Today five years ago

[uberhun]

Today, I feel different, maybe because it is raining in Chicago and their is a chill of fall in the air. I don't think so though. Today I remember where I was five years ago today. I was sitting on the edge of my bed in a hotel room in Amsterdam with my wife. We were watching T.V. with total disbelief and horror. When we realized what it was we were watching, the tears began to roll and the anger began to boil. It was on that day everything I ever wanted to learn about Islam I learned on that day. I pray for the fallen and our brave service men and women who are in harms way because of a belief. I pray for those who lost their lives in such a protracted violent manner, because of a belief. Today five years ago the world changed forever because of a belief. I will not appologize for the things my country has done to make itself great. I am proud! I will not accept a notion of, "consider it payback for all the things your country has done". My attitude is "Oh you want some of this". Well now "Pandoras" box is open, and I pitty all that perscribe to the belief of killing all that are not worthy to look upon the face of God. I am not a racist far from it. I am a realist. I do not consider myself a bigot either. I love all races and creeds. I have no place in my life for people that kill based upon a belief of the worthy and the unworthy. We the people of the United States of America, are willing and able to assist all that seek an absolute path to martyrdom.
The world has changed forever now. Happy birds singing and warm rays of sunshine is over. Like it or not the world is the United States of America. World War Two created that. We did not ask for it. So if I have offended any of my European or Asian brothers and sisters I appologize. As arrogant as it sounds it is true. All in this world is linked somehow someway to the United States of America. So remember this, as you find pleasure in this country's struggles and rejoice in the "spoiled brat getting spanked". We do not forget, our colors do not run, and it is just a matter of time before everyone realizes that on this day of all days in this country's brief violent history, We honor our fallen and we "do not forget".
Thank you for reading my blog on this day of remembrance.
Uberhun.

[WilldCrd]

I remember being at work getting ready to head out when my supervisor came in and said : the pentagon had been attcked, i think we are at war.
we all went into the conference room and watched everything unfolding with disbeleife, anger, sadness...the whole emotional gambit.
Its a day I will never ever forget.

I remember the first couple of anniversery's of 9/11 and how you could tell it was still fresh in ppls minds. Now tho it seems that ppl ae forgetting, they dont want to be bothered. Its a shame really.

[Neubob]

I doubt they are forgetting. In my torts class this morning, the Prof had a moment of silence, right around 9 am. The feeling in the class of 80 was almost tangible. The silence was not forced, but heartfelt, even mournful. And these are kids, hardly out of highschool when it happened.

The wound is starting to scab over, but it is not faint in our memories. We'd like to move on, but we cannot, for there is no closure, no resolution to this event. For all its sadness and agony, it lacks a certain meaning, because even today, five years later, the enemy--the true enemy--is hard to see, hard to put a label on. We've scrambled left and right to fight back, but, and I think this sentiment reverberates, we've yet to strike at the face of the real villian (and I don't mean Bin Laden, I mean every man and woman who makes the likes of him possible, even popular).

9/11 is not forgotten, not by a long shot. We're just sick of being confused as to exactly what it did and how to move on.

[Masherbrum]

Originally posted by WilldCrd
Now tho it seems that ppl ae forgetting, they dont want to be bothered. Its a shame really.

I want to forget but I'll never forget.   I'm tired of hearing the drumbeat though, that is the shame.  I've posted many times on why I'll never forget, nor will my wife or cousin who worked at the Pentagon.

[Elfie]

I had the day off and was at home when my wife said to me.....Come look at this, the WTC have been attacked by terrorists......I said (in a tone of disbelief) shuuut uppp! I went to the tv just in time to see the second airliner hit Tower 1. As I watched in disbelief, I wondered just how many Americans had died, I wondered how many children had just become orphans.

As the disbelief subsided it was replaced by anger, and sadness. I wondered how long it would be before America retaliated and was glad Bush was the president and not Clinton.

I don't think it's possible for me to forget that awful day.

[Hornet33]

I was out back of the Electronics Shop at the Coast Guard base in Portsmouth VA with a couple of co workers having a smoke when one of the guys from the Electrical shop came out and told us a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We all went back inside and turned on the TV in time to see plane 2 hit. Shortly after that there came the report of a third plane crashing into the Pentagon and a forth plane unaccounted for.

The base went into lockdown and that was the first time I had ever seen Coasties armed with M-16's standing guard at the gate and on the peirs down on the water front.

Around 10:30AM I got a call from Tactical Law Enforcement Team North in Yorktown VA (I was tech support for their 38' Deployable Pursuit Boats) and was told to grab everything I needed to get three boats ready to deploy within the next 24 hours, and get up to Yorktown and prep the boats. I was there by noon and spent the next 12 hours installing and testing all the electronics on the 3 boats that would deploy and getting a forth ready as a backup.

