By Alison Seagle

Staff Writer

Sept. 11 is a day that brings back harsh memories, especially on a campus considered as veteran-friendly as CSUSM.

Based on figures released in late August from the Office of Communications, CSUSM is home to approximately 900 students that identify themselves as a veteran, service member or military dependent. Many of these student veterans remember the day vividly and wanted to share the ways in which Sept. 11 resonated with them.

An 8th grader at the time, David Acosta remembers being sick from school that fateful day and watching the news at his home in Fallbrook. He was familiar with New York and witnessing something so disturbing made him question humanity.

“Seeing people jump from the towers was crazy. I already wanted to join the military, but that really instilled the idea,” Acosta said.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world, Gregg Snow was working as a contractor in Tokyo when one of his Japanese co-workers called him up, frantically trying to tell him what had happened. Snow thought that what he was seeing was a movie rather than real events. He then called another friend in Japan to tell him about what happened and they stayed up all night watching the news. Snow was supposed to fly back to the U.S. the next day, but instead had to go to the Embassy and was unable to fly home until a week later. He had been out of the military for a while at the time, but after the attack he contemplated re-enlisting.

Nicholas Ashley was also out of the country on Sept.11. He was living in Indonesia in the middle of a large Muslim population. He felt very uncomfortable due to the circumstances and began telling people he was Canadian to avoid talking about the attack. He was also in disbelief when he saw on TV what had happened. He had just seen a movie the previous night about a plane that crashed into a building.

At the Personnel Administration Center on Camp Pendleton, Claudia Oreegal saw what happened on the TV in the office’s waiting room. She remembered that there was a palpable change in the mood on base.

“It was the quietest our office ever was. Not much work got done that day because everyone was in shock. It wasn’t frantic, but the security did become very tight,” Oreegal said.

Alexis Bruno was a third grader in Mission Viejo at the time, and when she went into her mom’s room that morning she saw her watching the TV and crying.  Later that day, she remembers that they went to a donut shop and that everything seemed weird.

“My mom wouldn’t let me go to school that day so we stayed home and watched TV. [When we went to the shop], the TVs were all on, but no one was talking,” Bruno said.

Sept. 11 is now officially called Patriot Day to remember those who were lost. Flags are flown at half-mast and many people observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. EST, the time that the plane first flew into the World Trade Center. This Sept. 11 will mark 12 years since the attacks occurred, but for many the images and the shock of the events are still very clear memories.