on the day of september 11th?  i can remember smells, sight, colors, words that were said, i can remember everything about where i was that entire day.  what were you doing that imfomous day?

I was at work helping out two techs in a school classroom.

Since the kids had not arrived yet, many teachers had their classroom radios on. I hustled to the server room and unlocked the cable feed to the classrooms so teachers could watch CNN in their classroom.

After the 1st tower went down, I was paged on my Nextel and told to get my ass back to the Central Office. The city that I worked in was going to effectively shut down. Cops were placed at every school, and all major intersections were closed.

I took the techs on a back route, and once at Central we just sat in the conference room with everyone else and watched CNN and MSNBC.

Sometimes I still think I'm having a nightmare.

Av.

As usual I turned on my computer monitor early in the morning.  I work from home for a while then normally drive to work around 10:00.  I refreshed the home page of Yahoo! and saw a photo of the WTC towers with a huge plume of black smoke coming out of one of them.

I knew immediately something was very wrong.  Didn't even bother to read about it online, just ran for the TV and turned it to CNN.  About 15 minutes later the second plane hit, and I lost all doubt that it was going to be a day that would change everything.

By 9:00 Pacific time the bosses at work had sent an email to all staff authorizing us to stay home for the day.  I was glued to the TV for the rest of it.

I was driving to work.  As I was going through downtown Peoria, Don and Roma on WLS 890 in Chicago announced that an airplane had crashed into one of the WTC towers.  They were wondering how it could have happened, because the weather was clear.  They were also trying to get information on whether it was a small plane or a big plane.

They switched to a guy giving a live report near the scene, and he was reporting black smoke pouring out of the top floors.  All of a sudden, just as I was getting on the Murry-Baker bridge, he said "Oh my GOD!  OH MY GOD!  Another plane just hit the WTC!  I can feel the heat from here!  oh my God!..."

I had a funny feeling in my stomach the instant I heard those words.  I knew it was on purpose.

I got to work, walked through the door, and told the receptionist that someone just took out both towers of the World Trade Center.

Most of the people started heading to the conference room to watch TV.

I had returned the to Tucson the night of the 10th from Boulder. I was supposed to come back the morning of the 11th. But the guy I was with (who was supposed to be on the ill fated flight from Newark and whom I taked into meeting me in CO instead) talked me into heading back the night of the 10th. We were sleeping (it was around 6:00 AM here) when my friends wife called hystericaly wanting to make sure he was with us and not on the flight from Newark. We got up and stayed glued to the TV. I kept the kids home from school. My friend couldn't get out for around 5 days. My office is only 100 yards from the end of the runway at DMAFB, and things were really crazy for a while. Lots of scared young APs driving around with M4s. I can remember being incredibly angry. Not afraid but furious. For a long time, weeks I would say that we needed to kill some poeple. I felt we needed something like to Doolittle raid so Americans could feel like we could reach the enemy.  can say it's probably a good thing i didn't have my finger on the button, because I would have turned everything from Syria to Pakistan into a parking lot. By the way, I'm still very pissed.

I was sitting alone in a conference room trying to get some work done. I called a buddy of mine concerning a project were were both involved in, and at the end of the conversation he says, "BTW, did you hear what happened in NY?"

"No."

"Two planes flew into the WTC."

"TWO?!?!?!?!?" (Alarm bells started screaching in my head right about then).

My cell phone goes off as I'm packing my stuff to find my boss and a TV. The Wife.

"They hit the Pentagon, too."

I RAN to a conference room where they had CBS (with that collosal dickhead Dan Blather). Saw the video of the second impact.

Left the room, called home, told the wife to go the the grocery and buy everything she could carry. I ran out and did the same thing. The towers came down while I was running to my car.

Got home, went to the gas station and filled our storage cans to the limit. Went back home, sat in front of the TV, and loaded every magazine in the house.

A truly sickening day...

I was just getting off shift and was on the way home.  I stopped at one of our District Offices and watched the second tower get hit and the first tower fall.  After a few minutes I continued on to my residence.  I got the tv on just in time to see the second one fall.  I was tired and unsure what was going to take hold in our country and if i might have to go back to work.  So i sleept the day away.  Nothing else i could do really except prepare for whatever may happen.  

It was my SECOND day on the job in my first civilian job after leaving the Navy.

For the 6+ years I was in the Navy, I planned on getting out. I was proud to serve, but a career choice / option it was not.

I felt like I needed back in; like I needed to do something...

There were no clouds that day... No jet contrails,... Everyone on the street was friendly to each other...

Amen, brother. Amen to every syllable. I'd have done the same. We would've needed glass cutters to drill for oil...

Yep. Too bad the leftist assholes in this country have succeeded (yet again) in screwing THAT up, too!

I was in bed watching when the 2nd plane hit.  I remember being afraid for my (now ex-) wife to be at work downtown for fear of planes or truck-bombs.  I checked all my SHTF gear.  

I remember thinking:  "HAHAHAHA, you bastards hit our towers and couldn't bring them down!!!"

then the towers fell.
[V]

I was at work.  I work for a national CLEC based out of Chicago.  I was on the phone with Verizon in NJ resolving a trouble ticket.   When guys came flying out of our NOC saying a plane just hit the WTC.   The tech in NJ reported they just had lost communications with their West Street Central Office.  It was the start of a very long day.....  

I got the hole thing from news radio and made it home just in time to see them go down.

The first thing they said was it was a small plane but somehow I knew right away.

I remember telling my self this is an attack.

