Whole Battalion was in the field at Ft Bragg....had a brief from the MEU CO the day prior about all the liberty ports and exercises we were scheduled for on our deployment.  That morning we were in the rear prepping for the next days ranges and one of my guys had a radio on.  Heard something about a plane hitting the WTC and we just thought a small plane flew into it in bad weather or something.

20 minutes later, we were digging in and establishing a perimeter in the BN support area.  

Buses came to pick us up the next day to take us back to Lejeune and I remember seeing tanks out in front of the base housing areas......

Didn't see the news until later that night.....surreal.  We were basically on air alert from that point on.  The MEU that was ahead of us getting ready to leave was on block leave and we were on standby to get on their ships and take that deployment.

I happened to be on area guard at the time on base and I remember getting a phone call that woke me up in the barracks that said grab your gear, go get your weapon and report to the guard house as fast as possible. I did and was given 8 magazines worth of ammo and we were to set up fighting holes at various locations around the base and some important buildings. We were told to engage anything or anyone that didn't act "right" and that they would worry about it later. Next thing I knew I was living out of a hole for a few weeks until they set up a rotation.

I was on my way to work across from Dulles Airport. I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the WTC, but there was not alot of detail. I figured some GA pilot made a serious error. I was having car troubles. I stopped at the mechanic in Chantilly VA. A jet flew over very low on the way to DC. I have always assumed it was the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

I got to work and there was a buzz in the office, I got set up, logged on, and it was announced the building was closing. Went back to my car and drove to the gun store in Manassas (where I worked part time). It was mobbed. The customers were in a panic. NICS was down so there were no approvals. I worked for an hour, then headed home. My wife worked closer to DC, it took her 5 hours to get home.

I didn't have TV, so, I just listened to news on the radio for a while. I remember it was a nice day.

I actually didn't see the video of the planes crashing into the WTC for years.

thats pretty sketchy man i'm not gonna lie.  i had no idea that that had happened. makes you wonder.

I arrived at basic training on 20 February 2001.  I had been at my first duty station for almost 2 months and had been working for around 3 weeks.  I went home the morning of 9/11 after a 12 hour night shift.  I had been asleep for a few hours when our neighbor came banging on the door hysterical.  Her husband and 43 other people from my unit left the day before for Operation Bright Star in Egypt but were stuck in Germany, destination unknown.  My wife woke me up and I watched the news until the second plane hit.  I called work and was told to report ASAP.  We stayed in THREATCON Delta for the next 2 weeks followed by about a year in Charlie.  I left for my first deployment the following spring.

I was an E-4 back then, we all were glued to the TV that day, told by the command maybe not to expect to go home that night and everyone was basically looking at each other like "Oh Shit" 

I was at Parris Island on week 10 or 11... whichever is A-Line, so I guess it was 11. We were at the rifle range and I seem to remember there was a large indoor classroom. Well, it was pouring rain if memory serves and I guess there was a hundred or so (maybe more, maybe less) other recruits. A drill instructor walks in... not sure his exact words but proceeded to mention the WTCs and then said "We aren't even going to tell you what happened at the Pentagon", or something to that effect.

The next few days were pretty fucked up. Nobody knew what that meant for us after boot camp... when each of us signed the paperwork the world was obviously a much different place after that single morning. Anyways, being that were were in boot camp, we didn't have access to much besides newspapers. I guess 2 weeks or so went by, after the Crucible was done and I guess the week of Graduation, I had to go to Dental like I guess everyone else did before we left Parris Island, and that was the first time I saw any TV coverage. Shit, I guess I didn't get the full story until I graduated the first week of October 2001, which was 3 weeks after the attacks.

Like I said, when I signed the papers, I joined the Marine Corps to be with the best... not really thinking at the time in 2000 (Delayed Entry Program in the summer between my junior and senior year in high school) anything like that would happen.

As pussified as this county has really become with less and less people serving, I have to hand it to all the people that came after September 11. Guys like my grandfathers would be proud of them. Took a lot of balls to join up after that knowing what you were going to face.

