I was on my way to pick up my new work truck.  I heard about it on a local radio station that had a couple of pricks on at the time and wasn't 100% sure they weren't pulling one of their morning show stunts.  But then I flipped to another station and it was there, too.  Spent the morning alternating between transferring stuff from my old truck to new truck, and going upstairs to an office that had CNN on.  Saw the towers come down.  

Woody

I was up had gotten my son off to school. Thankfully he had a half day. My husband had just left for work. I was actually off for the day. Sat down with my cup of coffee,and turned Good Morning America on,they were getting the first reports of it,the I sat stunned as I watched the 2nd plane hit. It was the longest 45 mins I had to wait for my husband to get to work. I called him,and told him what happened,and he had to argue with his boss to set up a tv so everyone could see. It was the worst day of my life,I kept getting up to turn the tv on and see what else had happened. Kept doing that for a couple of days. Some of the accounts from friends were just hair raising.

I was watching the Pentagon burn from my Pentagon City office across rt. 395. I was on the phone with my staff making sure everyone was making their way out of Arlington and the Distric.

I vividly recall wanting desperately to go home and pick up my kids. I worried for my wife, who works in the intellegence community...I did not where in the Distric she was working... she visited the Pentagon often.

I took me 4 hours to get home...home is 20 miles from Pentagon City.

I was on my way home from Iowa (company trip).  Still on the south side of Des Moines.  Called in to work right after the first plane hit.  My buddy in the car with me and I hadn't been listening to the radio or anything.  Bob said that a plane hit the WTC.  We both thought he was messing with us.  Ended up listening to AM all the way home.  Driving through Chicago was the stragest thing ever.  The streets were empty at 5:00PM on a Tuesday.  The 80/90 toll road on the east side of town (just into Indiana) was packed with limos and taxis.  Just a freaky day.  It was also really strange seeing no planes in the sky for the whole eight hour drive.

I was in the caf, my 3rd day of freshman (HS) year. I remember kids telling me about it, telling them they're fulll of shit, and hearing it over the loudspeaker.

I was pissed. I m still fucking pissed. But I WILL get payback! I had always wanted to go military, but that day cemented it. Right now I've got apps in for Army, Navy, and NROTC, and if those don't work out, by the 4th anniversary, I'll be enlisted...

In Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for an association convention. I was eating breakfast and watching the news. I knew as soon as a jetliner hit the first tower that it was OBL. He had promised to finish the job after the first time.

I had flown into Chicago and rented a car to drive to the lake. Thank God that I had opted for a Lincoln Towncar when  they had run out of the other cars. That Lincoln was at least a smooth 14 hour ride back to my wife and kids in Atlanta.

I was at work.

Got a call about 8:40 or so about a printer that wasn't working right and went up to look at it. By the time I got there, most everybody except the secretaries were in the office of the only guy on the floor with a TV. I overheard someone say something about a plane running into the World Trade Center and assumed some moron in a Cessna had screwed up bad.

I concluded what I was doing and want back downstairs, opened Internet Explorer and tried to get into verious news sites. They were obviously overwhelmed. I looked over at the guy who sat accross from me and told him what I heard. He also tried verious news sites, with no luck. After a few minutes, we heard that the second tower had been run into also. I looked back accross at himand said, "One plane hitting one tower is an accident.  Two planes.......no way"

He agreed and we were off in search of a TV.  I later called my wife and told her to turn the TV on. She asked me what chanel. I told her it wouldn't make a difference.

I was in a class at Motorola's school in Chicago when the guy next to me received a call from NYC which told him about the 1st attack (he was on the emergency call list).

Shortly thereafter, it was on the news, and everyone at the school was watching the tv on the projection screen in the auditorium.  

we saw the live shots and the replay of the 1st bldg, then live of the 2nd.

it was unbeliveable to watch it all unfold.

It was rough too..I worked for United, and I'm pretty sure I've met a few of the flight crews during my 14 years there.  I more then likely worked on the aircraft used.  I felt helpless.  I was not at "home" either.  I didn't get home until a week later.


I hope every motherfucker involved in this shit get what they have coming to them.

I was on a plane flying out of Logan airport to LA. We took off right after the other two planes.

We were over Canadian airspace when the borders were locked down so we had to land in Torontothat morning.

The really eerie thing was were had been scheduled to be in lower Manhattan that morning. My wife thinks God was looking out for us.

BTW, I also want to thank the Canadians for their wonderful hospitality.
Our surprise week long vacation in Toronto was nice.

