Changed by 9/11: David Springsteen, Sergeant in the Federal Reserve

After seeing people willingly die for a cause, the hatred they have for this country, the killing of innocent men and woman, and watching helplessly people jumping to there deaths, 9/11 has affected me in more ways then one.

I have no idea what was going through the minds on those upper floors to have them jump. 9/11 has affected everyone in this great nation, watching everything unfold on TV doesn't hold a candle to a man witnessing it first hand.

There were certain doubts going through my mind that day, especially when the two towers collapsed — there was no communication available. Will I survive? Will I see my family again? It was an eerie feeling being cut off from the world, not knowing what was happening elsewhere.

I had just gotten off duty at the Federal Reserve Bank — located two blocks east of the towers — when the first plane crashed into the tower. I didn't know exactly what was about to happen.

I was ordered back on duty to help NYPD with crowd control. I was assigned to Maiden Lane and Broadway with the New York Police Department when the first tower collapsed. Everyone ran for their lives — it was total chaos.

From the moment the first plane crashed into the tower, there was no time to react. I was running on instinct. It's hard to describe. People just stood in shock. They didn't know what to do either — watching the debris falling from the sky, the building burning, looking at the FDNY, trying to figure out a way to battle this nightmare.