I was in the field at FT Bragg as well, 2-505 PIR.

That morning we hadn't heard anything about it, were getting ready to do sling load operations and standing by for a FRAGO from the CMD.

He brought our plt into his CMD tent and starting briefing us about 9/11, we thought it was part of our mock up training operation. He was getting upset that no one was taking it serious and had to stop all our dumb questions and let us know it was real world.

That was the quietest ride back out of the field ever!

I was at work at my government job. I was scheduled to attend a meeting in Salt Lake City.  I was called into the conference room and saw the videos of the planes hitting the towers. Didn't think too much of it because  I had applied for retirement in July of 2001 effective August 2002.  On the way to the meeting in SLC I received a call from Fort Bragg, (I was assigned as a IMA to 7th group).  I was told that all 18 series retirements were cancelled and that I would be receiving mob orders ASAP.  I was given a new retirement date of 2031.  It was in effect until I was medically retired in 2010 after being medevaced out of Iraq in 2007.

The meeting in SLC was cancelled when I was about half way there.  I went home and told the wife I was being mobed for another war again. Was mobed for Just Cause and then Gulf I.  Shit just comes with the territory.  This time though, both my boys got spun up in their guard units and did their tour in Iraq.

I had just arrived at PSAB 4 days prior to the attack.... Fuuuuuuuuukkkkkkkk

I joined in 1998 and reported to my submarine in 2000. On 9/11, she was in a Portsmouth Naval Shipyard dry-dock with her hull cut open and guts ripped out for overhaul.

I was elbows deep in the main engines when an announcement came over the 1MC about the US being under attack. Since the boat didn't have crew facilities at this time, they had a barge set up for us in the harbor and that's where I and the rest of the crew gathered to watch the morning unfold. It is from there that we watched the towers fall, and felt utterly useless as our boat wasn't ready to go and fight.

2 years later, though, she had the latest weapons control systems and sonar and we headed over to help start the 03 Iraq war. 

Due to our sister boat running aground in La Maddallena Italy, we had double duty being the lone fast attack in the area..., which sucked because we were submerged for 92 days straight at one point. However, I look back on that time as one of the best times of my life. We pulled into Rota Spain at one point to get some R&R, maintenance done, and reload some things. While there, we met up with the first wave of Marines that went in and they were on the pier hosing down all of their equipment to get the sand and salt water off of it. 

The camaraderie at the E-club those few days was something that still gives me chills to this day. There was no service rivalry, we were all brothers at arms and each group was enamored with each other. Those guys were on the front lines, and we were honored to be in their presence. On the other hand, they were blown away with what we did and the support we provided from afar. They all got tours of the boat as well. That was such a great time for me.

This is just a couple of pictures from pulling into Rota, I was grabbing shots of their rides.









And just a couple shots of our sister boat who was already tied back up to the sub tender after running aground. Ripped the bottom half of her rudder off. Her running aground happened as she was pulling out, and as we were pulling in, and we witnessed it from our bridge. We knew something wasn't right when she listed violently to the starboard side. The ax swung wide when heads rolled for that event, including the Squadron Commander, who was riding on the bridge.

She ended up being towed back to the states.





My boat, on the right, parked against our sister.  If you look closely, you can see some of our vertical missile tubes open.

Was on the last morning of an FTX at Ft. AP Hill doing demo training.
Heard about the first plane and figured it was a guy in a Cessna.
Second plane set off the WTF alarms?
Finished our demo op, packed up, an drove back to Meade.
The whole ride home people were cheering at us "YEAH!!! GO GET THOSE MOTHER FUCKERS!!!" Everyone thought we were driving to war.

Didn't see the news footage until later that night.

That's awesome

I bet they were motivated after that

I was in Kuwait when they hit the Cole, I thought it was going down then.  We were hitting Iraq every day prior.  Thought for sure it was all out.  It hardly changed a thing but out RR time off base.

On 911, it all went down fast, our squad went through recall procedures.  Threatcon Delta, everything on the ground, 4 at EOR on stand-by.  I knew then I'd be stoplossed.  Cancelled TDY's, patrolling civi airports, lots of last minute everything.  I never made it back to the sand box though.  Stoploss only added 6 months to my enlistment.