I got home that night around 1:30AM and packed my deployment gear and was back up in Yorktown by 7:00AM the following morning. We hit the road around 8:30AM and headed to New York (Staten Island). We got there around 8:00PM that night and put 2 boats in the water with full crews and that began 42 days of around the clock operations for us providing port security around the Battery of Lower Manhatten.

I saw Ground Zero first hand 3 days later. I attended the funerals for over a dozen NYPD and FDNY personel. I didn't know them in life but I figured while I was there I could pay my respects in their deaths.

I know that there are many Americans that only saw what was on TV and now after 5 years they want to forget and move on. They think it's not that big a deal anymore.

For myself....I saw it first hand. I went to the funerals I could. I talked to the survivors. I took the time to look at the pictures of the missing people and read the discriptions of them at the shrines that popped up all over that city in the days afterwards. I felt their anger, shock, sadness, and confusion as to why this had happened.

Those 42 days I spent in New York serving my county and protecting my fellow citizens are the proudests moments I have ever had in uniform. They are also the hardests days I have spent in uniform.

I for one will never forget!!!

[Dichotomy]

Big Hornet!!!

[Mustaine]

I was working as a contractor @ an insurance company in their copy center, listening to the radio with another person. we were listening to Steve Czaban's segement on the daily morning show. they were talking sports, but mentioning what happened at the WTC (the first plane). they started talking about how it couldn't have been a "little" plane, and were watching TV in their studios (Czaban is on from washington DC via a satelite or something). they were talking live when they said "OH MY GOD" as the second plane hit. "ok show's over guys" "yup, we're going to a news feed of some sort".

the seriousness in their normal comedic style of show was shocking. these guys make jokes all morning, and it kind of made your heart sink as to how bad could this be? (only hearing second hand what was on TV).

the guy I worked with said there was a TV kept in a room off the cafeteria in the building where people watched some shows during lunch. he left the room to check if it was on, and left me there to listen. about 10 minutes later he called down and told me to come to the cafeteria. by then the company was setting up TV's all over the cafeteria, I think they put up 6 or 7. we spent the rest of the day in that cafeteria watching the news, and wondering what else was going to happen. we were working about 5 blocks from the biggest building in Milwaukee, and about 11:30 they called over the PA in the building that the US bank building (that big one) was being evacuated, along with the federal building across the street from us.

the biggest thing I remember was being in the cafeteria about 2 minutes after the first tower collapsed, the whole room was agast... except one stupid ****. she kept going on talking across the cafeteria to someone else really loud in ebonics "naw, I don't play that" or some crap, but she was not talking about anything to do with the days events, it was about "her baby's daddy" or some crap, standing in front of TV's and talking like nothing was going on.

once as a kid in grade school I got in a fight with a girl, a real tomboy... even after I felt like crap. since then I have never wanted to or even thought about raising a finger toward's a woman.

I wanted to slap the ever loving **** out of this chick that day. total disrespect as people were dying on national TV, and building were collapsing.

I left the room for 10 minutes, just to come back and see the second tower fall.

I honestly don't remember anything else about that day.

[ASTAC]

I was working aboard USS LABOON..in fact I believe I had taken a short break, and was on the computer checking this very BBS when one of my shipmates runs in and says tha WTC got hit by a jet. Thinking it was all some sort of pilot error we were watching the live coverage when we saw the second jet hit live on TV..Then the news of the pentagon..within the hour we had got the word that all AEGIS ships were going to sea ASAP. We were underway 3 hours after the attacks "Operation Noble Eagle". I was one of two "TIC"'s (tactical information coordinators). I ran the Link-11 and Link-16 data links with the rest of the fleet. It was an amazing thing that we had radar coverage over the entire east coast and a data link spanning from the gulf of Mexico to Maine. I had never seen anything like it before. What was especially eerie was looking at the coastline on Radar. Where normally the SPY-1D had so many air tracks going north and south, that you couldn't make sense of any of them..there were only 5 tracks TOTAL on the entire east coast..2 fighters over NYC 2 over Washington DC, and the Airforce E-3 that was running the link. It was like that for almost 2 days.

What saddens me now is that thsi morning I'm standing on the pier in front of my current ship, smoking a cig. when one of teh other shipmates askes, why is the flag at half mast today? Or even worse that the guy that raised the Jack ("don't tread on me" flag flown at the front of the ship) Didn't think it was important enough to do his job right and left it at full staff. Have we already forgotten?