Where were you on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001?

[Tarmac]

Was in my dorm room, getting ready for class.  A friend from the University of Michigan, who I hadn't talked to in probably a year, sent me an IM and told me to turn on the TV.  One tower was smoking, but people still weren't sure what was going on.  

We sat there, having a discussion of whether it was terrorism or an accident.  We came to the conclusion that it was probably no accident... the sky was too clear, and the hit on the building was too well-placed.  Our suspicions were confirmed a minute later when the second plane hit.

Spent the rest of the day talking to others in my dorm, and wondering if I should bother going to class.

[DiabloTX]

I had started my first day of school (ITT) the previous morning of the 10th so I slept in late with my wife.  We got a phone call just before 8 am local and was told to turn on the tv.  We saw the north tower burning.  The sky was clear.  How odd, I thought, that a plane could hit the WTC in clear skies and broad daylight.  Then the next one hit the south tower.  Holy **** I thought.  Thats when I knew that it was something far beyond a mere accident.  Then we got reports of the Pentagon being hit.  Then a plane crashing in Pennsylvania.  Thats when I really started to freak a little.  It was like WWIII had started and I had no idea what was going on.  2 days later I was sitting in a Navy Reserve recruiting office wanting to know if the navy would re-instate me as a third class petty officer.  They said no, we'll make you a second class petty officer so I signed on for a 6 year hitch.  I have volunteered twice for active recall and have not been recalled either time.  Now, I have finished school and am teetering on whether to start a full time job or for when the phone rings, "SK2, pack your seabag, you're going to XXXXXXX for 12 months!  Report to the reserve center in 72 hours." *click

Was a wierd, wierd day.  Still think about it a lot.

[nuchpatrick]

Sitting in my office watching morning CNN..  I watched in like everyone else. Total shock....


I no longer have a TV in my office...

[mauser]

Woke up around 5 am Hawaii time, turned on the TV and there it was.  By that time both towers were gone.  Woke up my then fiancee and we both watched the news for most of the rest of the day in disbelief, anger.  I had a feeling they wouldn't be letting us go to work, so I called to see if any of my coworkers came in.  One did get in early, and told me that management was sending everyone that came in home.  Pearl, like other military installations went to their highest security alert levels that day and stayed there for a while.  Things at work have never been the same since then, probably for the better.  

mauser

[beet1e]

I was with Tomato, and we had just finished a walk along the Cornish coastal path from Gorran Haven, finishing up at the fishing village of Mevagissey.



We went to a café and had fish and chips, and the radio was playing - the news was on. It was too indistinct to tell what was being said, but I could hear agitated American voices. Just then, Tomato came back from the ladies room, and I said "Something's happened in America" We got a taxi back to Gorran Haven afterwards, and the taxi driver told us everything. So then we listened to BBC R4 on the car radio. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. I tried to call a certain lady friend in New York to find out more details - couldn't get through on the phone for the next 2 days...

[AWMac]

I was at work, Telecommunications Company. So we had TV's all over the place. The news broke shortly after the 1st plane hit. Then we all watched in horror as the 2nd plane hit.  Then the Pentagon...then the airliner crash in a Penn St field... that was it, I went home. Seemed I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Next day I requested a voluntary return to active duty from retirement.
Received a few Months later a nice certificate exclaiming what a good American I am to volenteer.... a Thanks, but no thanks...

pffffft... I tossed it out.

[Apache]

September 2001 was a double tragedy for me and my family. We had taken my father to the hospital on 9/10/01 for a lung biopsy. A spot had been found on one of his lungs during a routine exam xray. The specimen was tested and found to be malignant, so while they had him under, they took some of his lung.

We watched the 9/11 horror from my dad's CCU room as he struggled to breathe. I've never really gotten to mourn those poor souls from that day. My dad died 9/21/01.

[Pooh21]

I had just got home from work at1530 here. Sat down and read and ate my dinner, then turned on the news and said to my wife as I always said before then "wonder if anything intresting blew up" Which was the last time I ever said that. Was CNN showing split screen, 1 side WTC other Pentagon.just sorta went into shock and overload the Tower was burning I thought skyscraper fire? then why is smoke so close to ground, then the flash came up about a car bomb that didnt really happen. Im thinking is it WW3? They said planes hit the WTC 1/2 hour ago. They showed the plane and I was thinking about that Clancy book wondering how someone managed to sneak 2 planes in from canada that were R/C controlled then reality hit and I realized that those were regular airlines that musta been hijacked, and I instantly knew then what kind of people were behind it. Spent the rest of the day watching the TV. I know I must of saw the 1st tower collapse but I guess I was so shocked that I never remembered it. When the 2nd fell I was so filled with a white hot rage and sorrow. I wanted to hurt someone responsible for it all.  The next day at work they said all Americans could go home but I didnt wish to( I was also the only American there at that time.)