September 11, 2001 started out as a great day for me as it was my last day at a job I completely despised.    I had settled in at my desk to file a 1 foot stack of forms when a co-worker came over and told me two airplanes had hit the World Trade Center towers.  I assumed the planes in question were small individually owned planes.  Went to the lounge and turned on the T.V. and watched the coverage.  Then heard a reporter at the Pentagon during a live broadcast say "Hold on a minute.......we've just had an explosion here at the Pentagon!".   Then I listened as numerous stations reported that there were two missing planes still out there and finally that number was decreased to one which was believed to have crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Our director came over the intercom around 11:00 a.m. and said anyone who wanted to go home was allowed to.  I immediately went home and watched news coverage all day.


I went back to visit my co-workers weeks later and that foot-high stack of papers was still sitting where I'd left it.  

I was eating breakfast at my buddies apartment in DC.  He lived about 15-20 minutes from the Pentegon.  His buddy called him and told him to turn on the news, and we watched the second plane hit the WTC.  We then watched the towers fall and then saw the aftermath of the plane that struck the Pentegon.  It was horrifying to watch, especially being so close to the Pentegon.  

We then heard the jets flying over head that were patrolling the skys around DC.

After watching the news for a couple hours and just kind of sitting their in awe of the whole situation, we decided we needed to get out of the house for a while and grab some food.  It was strange to be going to get lunch when so many Americans had just perished at the hands of these terrorists, but there was nothing we could do to help, and it was just sickening to continue watching the footage over and over.  When we got in the car to drive to the restaraunt, there was almost NO traffic on the road, except for a few others and police cars. There were no cars in the parking lot, and no people to be seen anywhere.  The LED signs on the freeway leading into DC basically said "Do not attempt to enter the city, you will be turned away."  

 

At work.  Watched it on television.  In shock the entire day.  Never been so angry before in my life.

I was moving.  Me, my father and brother were unloading my apartment that morning.  No radio or TV.  About the time we finished, my uncle called my brother's cell phone and told us what he heard on the radio.  My exact reply was "Bullshit, someone is pulling his leg!", I thought it was a prank by one of the morning radio dipshits.  I listened to the radio reports during a 2 hour drive, unloading at my new apartment, and went to my parents house that evening to watch TV.  I do remember thinking "Damn, this is the new Pearl Harbor, this is how it felt on December 7, 1941."

Working in the back of a tractor trailer unloading it. A co-worker came over and said a plane hit the WTC. My first thought was a small single engine plane had gone off coarse or something. A few minutes later I look out of the truck to see 30 guys gathered around the radio. No one could believe what was going on. We just stood around the radio for about an hour or so. Our warehouse is at it's busiest that time of day but the place just stood still. Alittle later the big boss called us to the lunch room and showed us pictures he had printed from the internet.

I'm only 34 so I don't remember when Pres. Kennedy got killed but  now I know what it must have felt like. My parents generation always says they will always remember what the were doing that day Kennedy was killed but I never gave that much thought. Now I understand.

My prayers and thoughts go to all affected three years ago today.
Burl1

Well,

I was sitting on the pier at SUBASE New London,CT, after just finishing a reactor startup. The

news broke what was going on, THREATCON D was almost immediately in place. We loaded live

torpedos (MK48ADCAP) and headed out into the Long Island sound to patrol the east coast. That

I was very proud to be helping my country in a time of need.

ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=273177

That's what I was doing.

My wife and I were on a cruise ship entering the harbor of Istanbul.  She was dressing for dinner and I turned on CNN just in time to see the second plane hit.  We were stuck in Istanbul two extra days but the Turkish people were wonderful to anyone from the US.

I was just waking up to go to work.I had fallen asleep with the TV on and when I woke up I saw the first tower burning and then the news sed that the second tower was hit and that it was no accident.I new we were at was as I walked outside and saw that there were no aircraft in the sky and in the back round i herd the news going on about the other air craft.It was a strange day.

Was loading my patrol car when I recieved an "all alert" page.  All it said was "Report to LT ASAP".

He had the TV on in his office. All he said was  "go to the city office building and stand until relieved.     Take a shotgun and extra ammo with you."

Spent the entire day "guarding "  a very panicky office building, full of the most hysterical people you have ever seen.   Was relieved about 8PM,  14 hours straight.
'  

I was subcontracting prefab sheds.They paid about 250 each and I couls put up 2 maybe 3 if I worked 12 hours and where cloe together.It took me 3 days to finnish that one. I arrivied at the customers house ,I was a little late and he said a plane had hit a NY building.A minute latter he said it was the WTC.I Thought OH SHIT and told him there would probally be more.

