I turned to see what was happening just as the second plane hit. My OIC was in a meeting so I went and let him know what happened.
Most of us spent the rest of the day watching. When I went back to our barracks, we spent hours following the events on the tv in our dayroom. The weird part was when some Airman on night shift who had that evening off would stroll in fresh out of bed and ask what was going on. That happened three times, I think. One guy refused to believe it and thought we were playing some elaborate prank.
The next day we started working on the comm plan for what would eventually be Operation Enduring Freedom. So yeah, I'm just thrilled with how that ended up these past weeks...
