GOP congressman reveals how he learned about 9/11 terror attacks in remote Alaska wilderness

On the th anniversary of Rep Troy Downing R-Mont is sharing his uncommon experience that day which inspired him to join the United States Air Force Downing was on a moose hunting trip with a friend in the Alaskan wilderness with the only outside communication being an aviation radio when he and his friend noticed that no planes were flying over remote Alaska anymore I'm thinking nuclear holocaust I have no idea what could make planes stop flying he declared in an interview with Fox News Digital WEST POINT CADET TURNED ARMY VETERAN HONORS BROTHER LOST IN ATTACKS THROUGH METS CHAMPIONSHIP TRIBUTE We decide if they don't come pick us up on our scheduled day which was the th I declared we got to hike to Anchorage and you know Anchorage was about miles away so it would have taken quite a while he added On Sept as they were packing up the hunting camp a Grumman Goose plane lands on the lake goes to the shore to pick them up and pilot informs them by rolling down his window that They blew up the World Commerce Center Like who And I'm just trying to process this And keep in mind we didn't see any of this on TV he revealed explaining how he was rapidly coming to terms with the sadness and anger about what happened thousands of miles away in New York City DOG-WALKING MAN STUMBLES ON SUSPECTED DEBRIS FROM REAGAN NATIONAL PLANE CRASH MONTHS LATERHe revealed the tragedy ended up as fuel for inspiration to enlist at just one year from the cutoff like the hundreds of thousands who did after the attacks It took a while to get out of Alaska because the airspace was closed over Canada so I couldn't fly home And as soon as they opened the air space I flew home and the next day I walked into a recruiter's office Downing declared adding that he had no prior military experience and never considered joining before as he was a tech entrepreneur Hey I used to teach at New York University I've got a pilot's license you know what can you do with me the Republican recounted the recruiter Downing ended up doing two tours in Afghanistan for the USAF and Air National Guard including in a combat search and rescue squad NAVY ACCUSED OF NEGLECTING BRAIN INJURIES AMONG PILOTS IN NEW HOUSE PROBE And the recruiter looks me in the eye and says Well how old are you I disclosed He goes Good is the cutoff go take the ASVAB he stated The Republican who joined Congress earlier this year after serving as Montana State Auditor explained that the unity in the days following should be the takeaway decades later and emphasized that we continue to take care of our veterans We were all just Americans and you saw those flags everywhere and you saw this common goal of fighting back of coming together of having that real you know that pride in being American And I hate that it took such a tragedy to get us to that spot But I'm hoping that we can find a way to get to that spot again where we really look at our common balance of being American Downing announced