First Sgt. Jonathan James Ragland, 43 — Manhattan, New York I was a platoon sergeant at Quantico. I was working on some pistols at the time when I heard over the radio that 9/11 happened. I called my wife, she called the school to make sure the kids were OK, because at the time it sounded like we were under a world attack and not just the Towers. My wife left work at Little Hall, picked the kids up and made sure they were safe at home. Myself and a couple other Marines wanted to try to get together and drive over to see if there was anything we could do to help but we were told to stand down and stay on base and make sure we were accounted for. As the situation went on, it seemed to get a lot worse. I tried to make my way to the Pentagon but they wouldn’t let us in to the city. My initial reaction was “this is unreal, where can I go to help, and who needs payback for what’s just happened.” I have family members in New York, and I wanted to make sure they were ok. It was a lot of anger, a lot of disappointment that something like that could happen. We talked to our kids about what happened. My son joined the Marines because he wants to do his part. My daughter is in college, and going to join the Air Force because she wants to do her part, so that we can defend our nation. That was what they grew up on, that there’s a purpose why we’re here and why we do what we do as military members. At the time, I was already prepared to go to the drill field. I was going to help prepare young men to be Marines so they could go out and do the job with me. Fifteen years have passed and it’s not going to ever go unremembered. It’s always in my prayers that it doesn’t happen again, and that we all stay safe, and we all come home."