Getting coffee in the rec room up on the North Slope at around 5am, getting ready for work at 7.  Could hear the tv's in the rec room (usually set to CNN) with confused and agitated newscasters stammering and reporting a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.

That was weird.  Didn't that happen in the 40's, except to the Empire State Building? So I go into to the tv room, sit on the couch with the plumbers, watching the news.  Then on live tv, the other plane hit and I completely freaked out.  "FUCK ME!  THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!"  John, a plumber said.  "Oh yes this is happening.  This is real."

Then news about the Pentagon came in, then a (false) report of a car bomb outside the State Department.  Then the second tower began to collapse, and I couldn't take it anymore, went to the van to take us to work.  On the way, Dan the painter said "The other tower collapsed.  Unreal"  "Fucking Pearl Harbor" is the only thing I could say.

We go to work, and I tell Ray the 76 year old superintendent what happened.  He was unimpressed "Terrorist attack, big deal.  Things like this happen all the time."  Me and Annie, another laborer, looked at each other and said "You dont understand.  They brought down the Twin Towers in New York with tens of thousands of people inside."  Ray brushed it off.  About 10-20 minutes later, Ray returns with his eyes wide open and stammering.  He finally understood the scale of what happened.

"It was the jet fuel that brought the towers down." he said "Structural steel isn't worth a shit when it gets hot, loses all its strength.  You know, the only thing comparable I've ever seen in my life to this is Pearl Harbor.  Life is not going to be pretty for the near future."

I was at work, family business, radio was on real low in the background whe I hear the morning radio chick say something like a plane just hit the WTC. I logged onto the computer and went to Freerepublic to see WTF was up. Sure as hell, then the second plane hit.

My dad was in Wisconsin on business and was supposed to be in the air at that moment. His plane was grounded moments before he was due to board. Finally got a call from him that evening. He was a week getting back, a company rep. was able to get a van and drive folks home and drop them off one by one. He was in pretty rough shape from the long trip and sleeping sitting up.

As customers came in, they talked about what they saw, listened to the radio but Freerepublic had the most info. Got home that evening to watch the news. I remember the skys being quiet for days, no planes in the air, it was really strange.

I think if I had seen anyone celebrate the attacks, as was rumored to have happened, I would have killed them on the spot with extreme prejudice. That feeling hasn't left, if I walked into some dark back room of an Arab grocery or stumbled into a viper pit aka mosque and found a crowd watching the replay of events and celebrating, I don't think I would be able to allow that to continue.

To this day I eye every head scarf wearing person with suspicion, I realize many are victims due to their association with the culture and perhaps they are here in the US hoping to live a better life, but I can't feel any other way. I suspect it was no different with folks when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the way people viewed Japanese-Americans.

My brother was getting married a few weeks later, they had to cancel their honeymoon overseas and make other plans. The morning after the wedding, we were having a post wedding brunch and President Bush announced we had attacked Afganistan.

I was woken up by my MIL crying and screaming on the Phone.

"Planes have crashed into the WTC in NY!!!"

I sat down and turned on the tv. There was only one tower left. It fell.

My mother called me and begged me to stay home.
My place of work has the word AMERICAN in it and
is very very large and well known. She thought they were
hitting AMERICAN or usa targets.
I told her, I have to go to work. Not to would be letting them win.

Within 2 weeks I had a new combat pistol and a ccw.

I had also decide to join the army.

  I was in the third week T-20 of SOI(school of infantry) Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton 52 area. We had just got back form a 3 mile when our PLT SGT yelled to us to form a school circle he told us "We were at WAR". We then got into formation and marched to the parade deck and filed into the bleachers.  Our 1st SGT  came out and said "The united States has just been attacked!" He then proceded to tell us some details. After about 5 min A Captin came out and Said "Mabye now you understand why you all are here. Your mission is to complete your training and to become Fleet
Marines. The United States needs you more than ever before. You all now have your chance to go to war!"  

 I think I grew up alot that day. Never in my life did I want to Kill more than on that day! This was probably 1 of the most significant days of my life due to the fact it would dramaticly influence the next years of my life.  "You know that tingling sensation you get in your balls when your scared shitless?" Thats what I felt right at that moment! A Marine never shows weakness (BEARING) but I tell you many Marines cryed that day.  But those tears turned into HATE AND DISCONTENT. A we were able to utilize that feeling some time later....    