I was running my Platoon through FCS simulator at Ft. Knox when the news started coming in.  We were all clustered around a small TV when we saw the 2nd plane hit.  Within 15 minutes, my PSG was organizing the PLT to assist base security and I was thrown in the EOC to be a Battle Captain.  Interesting times....

Crater

Bit of a necro post.........I was in the same place doing the same thing (going to the same place too). Same here, we all thought it was part of the training until we got a no-shit brief from the Commander. Didn't get to see any TV for a couple days but we found a radio and tuned into a news channel. I didn't fully realize the scale until I had got to see pics and videos.

I was in a MI unit that was a DIV-level asset. Nearly the entire unit got "extended" to 2031. We had a 1SG that was on terminal leave, was back home starting to enjoy retirement and got called back.

I retired on 6/1. By 9/18 I received notice that my retirement was cancelled and orders to report, re-retired 9 months later.

It was late evening for me.

As a strange twist of fate, I was in this very country at the time.

I was not in, having retired in 1992.  I was a newly minted Police Sergeant though.  I had worked a late shift the night before so I was sleeping when the first plane hit.
My ex wife called and told me to turn on the TV and I saw the second plane hit.

I seriously considered hitting a recruiting office and seeing if they could use an old retired F/A-18 Maintenance Chief but I was already well past recruiting age.

I was in the last few weeks of AIT at Ft. Gordon. We were outside on a break between classes and testing. A couple Drill Sergeants came outside into the quad area and told us to get inside, some stuff was going down in NYC. We watched the WTC footage on FOX in the DS breakroom. Everyone had the oh-shit look on their faces as the DS's were telling us Bush wasn't a pussy like Clinton and that we'd be going to fuck up the people that did this. When news of the Pentagon getting hit came across the news ( we had been moved back to the classroom by then) a couple people freaked out because they had family that worked there. One had an uncle that was a Colonel, and another one's mother worked there in a civilian capacity. No cell phones, they tried calling on the pay phones out in the quad with pre-paid calling cards. They were somehow able to get through after about 20 minutes. We were eventually released to our barracks, and restricted to the grounds and the DFAC, marched between the two. I watched the footage of everything over and over in the dayroom all day long, sickened at the estimates of the casualties: 10K, 20K, planes spotted here and there, planes missing and presumed hijacked, bombs here and there.... I knew we would be at war soon, yet I felt shitty just for the simple fact that I had my orders for Korea and didn't deploy in support of GWOT until JAN2004.

Yep. We were on the range (Ft Bragg) just doing scheduled training, When the first plane hit, everyone thought it was an accident. Soon after, we realized it was real. Ft Bragg went into an instant state of organized chaos. We continued to train, but absent other guidance, we posted armed guards at the access points to the range we were using. The guys on the area of post with long hair initiated their own protocol, that involved in cutting off access to their area further out from the established perimeter. It caused some issues with traffic flow, and I heard the MP's tried to get involved but were told to pound sand. The next day, and for bout the next month, it was a mess just getting on and off post, as Ft Bragg went from open (for the last 50 years or so) to locked down.

I was a TAO on GEORGE WASHINGTON.
We were in the VACAPES doing a post yard shakedown.
The next morning we were in New York Harbor flying CAP over the city.

Korea quickly went from one of the best, most “forward deployed” places to be if you wanted to feel you were doing something of value, to a haven for deployment dodgers. When 2d Bde deployed to Iraq it crushed people’s souls.

I was a Division Chief in Army G3 in my office in the Pentagon. 3rd floor, the second ring from the outside. I was watching CNN when the plane hit. We were knocked to the floor, followed by a huge explosion and ball of flame that blew in all our windows and started small fires. The plane went directly under us. We evacuated our suite and I ended up out on the E ring helping to clear offices and evacuate people. At some point, another explosion rocked the floor which was already buckled and started ceiling tiles to fall so I called for the 4 of out there to evacuate and we crawled out below the smoke - the upper floors pancaked down on where we were within minutes of us leaving.

