Remembering September 11th

when the first plane hit, we thought it was a
civil aviation plane, when the second hit
we knew it was a national security issue

later on, driving home there was 3 other
cars on the road ( I-75 ) it was a ghost town

 

.

 

The friday after the attack I was sitting in the Pen(tagon)Ren(ovation) Teams' tent when an FBI agent came by looking for someone from my company. I went with the agent in her mini truck( like a golf cart with an enclosed cab and a small truck bed), down to the north parking lot. The area was under heavy guard, I remember seeing agents riding around in four-wheelers with dual mp5's mounted on the handlebars, and when we got there she took me to the agent in charge. As we walked thru the area, all I saw were piles of debris from the Pentagon, and people in hazmat suits with rakes and shovels and dogs sorting thru the debris.

We walked over beside the Potomac river and the agent asked me if I could modify the drinking fountain to hook up a hose for the agents to wash the dogs off with. It was a stone fountain, which I couldn't figure out how to break into without destroying it, but I saw a manhole cover nearby and assumed it was the service valve for the fountain.(it was) I said yes, no problem and then asked him why they needed to hose the dogs off. I thought because it was hot and it would cool them off. The agent told me that all of the debris from the Pentagon was being brought to the north parking lot, where other agents were sifting thru it to recover any and all remains. They needed to be able to hose contaminants off the dogs after they had gone thru the debris.

The first agent took me back to where she had picked me up, I caught a ride with a state trooper to the hardware store on Columbia Pike, the store owner donated all the materials, hoses, and nozzles I needed, met up with the FBI agent who took me back down to the north parking lot and I ran a header out of that manhole with hook-ups for 4 hoses.

I felt like I really accomplished something that day, however small it seemed.

 

The two ladies from the Red Cross who manned the RC tent in the courtyard who always made sure we had hot meals at lunchtime. Every morning one of them would ask us if there was anything special that we wanted. I never did remember my manners and ask either one of them their names, but if they read this, you know who you are. Thank you.

To the guy in the Southern Baptist Ministry tent who fired everything up at 3:00 am just to make sure I would get a hot meal. Again, forgetting my manners, I never got his name. Thank you.

 

I was sitting at home watching tv and playing games on my computer when I heard the news that a plane had hit the tower. I had just gotten back from PSAB (Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia) two days earlier. My squadron still had people over there, due to leave the 12th. I was praying they were all ok and would make it home safely.

I prayed for the injured and the families left behind to pick up the pieces.

It was the worst day our nation has ever seen. Thanks to the police, firemen and other heroes who gave some or gave all that day. My sincere appreciation for those who still fight that fight every day and night.

God Bless America and each and every one of us!!

 

I was in my 5th grade class room. I had just looked at the clock and it was 10:24 when I found out. I didn't understand at the time. I was so excited to be coming home early from school. I understood later that day when I watched the news even as a 5th grader.

 

i was in 10th grade, my dad was off work that day watching tv. He had it on CNN when he saw video of the first plane hit, he just said "what?" then they were showing a live shot of the towers when the second plane slammed into the building, again he just was like, "what?" When it dawned on him that he just watched the second plane hit live on tv, he was totally stunned. CNN and MSNBC were pretty much the only channels I watched for about a year.

 

As posted in the other thread:

I was in the second grade (9 years old). It was around 5-something AM here, and our phone rang. It was my dad calling from work. He told us to turn on the TV. At the time, I didn't fully understand what was going on; I remember thinking something along the lines of "wow, we were just in those towers not too long ago".

28 days before, while on our first family vacation to NY/NJ (we've got family there), we were driving around Manhattan. We wanted to go to the ESB, but due to traffic, and our location at the time, decided to go to the WTC. My dad was born and raised in Brooklyn. He spent his childhood playing, literally, in the shadows of those buildings. Never gave a single thought to them, untill 28 days before they came down.

God Bless America

 

It was my second day on my current job, so I guess it was a Tuesday. They had me working desk duty and I started getting flooded with calls about 'should we evacuate' and 'are we at war'. In hindsight, people just wanted to be told that they were OK. We didn't have a television or radio, so I just assumed everyone in this town was just batshit crazy.
Eventually, word made its way through the station. I got off at three and went home and watched it with my girl until I fell asleep.
It was surreal, like a movie. Just made me pissed off and sick to my stomach. I knew at the time that it would be a defining moment, one of those things where you will always remember where you were and what you were doing when it went down. It was my generation's lunar landing and JFK.

