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STORIES

Adrienne Brammer

Veteran

Adrienne Brammer
Military Affiliations

  • Military Family Member

MY connection to 9/11

  • I was serving in the military on 9/11

Where were you when you first heard about or saw the 9/11 terrorist attacks?

I was stationed overseas on 9/11. I was a broadcast journalist working for American Forces Network at Aviano AB, Italy. It was the afternoon and my work day was almost over. We always had a television on in the offices of course. I remember walking into the maintenance department to ask them a question and they had the Today Show on, with video of the first smoking building. I was curious, confused, concerned - and then I watched the second plane hit and I knew the first one hadn't been an accident. I'd been serving on active duty since 1998 and performed my wartime mission every day - broadcasting news and information to the local community on radio and television - so it was business as usual for us while we observed and processed what was happening so far away. I remember the base passing into the various phases threats, as attack had just happened or was imminent, and imagining how they were laid out in our Airman's Manual, sort of mentally checking them off. We even brought in our newest Airman, who'd arrived from technical school the day prior, to be with us and put in his share which had to be jarring and shocking.

How did the events of that day shape your life and inspire your service to this country?

It struck me - I had been enlisted for three years during peacetime before 9/11 happened and then for the remainder of my enlistment it was wartime. Service seemed to have a different meaning. I enlisted for different reasons than those who came after me. Later I remember seeing the elephant walk of cargo airplanes carrying soldiers on the flightline in 2003. I think I shot video of them getting ready to leave, even going so far as to board the plane with them (long before takeoff). It didn't even occur to me what that lineup meant. I imagined that I would deploy eventually - I was supposed to go to Bosnia in 2002 but the TDY was cancelled. I didn't end up going to Iraq & Afghanistan until 2008 & 2011. Again, it was all business for me. I was there to do a job, no matter the circumstances. I was proud I deployed and I try to tell everyone about my service and why it was important to me.

What are you excited to contribute to your community, however you define it, for the next 20 years?

I'm still interested in broadcasting, documentation, editing videos and interviewing people on the radio. I got a BFA in Acting after separating and I try to perform as a veteran or military member on stage or on television anytime I can to tell people what I experienced. Maybe I'll write a play or a short story or a screenplay. My passions and experiences are inextricably linked forever - and I'm not mad at it.

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