I was back in the Army AOC the next morning working through restarting operations and finding temporary office space. We could not get back into our office suite for about a week or so - even then the floor was too unstable to safely get our safes out so we had to wait for weeks while they took down the wedge and the were called to go to a secure site and see what we could salvage.

I tried to duck any recognition but the XO for the 2 star I worked for wouldn't accept that - was awarded an MSM which, along with my uniform is part of the Smithsonian Remembering 9/11 exhibition. Without my knowledge, several people there that day petitioned Department of the Army to upgrade my award and I received The Soldier's Medal at my retirement ceremony several years later. Didn't want it, but am humbled that others fought for it for me. It's the only of my awards hanging in my den.

This is a picture taken in our office suite looking out towards the E Ring a week or so after the attack.



This is from my retirement ceremony.

I was at Pohakuloa Training Area conducting aerial gunnery in preparation for our Bosnia rotation the following spring.  Doesn't feel like 17 years ago, most of my peer group is retiring next year and Im just starting my career all over again.

It hit late afternoon in Germany.  I was driving back from a medical appointment and heard about a plane hitting the towers on the radio and like most thought of a small plane.  Got back to the battalion headquarters and it was a ghost town.  Found everyone up in my office as I was the Bn S2 NCOIC and saw the second plane hit on CNN.  I turned to everyone and told them to go pack their bags.

CD

I was at RAF Lakenheath in the middle of tac eval when they went into delta. We were confused at what was going on because we were expecting exercise Delta and then they called Delta without the exercise, exercise beforehand.  Took us a bit to get back to reality and everyone armed up and posted up.

Was working Embassy duty in London, UK. Shit went crazy in minutes. We had so many protesters outside the embassy and all wearing diapers on their heads. Then 5 months later, deployed to Iraq.

I was asleep.  I had a training line that night, had a student to work with.  Woke up a few hours before showtime (around 0930), saw the news...called the squadron.  Got told that my student line was cancelled, and that I was to come in immediately.  Upon arrival, we were quickly briefed on what was happening, and I was put back on crew rest...because they expected us to have to fly CAS over portions of DC that night.  Thankfully, that didn't happen, but it was a cold hard shock to think of doing my job in the USA.  None of us were new to war, as Bosnia and Kosovo had been happening for us.  That said, war inside the US borders was almost unthinkable.

Had just graduated Great Mistakes and reported to BCT.  It definitely got real.

Serving in ARNG, going to school for the second degree.  Heard about the first attack in Chemistry class, and saw the replay in the university center.  Called my armory for an update, and was told to stand-by.  First tour 2004, followed up in 2009.  Seems so long ago...

Ft. Knox, I had been in basic training for all of two weeks when it happened. We were doing the iet first aid training that day.

I was stationed at Quantico and going through the Staff NCO Career course. We finished up morning PT and were getting our first class started. I was assigned to Security Bn I thought they were going to pull my from the course to assist with the increased security of the base, but I ended up staying with the course.

I was still in high school, but my dad was in the ANG.  He was stationed at Otis ANGB.  Back then, they still had the F-15 there.  According to my dad, alert F-15s from Otis were the first over the skies in NYC that morning.

He told me that in his 32 years at that base, that was the first time he had seen the fully loaded alert aircraft take off.  Immediately after that, he got back to his vehicle maintenance shop and watched it unfold on TV in the breakroom.

Also, in that movie United 93, when they talk about getting planes from Otis in the air, I assume this is what they are talking about.

At JRTC in Fort Polk getting ready for a Kosovo deployment. We were in the middle of nowhere living in a circus tent.  One guy had a radio and we quickly found out that things would never be the same.

Dude, same. What unit?

I do believe that is correct about Otis being the first to launch.

The river approaches at KDCA existed long before 9/11 happened.

I had reported to Fort Benning as an Infantry lieutenant (brand new) two days before 9/11.  We were hyped up to do some killing.

I was working at my civilian job when 911 happened. The Guard unit I belonged to called me up to active duty.

