Remembering 9/11: Where Were You? Share Your Story.

Fellow TW members,

Since we are closing in on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, I thought maybe we could share where we were, what we were doing, and how we learned the news of the tragic events on 9/11.

Maybe some of us were even in New York City, at the Pentagon, or even in Shanksville, PA. Worse yet, maybe some of us had family, friends or co-workers who became direct victims of terrorism that day. Maybe some of us worked as responders or recovery personnel. If you would like to share your story, please do so.

In keeping with the code of conduct for our forum, let's keep this thread free of political comments, pro- or anti-war sentiments, conspiracy theories, and anti-Muslim feelings. I just thought this would be a fitting way for all of us to take a moment to share our experiences of that terrible day, and take a few minutes to remember those as we approach this horribly tragic and sad anniversary.



As for me, I was conducting an operational training evaluation in the Watch Operations Center of a USAF intelligence site (I'll leave the site unnamed) when everyone started gasping while looking up at the TV--CNN was on. From the live video, it was clear to all of us what had happened seeing that first tower on fire. Needless to say, phones started ringing, people started scrambling, and generally the place fell into mass chaos--organized chaos--but chaos nonetheless. The whole base went into immediate lock-down and no one was permitted on or off base for the next few hours. My wife, an intelligence specialist, was also working the day shift. She immediately called our neighbor and arranged for our children to be picked up and taken care of until one of could get home (it turned out to be 40hrs later).

As the news came in, it was clear we were all in for a very long night. That night turned into a really long week... that week turned into a really long decade...

God bless those who lost there lives and were injured due to the events of 9/11.

 

i was at school... little ole freshman... walked by biology class and saw it on TV.. little that i know 10 years later im in the military.. and i am proud of all of my accomplishments =)

 

Thats awesome

I was in the first grade, and i remember it like it was yesterday. Mother and Father were crying, i had no clue what was going on.

 

You have to wonder how many lives were affected by that day? How many people chose a path to join the military based on 9/11? It's hard to fathom. I think about my young children... all they've known is a nation at war. It's really very sad.

 

First grade? Damn I feel old.

 

I was on the USS Enterprise in the indian ocean on our way home from a 6 month deployment smoking on the smoke pit. A bunch of guys cam running out there and told us to check the TV. We saw it. about 2 hours later we were on our way to the arabian sea. Then on Oct 9th a midnight was started lighting the bitchez up. With every bomb we had on the ship. It was nice to be seeing them scatter like cockroaches.

 

I saw it on the morning news before school... I was in 11th grade. At first, I thought it was an accident and a plane crashed into the tower without it being terrorist oriented. I remember most all the classrooms at school were showing it on the tv's

 

I was working for my Dad at the time (scenic flights in antique biplanes at the Museum of Flight in Seattle).
We'd been working for like a month straight since the weather had been so nice and we only took days off for bad weather. On Monday the 10th, we were totally beat and decided that since Tuesdays were usually our slowest, we'd take tomorrow off.
The next morning I was sleeping in and he called me from his day job downtown after the first plane hit and I watched the rest live on the news.
Our airplane business was shut down for months. All the small commercial operations like ours were not allowed to resume operations for a VERY long time.

 

I bet that felt good!

 

Wow, we tend to forget the impact on businesses like your dad's. I've been to the MoF about 10 times. I take my son every time we are in Seattle.

 

i was in third grade and i remember it clearly... i had my rolling backpack and all... looked at the TV and saw tons of smoke. i had thought something happened in the middle east but then i looked and my teacher said it was in NY city. didnt really affect me at all, now that im older its sort of a soft subject in my heart. Ever since this, ive always wanted to become a firefighter. Maybe in NY city someday..

Edit: when i really think about what happened to everyone, i get a knot in my throat

 

I was 22 at the time and had been flying for about 8 years already.
To make ends meet I had to find other work and haven't flown since

 

I was in the 4th grade in gym class, they took us back to our regular classroom and let us watch it on TV. I remember all of the teachers crying. A very terrible day for sure.

I remember it like it was yesterday....

 

Hell yeah i got video tape of our F-18s bombing them on bridges and in cars. it was nice. They didn't have a chance. Bush didnt fuck around.

 

Damn, that's sad. You ever thought about getting up there again?

 

At the time this occurred, Bush was talking to a classroom full of kids. If it were Obama, he would have been on vacation somewhere

 

Yeah, and my dad has a plane he is willing to make available for me, but in the last 10 years I've got my own career going and have my own family now... Just don't have the time to dedicate to it.
I miss it sometimes but motorcycles have filled the void.

 

I saw a preview this week for an upcoming interview of Bush about 9/11. They said it's his first and looked pretty interesting IMHO.

 

I was on the school bus, freshman year of high school. I had PE first period and all the coaches were watching it on tv. By the time I was showering, the second plane had hit. All my peers were talking and saying we're going to war! They called it!

 

I'm sitting here reading these posts and it just hit me how young most of you are (no disrespect intended). Most of you have only really known is a nation at war. I think back to my childhood in the late 70s and 80s, when life was free of worry about terrorism and war. God, how things have changed.