How the Maryland Air National Guard was affected by 9/11

WHATEVER THEY WERE DOING ANDTOOK ACTION ON SEEMPTBER .WHETHER THEIR MISSION WAS TOHEAD TO NEW YORK CITY -- ETHPENTAGON -- OR WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA -- THEWEY REREADY TO GO.

WMAR-2 NEWS' MARKROPER INTRODUCES US TO AMEMBER OF THE MARYLAND AIRNATIONAL GUARD WHO RECOGNISZEHOW 9-11 INSPIRED OTHERS TOJOIN HIM AND SERVEURCOUNTRY.SEPTEMBER 11TH NOT ONLY SAW ANATTACK ON THE HEART OF NEWYORK CITY'S FINANCIALDISTRICTBUT AMERICA'SHEADQUARTERS OF DEFENSE -- THEPENTAGON.

Very upsetting,yeah, it was very upsettin ag,lot of things had to happenfor that catastrophe to happenbut everybody on our aircraft,and everybody that I work withat Martin State and theMaryland Air National Gua,rdweSECOND PLANE HIT THE TNWITOWERS --MARYLAND AIRNATIONALGUARDLT.

COLONEL--JOELLEWELLYN-- KNEW THE COURYNTWAS NOW AT WARAND HE WAS REATO SERVE.

I was in desertstorm, Somalia, Ilot prior to this point, butsome of my crew had not, somay he avbeen pretty new formost of them, we were loadingup, putting our M-9s on, andwe were putting bullets inIt.was like we were inAfghanistan, but we werestepping out in our home base,very surreal.

THE LIEUTENANT'SIMMEDIATE MISSION WAS TO FLYDOWN TO LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASEIN VIRGINA AND TRANSPORTMEDICAL AND RESCUE PERNNSOTO NEW YORK CITY.

We didnhave any toiletries, we didnhave any clothes, when we gotdown to the base, the base wasclosed, so we struggled to getfood, you know, kind of to getthe not so stuff that we weredoing, but what was greatabout the crew us, no bodycared, there were a lot ofpeople in a lot worsesituations than we were, sonobody complained or anything,we just got to figure thious tAND AT THE TIME -- THERE ALSOWAS A CONCERN THAT MEORATTACKS WERE COMING ASREWS CLISTENED TO EMERGENCY RADIO.Weall the cap that was above us,thereNavy ships, talking to C,ATjust a lot of movement andprotection going on, and herewe are just our little C130going to Virginia, fittgininto this mass organizationalstructure of protection thataround the country at thatpoint WHICH MEANT LIEUTENANTLLEWELYAN HAD TO QUICKLYSWITCH FROM A PEACETIMEMINDSET TO A COMBAT MINDSET.Our job was to fly tthaaircraft and not have anydistractions, no matter whatwas going on in the world, orwhat was going on in New York,our job was to get to Virginiaand not make a mistake notmake some silly mistake tthacould crash an aircraft THECREW FLEW A RECOVERY TEAM TONEW YORK.

AS THEY GOT CLOSTOETHE CITY -- EVERYONE ON BOARDCOULD SEE THE DEVASTATION FRUP IN THE AIR.

Nobody wastalking, it was very sad,somber, as we went up and itreally hit ho, meokhe tworldONE THING WHICH CHANGED FORMANY AMERICANS AFTER SEPTEMBER11THWAS HAVING A RENEWED SENSEOF PRIDE.

People decided, Ihanvedo more, and they joined themilitary, or they joined apolice officer, or they joinedthe fire department, mesofirst responders, become anurse, that impacted& therewas a lot of negative impactof 9/11, but I think thepositive impact is it changedpeoples lives to go serve INBALTIMORE -- MARK ROPER -- WMAR2 NEWS.MANY OF US HAD A NEIGHBOR,FAMILY MEMBER OR FRIEN