Posted by
Dawnsblood on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 7:09:33 PM
On the morning of 9/11, Pfc Bramhall was heading to downtown NYC to end his Reserve enlistment. 9/11 gave him
a 2 month extension.
“I just walked out of the Madison Square
Garden Train Station, and these Secret Service agents grabbed me and
asked if I would help pull security since I was in uniform,” he said.
“I didn’t think, I just did what I was asked to do.”
Bramhall,
fighting through the chaos from the citizens of NYC, followed his
orders and made his way to the Towers to help secure the area. As he
was pulling security, Bramhall was asked to help with one of the
biggest missions of his life – go into the Towers to help people exit
them before they fell.
“While I was pulling security, I was
pulled into a mission to start clearing one of the Towers,” he said.
“Once again, I followed my orders.”
Though he admits he was
scared of what might happen to him, Bramhall bravely entered the second
Tower, completely fulfilling one of the U.S. Army’s core values,
personal courage. Bramhall put the lives of the people stuck in the
Towers over his own. He was driven and knew he had to help.
“At
first I was really scared,” Bramhall admitted. “At the time I went into
the Towers, people were jumping out of them. I saw one person jump and
hit a fire fighter and kill him. After that, I wanted to turn and run.”
“I thought to myself, ‘I’m too young to die,’” he continued. “But then it hit me.
"These
people are scared and what would they think if they saw a guy in
uniform run from a situation like this? So I regained my composure and
went right back to the mission, not really knowing what would happen
next.”He later rejoined the service and is now in Iraq with 82nd Airborne. He has no regrets.
Though Bramhall still has a
way to go in his year-long deployment with 5-73, he says he’s okay with
that. Bramhall said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I would not change anything,” he said. “I’m glad I’m here, doing my part.”
You know I used to think it silly to have mortal heroes. Being mortal they make mistakes and those mistakes are often significant. Matt's 'Someone You Should Know' series has showed me just how wrong I was. Tim has joined my ever widening list of heroes.