ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — The morning of the September 11 attacks, firefighters at Robins Air Force Base had just wrapped up a training exercise putting out flames from spilled jet fuel.
After that simulated emergency, firefighters had to get to work bracing for any real threat to the base.
"It made you think, what would happen if something similar happened here and what we would have to do to keep people safe," said Deputy Chief David Chaplin.
"What we protect here has an effect around the world for the Air Force," added Chief Forest Johnson.
In the days after the attacks, emotions ran high on base, but security was even higher. Lines of cars stretched down Watson Boulevard and Russell Parkway with employees waiting to get through new security checkpoints.
"It used to be you had a sticker on your car and you'd get waived in," recalled Chaplin.
That heightened security remains the standard at Robins.
"Our mission definitely morphed that day," said Assistant Chief Todd Surber. "Weapons of mass destruction came on the radar."
"We're a lot more cautious on responses, looking over our shoulder," said Johnson. "We put our head on a swivel looking for any secondary devices or anything suspicious."
Twenty years after the attacks, some of the sights and sounds from that day still bring a flood of emotions.
"Anyone here that day and any firefighter that watches the footage, it's the sound of a PASS device going off," said Surber.
The device worn by firefighters signals for help when it doesn't detect movement. After the towers collapsed, many first responders were still, paralyzed by what they just saw.
"At that point you knew what was wrong," said Surber.
He says sometimes hearing that sound brings him back to watching the footage that day, unsure of what could come next.
"We just do our best to make sure every day we come in with our game face on and protect what we have to," said Johnson.
He says every year, they mark the anniversary of the attacks with a remembrance ceremony to honor all the first responders who died that day.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE