RAF MILDENHALL, England -- I was scheduled to fly a refueling mission that morning with the B-1s out of Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. 

I woke up early, got ready, and was about to leave the house when Marcy, my wife, told me that an airplane hit the World Trade Center (She was watching Good Morning). I had no idea what was going on, but I also knew I had a show time at the 905th Air Refueling Squadron.

We did the normal drill at show time. The squadron was empty because of morning PT. The crew found out that another plane hit the WTC, then the Pentagon was hit. 

We figured our mission was toast now, so we started watching television and recalling the guys at the gym. The command post confirmed that all U.S. flights were cancelled, not just our mission.

The entire squadron camped out in the director of operations' office, just watching the news reports. When the towers came down, you could have heard a pin drop.

We were stunned. Shocked. Sickened.

Less than four hours later, we refueled an F-16 that brought one of the nation's top disaster preparedness officials to New York.

Less than 24 hours later, I was refueling a CAP mission over Minneapolis (Minn.). The TCAS (a collision avoidance system) fish finder (a scope which displays the nearest traffic) was blank. Directly over one of America's busiest airports, and there was only us and our receivers in the air.

I'll never forget it.