95th RS technical sergeant shares 9/11 memories

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  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Tech. Sgt. Jason Richards, 95th Reconnaissance Squadron, remembers the day the world stood still ...

Although I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall in September, 2001, at the time I was deployed to a European location, and watched the second aircraft hit the second tower, live on CNN.

Right after that, the phone calls, e-mails and other communications started, to decide how we were supposed to get from our hotel to the base we were working at, which was 30 minutes away.

The military members stationed there ended up getting crash cars - old clunker cars - positioned one in front of a government vehicle, and one behind, in case of a terrorist attack. We were then taken, a few at a time, away from the hotel so we could get back to the base. The local police were involved, as were all the military.

Once all of us got to the base, there was a plan to get us all on a KC-135 Stratotanker and back to RAF Mildenhall.

Being overseas and away from our home base, was very nerve-wracking, especially as communication was sparse. It went from leadership and trickled down, so it took a while to get questions answered, but then we started piecing everything together, and saw it all play out on the news.

Thankfully, I didn't have any friends or family in the New York area, but some people did. We had to comfort each other and make sure our families were OK. We just wanted to get out of there and get back home, to see what was going on.

We boarded a tanker, and flew directly back to RAF Mildenhall. But it was completely different, as the base had changed drastically that day. Where the main gate is now, there used to be just an opening in the fence and was near the Gateway Inn. There was suddenly a huge change in a very little amount of time. Before 9/11, the base was more open than it is now.

To see everything happening on TV made me feel very angry and shocked, I wanted to help in any way I could; it was a very emotional time, and still is. That attack changed the world.

I'm very patriotic. I'm the third generation of my family serving in the military- my grandfather was in World War II and my dad fought in Vietnam. I'm serving now, and my (step)daughter enlisted in the Air Force - and she's not even a U.S. citizen (she is a Norwegian citizen), which makes it extra special.

My daughter is very patriotic, and loves the Air Force. She's seen what I do and how I do it, and that encouraged her to join.

She wanted to help make a difference, and I'm very proud of her for doing that, especially as a non-U.S. citizen joining the U.S. Air Force; that's very special to me. In our family, the Air Force isn't a career, it's a way of life!

Editor's note: This story is the personal recollection of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, based on interviews with the subject. It is compiled and written by Karen Abeyasekere, 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs.