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9/11 Reflections

Master Sergeant Christopher Flores, 51st Fighter Wing Security Forces defender I made the decision to join the U.S. Air Force before Sept. 11, 2001. I had no idea what the future held for me and I didn’t know what war was at the time. I was a teenager just trying to find my way. When I first learned of the attacks, I was in history class. I sat down and the teacher was wheeling-in the old school television to display the news and he said something was going on in New York City. I saw people jumping to their death instead of being burned alive. Shortly thereafter, the second plane crashed into the south tower and later I watched reruns of the towers falling. The other news was playing on the lower banner of a plane crashing in Pennsylvania and another in the Pentagon. Like many other Americans, I had mixed feelings of sadness, anger and of course confusion. I remember years prior to 9/11, our nation supported operations in Kosovo and the Gulf War when I was in grade school.

PHOTO BY: Tech Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.
VIRIN: 210911-F-IO684-0004.JPG
FULL SIZE: 0.56 MB
Additional Details

CAMERA

NIKON D810

LENS

24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8

APERTURE

35/10

SHUTTERSPEED

1/200

ISO

31

IMAGE IS PUBLIC DOMAIN

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This photograph is considered public domain and has been cleared for release. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit. Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of this photograph or any other DoD image must be made in compliance with guidance found at https://www.dimoc.mil/resources/limitations, which pertains to intellectual property restrictions (e.g., copyright and trademark, including the use of official emblems, insignia, names and slogans), warnings regarding use of images of identifiable personnel, appearance of endorsement, and related matters.