I was at home, getting change to head to the gym. my ex had the TV on and said one of the Towers was on fire. I turned the little tv on in the bedroom and was watching when the second plane hit.
Not long after, got recalled to work. no aircraft on the line were turning. Things at the shop got a bit crazy, talking about 24 hour patrols on base and other stuff. Base was on 100% lockdown. No one allowed on base, no one allowed off. A few hours later, they allowed the civilians to depart, and base entry was limited to mil personnel and dependents with proof that they lived on base.

I wasn't in the armed services, I was a captain in the merchant marine.  I was normally on a small coastal tanker in the northeast but that week I happen to be substituting on a tug  in New York Harbor and we rushed to lower Manhattan to help  Evacuate people.
We were pretty sure it was Muslim terrorists and we were pretty sure that the US was going to go to the Middle East and kick some a**, we didn't know whether they were going to need the Merchant Marine for much though.   Turns out unless you were in the Military Sealift Command or unless you wanted to make some extra money, nobody who didn't want to go didn't need to go.

I was working overnights in my first real white collar job after getting off of active duty. I had been getting woken up by telemarketers for days and was really dragging. I went to bed around 0715 and smacked the phone off the hook. My GF (wife now) tried to call me about 20 times and my Plt Sgt at my reserve unit had tried a couple of times too. I woke up at about 1630 and flipped on the TV while still in bed, Foxnews was showing a loop of the impacts with the LIVE tag and I thought I had just watched it happen in real time. That night I was on the flightline at my reserve unit with an M1014.

They didnt have the administrative juice to do the paperwork that fast, they ended up keeping me for 2 days and calling it a drill weekend. Oddly, I had a trip planned to go to NYC to visit one of my buddies from bootcamp. He was an NYPD cop (now a detective about to retire) and we decided to wait and see. Turns out my flight that I bought in July was for the first day they restarted commercial travel (16th maybe) flying into laguardia everyone gathered on one side of the plane to look at the billowing smoke. People were crying. It was somber like a funeral. My friend took me into the city and his badge got us past 2 permieters to the point where PPE was required. It was awful

I did a deployment as a Marine and 8 more as a contractor. I spent 8.5yrs in some of the worst places on earth and Ive never had anything gut-punch me like walking around lower Manhattan and seeing peoples personal effects and desk stuff littering the streets. Women and kids posting pictures on poles "have you seen our dad?". I found a wedding ring laying in a gutter a block or two south of St Johns, it was under half of a broken coffee mug that said "Soccer Dad".

Conversely, my KC-130T squadron at the time was based an hour north of NYC, and all of our flight ops were effectively shut down for a couple of days.

I was on the quarter deck talking to the Staff Duty when reports of the first plane hit, and this being just an accident was still possible.

That notion evaporated along with the second plane.

Things were somber after that, and perhaps that instilled a greater sense of purpose to our already-intense ops tempo.

I was in Forecasting school at Keesler AFB, MS, and just an E-4 at the time. I remember another instructor coming to our classroom and telling our instructor that a plane had hit the Twin Towers and to turn the tv on. As soon as they got the tv on, we saw the second plane hit. I'd say within an hour the base was locked down. My wife was stuck at work off base at the time, and my oldest son was at the CDC at Keesler. It took my wife over four hours to get back on base to get him and get home. Some of our classmates got recalled to their home units, but most of us finished tech school on time.

I was on the KD range as a coach for the company doing yearly quals, and we heard the Pentagon got blown up. My buddy and I laughed cause we thought it was some sort of joke like "ok, then what". Then range controlled called a cease fire, told everyone to report back to their units ASAP.

When we got back to the bricks everyone was watching TV, which middle of a work day in a grunt unit is... fucking odd. I got back in time to watch the second tower fall IIRC. Maybe not though, lot of adrenaline makes it hazy.

Shit started moving pretty quick after that, we were already scheduled for work ups for a early January deployment, and we were told we'd be keeping it. Then we ended up getting recalled on Thanksgiving leave IIRC to get on the boat and go.