 

The smell from the collapsed area is something I'll never forget. The closest thing to it would be the smell from catching hair on fire, multiplied by 100.

Going on the damage assessment walk. Seeing how part of the second floor had been raised by the explosion on the first floor below. The damage to the concrete. Whole columns missing, others with just rebar remaining. Our service lines, 10" mains and 6" runs, flattened. Copper mains looked like spaghetti from the fire and heat.

The first time I heard Alan Jackson's song Where Were You. I was driving into work at 5:00 am. I had to pull over because the song brought up raw emotion and I couldn't concentrate.

 

I was in a Motel 6 off of Interstate 70 somewhere in Kansas. I was PCS'ing from 29 Palms, CA to Camp Lejeune, NC and was on my way to visit my parents in Northern Virginia for two weeks of leave. A friend of mine called me on my cell phone to tell me to turn on the TV after the first attack happened. When I had to check out and get back on the road, there was much less traffic than the day before, and it was very eerie seeing a beautiful blue sky completely empty of planes. I remember stopping at a gas station that was also a truck stop and when I went inside to pay, there were a bunch of truck drivers surrounding a TV and yelling in anger at what was going on. They were all ready to go to war with whomever attacked us. I joined them for a few minutes, and they all wanted me to enlist them into the military immediately. This was my first sign of how Americans were all coming together to support each other and fight the terrorists, rather than fall apart and cringe in fear like the terrorists had hoped. It was because of 9-11 that after I checked into my unit, I requested a lateral move to the infantry, and after a few months of paperwork, my request was granted and my re-enlistment papers were changed. I have never regretted making that change.

God bless you joedirt (and thank you for your service), God bless all Americans who suffered in any way on 9-11 (and thank you to all of the Fireman, Police, Military, Rescue workers, and all support personnel and regular Americans who served on that day, in the months that followed, and continue to serve today), and God bless America.

 

God bless you, sir - thank you for your service.

 

im in the process of re enlisting (i got out in Feb) and im trying to lat move to infantry too. coming from the air wing i imagine im in for a shock, but i know its what i want.

 

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][ Toby Keith ][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)

American Girls and American Guys
We’ll always stand up and salute
We’ll always recognize
When we see Old Glory Flying
There’s a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin’ in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of July

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin’ her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, it’s gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringin’ her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you’ll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
`Cause we`ll put a boot in your ass
It`s the American way

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin’ her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, it’s gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringin’ her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue[/FONT]

 

Yes, you are in for a shock! But, as long as it is what you truly want to do, that you will be fine and you will not regret it in the end. That's funny, because when I went into the infantry, I was coming from the Air Wing too! I was with MWSS-374 in 29 Palms from 1999-2001. I left 29 Palms to be an MOS instructor at Courthouse Bay on Camp Lejeune. I ended up being an instructor for only 6 months while I was waiting for my lat move paperwork to be approved, and for a seat to open at ITB on Camp Gieger. I had deployed with an infantry unit (2/4) out of Okinawa in 1998, which gave me a little experience with how Division units worked. But, even that did not truly prepare me for the shock of actually being an 0311 and living the life of a grunt. I'm afraid that nothing will prepare you for that. I'm not going to lie to you, there will be some rough times, a lot of the perks that you're used to now will not always be available, and the life of a grunt is not always glamorous, but I loved every minute of it! All of the rough times made my sense of accomplishment taste that much more sweet. There will be a period of adjustment as you settle into the new lifestyle, and a different operational tempo (you will be in the field or deploying all the time), but you will get used to it soon enough. The sense of brotherhood and camaraderie with my fellow Marines, and the pride that I developed being an 0311, was unparalleled with any other job that I did in the Corps. I wish you the best of luck in re-enlisting and getting your lat move approved! I wish I could do it all over again. Semper Fi!

 

I originally signed up for infantry but before i shipped to bootcamp i let everyone (parents, friends) talk me out of it and go for something that would give me a skill once i got out. well now im out, i hated being a helicopter mechanic and want nothing to do with it anymore. all i can think of now is that i should have listened to myself and done what i wanted to do. people think im crazy for wanting to go back, especially to the infantry but its something i need to do, otherwise for the rest of my life ill wonder what it woulda been like.

 

To Joedirt, Hunden, and the rest of you that serve in our military and protect our way of life, I would just like to say thankyou.