                     OORAH!! to 1/5 1st batt  WEAPONS-CO C-CO AND E-CO 3RD LAR AND ALL OF MY OTHER TEUFEL HUNDEN. KILL KILL KILL-EM ALL I LOVE YOU GUYS, NEVER FORGET YOUR BROS THAT DIDN'T COME HOME!  SEMPER FIDELIS.   FROM MR ATTACK ON HIS RIGHT ARM..

Quoted: Well, I was sitting on the pier at SUBASE New London,CT, after just finishing a reactor startup. The news broke what was going on, THREATCON D was almost immediately in place. We loaded live torpedos (MK48ADCAP) and headed out into the Long Island sound to patrol the east coast. That I was very proud to be helping my country in a time of need.

I was in my car dozing prior to the start of my shift at Boeing Satellite Systems right across
the street from LA Int'l Airport.

My wife paged me and I called her from my cell and was talking to her as she watched the second
plane hit...

Lost job six months later...

EDTA (I made parts for those when I worked for HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY)

Quoted: sleeping.  mom woke me up and then i watched tv all day.

+1

Was getting ready to drive out to see my gf at the time (who lived a few states away) and working on a project with a screwy client and an awful subcontractor (who the client had selected) What had started out as a great year and even better summer took a decided turn that day for the worse, with the balance of the year turning it into one of the worst ever, but it all pales in comparison to what others lost.

Went up to ground zero the following February, and it still seemed beyond comprehension.

Let's all give our support to the President to enable him to settle the score with those responsible, every last one of them.

I stepped off of the bus in front of the blue federal building in downtown Milwaukee at the exact time that the first plane hit.


Got into the office and it seemed wierd ... lots of people standing around and talking.

Stayed at work, but didn't get much done that day.

Mostly sat around talking with co-workers, watching television in one of the meeting rooms, and looking at stuff on the web.

I bought my first AR15 that same day. I'd been saving money for one and only had about a month to go before I would have had enough, so I just went out and put one on the credit card "just in case".

In bed masturbat errrrrr sleeping when my wife called and told me.

Quoted: Um, wow.  The exact same thing as you.  What class were you in when you heard this/ what university.

If you were asking me, it was Miami University Hamilton campus.  It was a geology class, I think it was GLG111.

Sleeping. G/f woke me up and I watched the news until things had "settled down". I had gotten back from Manhattan 3 days earlier on a business trip and had been to the WTC when I arrived in NYC for that trip. Spooky. At any rate, I was the contract technical manager and responsible engineer for an engineering firm that was building the Rock Abrasion Tools for the Mars Rovers that was located in Little Italy and I spent 2 hours establishing that everyone was OK and accounted for. After that I told them to go home and that they could take whatever time they needed off and that we would pay them. I remember the feeling of complete depression everyone had that I had talked to. Went to NYC 2 weeks later and saw from a distance (as close as a non-emergency worker or VIP could get) Ground Zero. Utter devastation is an appropriate phrase. The people at Honeybee Robotics were very subdued and still sort of in shock.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I decided to institute my own tribute to the victims. After jumping through a lot of hoops, we were able to get a piece of the WTC debris (aluminum) from which we had Honeeybee fashion the rock shields for the Rock Abrasion Tools. We had specially constructed  American flag decals mounted to them. 4 shields were made, one for each RAT, one for the Project Scientist and one that I have. The RATs are now working wonderfully on Mars and I can say with pride that the memories of the fallen have now risen to great heights.

Here are a couple of links to the RATs on Mars.

RAT on Mars

RAT on Mars 2

Rock shield 1

Rock shield 2

Rock shield 3

Me

CW

I was at the golf course spraying fairways and only heard about it when some local nursery growers who were there giving me an estimate on some trees heard it on the radio..................................I still can't get on a sprayer without thinking about how much the world changed when I had them tell me that....................................NEVER FORGET and let's kill all the mother fuckers responsible for the attack !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was sitting in the Steak&Shake at the Pilot truck stop in Tifton, Ga.  My usual routine when I ate breakfast, read a paper or some gun porn.

This older guy says to me as I looked up, "Man, someone just crashed an airplane into the WTC!"

My initial response, "So, what's the big deal??? An Army bomber crashed into the Empire State Building back in the '20's."

Well, I finished my food.  Went out by the tv's that are always on in truckstops, and saw for myself what the big deal was.

Now, like many of you, I have close ties to Manhattan, so first I'm on the phone to WI and called my mom at work.  Same conversation millions of folks had.  She told me "You need to call your grandmother, NOW."  