[Yeager]

Driving in to work just listening to the sports report when the radio guy mentioned a small plane hitting the WTC as an interesting bit of sideline news.  Then his co-host chimed in and said it was a sunny morning and how odd it sounded.   On to different news.  Just as I pulled into work the guy came back on with apprehension in his voice and said another plane had just hit the other tower and how we must be under attack.  Then I get to my desk turn on the radio and they said a plane had just hit the pentagon and the white house was being evacuated.  I went home and heard about another plane crashing.
Gotmy guns out and oiled em up and did a ammo count.  Wasnt much else I could do.  I thank God I at least had some guns to clean.

[Udie]

I'll never forget that God forsaken day.   I was driving to work and the news was talking about a small private plane that had hit the WTC.  I was thinking "what kind of idiot flies a small plane into a huge building, and how did he get near it?" But I really didn't give it much thought.

 Got to work and we were pretty busy at that time so I started drawing.  I had been working for maybe 5 minutes when I got up to go ask my engineer a question.  I got past my cube and 1/2 way past the guy's next to me when I heard on his radio that the 2nd plane had crashed.  I stopped mid-step, one foot on the ground the other in the air.  I was shocked and litterally stunned.  I knew instantly what it meant, there's no way that could be an accident, for 2 planes to hit.

 We pulled out the little TV and put on CNN.  The whole office was in our meeting room wathcing the little tv.  NONE of us expected them to fall, it never even crossed my mind.  I remember thinking, "how the heck are the firemen going to fight these fires?"  Then the 1st tower went down.  I never want to feel what I felt then ever again.  I couldn't move, could barely breath or talk.  They had been talking on the news how like 40,000 people worked in each tower.  So I was initially thinking that we had just seen tens of thousands of people's deaths.

 The boss came in shortly and sent everybody home for the day.  I went home watched cnn and this board for the rest of the day.


awefull memories

[Udie]

yes,  I also remember how odd it was that I saw/heard no planes for 2 weeks afterwards.  That was scarey to me...

[Chairboy]

My sister called me, and I tuned in just in time to see the second plane hit.  I was glued to the TV for the next few hours.  My neighbor and I didn't know what was going on, but we both filled out bath tubs with water in case things got worse and there was a problem with city water.

We both did a quick comparison of supplies and decided to stick together and pool our resources if needed, and both loaded our guns.  I spent a few minutes going over proper gun usage with my wife in case she needed it.  Better to have a gun and not need it then to need it and not have it.

When I finally went to work around noon, I had some stuff in my car (good thing it wasn't searched) in case stuff went sour locally.  When I got into the office, everyone was in shock.  After a few hours of all of us being glued to the news (the day http://www.cnn.com almost died because of traffic), everyone went home.  I picked up non-perishable supplies and water treatment pills on the way home.  The next day, I started thinking about things like anthrax, so I bought a case of Pedialite and some particulate masks.  Pedialite because severe dehydration is one of the big things that kills ya if you've got one of those diseases, and particulate masks in case there was fire/collapse/etc in LA (where we live) and we needed to go downtown to help.

For almost a year afterwards, I kept obsessing in my mind about what it must have been like on the planes and in the buildings.  I saw, clear as day, the hijackings and the moment of impact.  I saw the dark hallways of the WTC, filled with dust and the flickering light of fire as people lay burned and semi-conscious.  I saw in my mind people forced up against a window by fire making the decision to jump, and imagined myself falling.  I saw uninjured people from the top levels trying to figure out a way past the obstructions in the stairways on the levels where the planes hit, then looking upwards in confusion as the structural groans started, then running in panic as each floor above them collapsed.  BOOM.  BOOM. BOOM.BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM closer together until, in their last moment, the ceiling above them crumbles, then blackness.

Even today, whenever I fly on a 767 or 757, I look forward along the length of the cabin and do a little math.  At 450-500mph, I ask myself, would the passengers at the back be able to comprehend the destruction rushing towards them as the plane flew into a building?

I don't think I'm the only one, but nobody ever talks about it.

[rc51]

was home enjoying my day off.
I am just as mad today as i was then:mad:

[SunKing]

woke up to Howard Stern describing the scene live. Thought it was a joke for the first 15 mins.

My Uncle was working in the Pentagon... lost 15 friends.

My cousin was in court downtown NY. She was treated for dust inhalation, she was also interview on Fox News that day.

[icemaw]

I was sleeping. I was awaken by the phone ringing. I just let the recorder pick it up. It started ringing again right away aw nuts work is calling. The computers down I gotta go in early. So I answer it. My mother is on the phone I could feel the stress in her voice. She told me to turn on the TV that we are under attack. What??? Under attack what the hell are you talking about. I reach for the remote turn on the set. The first thing I saw was the 2nd plane hitting. I knew right then and there who was behind it. No question in my mind. I spent the rest of the day like the rest of the civilized world watching the TV. Unable to fathom the kind of animal that would do this. As they replayed it over and over all I could think about was the people. Sitting at their desks just living their lives doing their job. Then a split second later their whole body aflame. I could see the animals in the cockpit chanting allah ackbar allah ackbar.

  NEVER FORGET NEVER FORGIVE 9/11

 To this day everytime a plane flies over my house I look up and curse Islam.