So, after not really talking to her for years, I dialed up her apartment down in that lovely area next to the Williamsburg.

She reported to me she had been down near ground zero for a Dr.'s appointment.  When they heard the first crash, everyone ran outside to see what it was, then went back inside thinking it was an accident and they would be safer off the streets.  Afte the second plane hit, the Doctor closed the office and made everyone leave, so she walked back to Columbia St.

Since I'm a trucker, my thoughts quickly turned to "How is this gonna affect me?"  I mean, I don't sit in one spot, I routinely visit area's that can be considered "Prime Targets".  My company sent the usual "This is a big emergency, fill your fuel tanks now" blah blah blah.

Fast forward to Oct '01.  I went to Ground Zero with my aunt and cousin.  THAT'S WHEN IT HIT ME.  A month later and the shit's STILL smoldering!!!

Nuke 'em.  NUKE THE BASTARDS THAT DID THIS, AND DO IT NOW!!! I thought.

Now, you could say that my judgement was clouded by my emotions.  True.

But today I am as detached from this incident as any other...

AND I STILL SAY NUKE THE BASTARDS!!!

I was at school, I heard teachers talking about some catastrophic event, but i have no clue until lunch time. I went into lunch and saw that the tv was on. I walked over and sat down, I had no clue what was going on so I asked my tech. teacher Mr. Bach what was going on and he told me that we were just attacked by another country and that we would most likey would go to war. That was three years ago, when I was in the 7th grade. Wolfe

I was at work and someone came in talking about a plane crashing into the WTC, I thought he meant a Piper plane.

We were on morning rounds in an ICU in Baltimore when the first plane hit.  I looked up at one of the TVs to see the second impact in real time.  We kept going from room to room, watching happenings on patients' TVs as we could.  Being situated relatively near to NYC, PA, and DC, we made initial disaster plans for the expected mass casualties (nobody allowed to leave the hospital, and those that were away had to remain within pager range).  Tragically, there were so few survivors that our willing help was not needed.  They let those of us who had been there for the past 30 or 40 hours go home, and then tried to return to usual business the next day.

FWIW one of my classmates (we'd just graduated 4 months ago) was interviewed on the Today show at one of the field hospitals in NYC on 9/12.

I was at work in downtown chicago.
Our office manager came running into the Production Dept and said a plane just hit
a building in NYC.
We about 12 folks, all  crowded into the big bosses; conference room
(a verbotten area unless you were asked in) to watch the only TV in the building.
After about an hour, we all returned to our desks..... stunned to say the least.
The boss, who hates radios, turned on the bookshelf stereo in his office loud
enough for all of us to hear newsradio.
There was no more work that day. Alot of our clients in downtown hi-rises were
sending their staffs home.
The expressways and trains were clogged by the mass exodus from downtown,
so I stayed until nightfall,  then drove home through what seemed a ghost town.

CKMorley

Sitting in my 2nd period class in my senior year of high school. We kept trying to get on the internet, but it was very slow due to the high traffic. Grabbed my things, checked out, and went home. Watched for about 2 hours, went go get new speakers put in my car since I had an appointment at 1pm anyways (still listened to NPR through the front speakers). Watched the news with everyone at the stereo place, drove home, watched some more. Drove over to my best friends house, and watched. Went home later the night, and watched until 1am.

Working on my motorcycle at about 6:00am.  My roommate came out of the house and screamed for me to get in the house.  He is such a calm guy I figured I was going to have to kill someone.

I saw the TV.  It had just started.  I went out and screamed to the world "WE'LL KILL YOU BASTARDS!"

It is still in my heart, and in the pit of my stomach to kill the enemy.

I was working for a road crew on Interstate 66 here in Northern Virginia near a town named Marshall laying asphalt when my crew foreman told us what was going on. I didnt believe him at first because I thought this sorta shit happens in Tom Clancy books, but then I turned on the radio and heard it for myself. When the plane hit the Pentagon I knew exactly who was resposible. I was in Bosnia when the embassies were blown to hell by that worthless turdburglar- bin Laden, the timing of this led me to believe that he was responsible, because the timing was exactly like the embassy incidents. I left my job site and went right to the recruiters to rejoin the Army.

I wish I couldve gone to Afghanistan with my unit in July but instead got discharged because of a tendonitis in my knees caused by the workup to go over there. Al Qaeda has no idea what they did, but they will soon find out what a bunch of pissed off Virginia National Guardsmen think of them!!!!! Get em Brothers!!!!!!

Driveing to work.  Got a call from my mother when the first one hit and thought it was an accident.