I think this Sep.11th. I will stay away from the TV,I have seen the planes hit 5,000 times and don't need to see them 5,000 more.
I'm still mad,don't need too.

i watched it unfold on the net while at work. tuned in before the second plane hit.

the radio was also on.

when i got home, the television.

all day long the news seemed to get worse. the horror stories comming from new york city, washington, d.c. and nearby pennsylvania were almost unbelievable.

it was a beautiful, sunny day in ohio...

early in the morning, the flight path of the plane that crashed in pennsylvania had taken it nearly over the small town i grew up/work in.

it was so low that the local folks that saw it said you could see the row of cabin windows as it passed overhead.

I had just got back from a 0800 Statics class, went on another forum I frequent, and saw a thread on it. Since CNN was down the first half page was "that's really not funny man". Then I turned on the TV. I skipped my next class, and then went to English.

On the way there, the construction guys who were working on the sidewalk had turned their truck on and turned the radio all the way up. There were about 200 students standing around the truck.

I also remember the only thing I saw flying that day were Cobra gunships from the Rochester airport. That made me feel a bit better.

I also carried my dive knive around all day. No real good reason, but I felt better with a knife.

I was driving to work listening to a rock station when the D.J. said a plane had hit one of the World Trade Towers.  I flipped to an AM news station at about 8:00 central time, just in time to hear a live broadcast from the scene.

As the guy was describing the plane that hit the first tower as a "two engine prop plane", all of the sudden I could hear screaming in the background, and the guy with the mike just started yelling "Oh my God, another one just hit.  It hit the other tower!"  Like everyone else, I knew it was intentional then.  

I listened to newsradio at work until I went to court.  On the way back from court I heard about the Pentagon.  Everyone at the office was listening to the radio.  Right after the second tower collapsed, the secretary from the investment company across the hall invited us all over to watch their T.V.  Spent the rest of the morning glued to the set, trying to figure out how many thousands had been murdered.  

Surfing Ar15.com

At first I thought it was a joke, then I turned on the T.V. I was not working that day.

My girlfriend and I had spent 4 days in DC sightseeing and were sitting in Reagan National Airport waiting for our flight home when the Pentagon (less than 1 mile away) was hit.

During checkin the attendent mentioned a plane had crashed into WTC, but that was all the news we had at the time. While walking to the departure gate we did see Greta Van Susteren quickly walking from the gate area to the ticketing area, but thought nothing of it (Pre-Plastic Surgery version). We got to sit for about 10 minutes waiting to board the plane before the airport was evacuated. Still no information on what was going on, until we walked by a window on the way out and I noticed the smoke from behind a hill. I was stationed in DC for 4 years, so I knew the area and knew the smoke was coming from the Pentagon area, but still no idea of the problem.

We got evacuated to the parking lot and could smell the smoke as the wind was just beginning to deposit ashes on us. Eventually, there was a rumor passed about the WTC towers collapsing and that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon and an announcement was made that the smoke did not contain any chemical or biological agents (where this information came from, I still don't know).

We were pushed back about 100 ft from the terminals and told that a 2nd plane was reported to be heading towards the airport and pushed back about another 100 ft. About 10:20 am there was a loud double 'boom'. A bunch of people screamed and started to cry, but being old enough to remember when these sounds were common, I knew it was a sonic boom, coming from the direction of Langley AFB. (I didn't notice anything taking off from Andrews).

Eventually we were told the airport was closed and told to fend for ourselves. Ended up walking to Crystal City and began looking for a room, of which none were available. Finally got on a bunch of waiting lists and sat it some bars watching TV. About 6 hours later we managed to get a room.

We got a room with a great view. The room faced Reagan Airport, NAS Anacostia (where Presidential Marine Helicopters are based) and in the distance, beyond the hills, the approach/departure lanes for Andrews AFB. We spent the time watching the police crusing the access roads at Reagan. Since we were overlooking the Anacostia River, we could see planes and helicopters trafficing in and out of Andrews AFB. Saw Air Force One approach when Bush returned, and watched the military Hueys, Blackhawks and police Ranger helicopters patrolling the river and shuttling passengers from Andrews to DC. Watched Marine One take off, along with it's escorts and decoys, fly to Andrews and return with Bush. It took us about a day before we could get a phone call through to our families. I was unable to get through to Boston, but my Girlfriend was able to reach her family in Atlantic City.

2 Days later, the airport reopened to allow us to go pickup our luggage. After convincing the Hotel van driver to take us to the airport, we went through rows after rows of security, police, National Guard, and dog handlers, we got our luggage and returned to the Hotel.

As soon as we got back, tried to find a rental car...nothing available, except at the airport which had re-closed after allowing the luggage pickup. Was able to make a reservation for one of the cars at the airport for when it reopened (at the time, the question was "IF it reopens), as well as constantly changing our airline tickets in the chance that either Reagan or Dulles would reopen. 2 days later, airport service roads were reopened and we were one of the few who had reservations and were able to get a rental car. Ended up driving about 10 hours to get home. Thought we would have problems when we got close to NYC, but breezed right around it.

I can remember every detail!

I was at work and supposed to be on a meeting at 9:00am.  Boss didn't show up, and turned out that he was upstair with other bosses to watch the event unfolded live on TV. When co-workers told me that an airplane crashed onto the WTC tower (the first one), I thought they were joking which then I thought It might be a small stray airplane. Until I saw the second plane gone into the second tower live on TV that was then I realized it was all real. Standing near our office windows, we then heard an explosion, we looked at each other and said "What was that?..." Later we found out that it came from the Pentagon. Again a co-worker told me that it was a bomb that gone off at first then later as the TV said it was a plane that had crashed into the Pentagon.

I tried to call home but to no avail, all of our phone lines were dead. I tried my cell phone with no luck either. At First our director told us to stay put inside our building, and then later they had us evacuating the building pronto.

Out on the street, people ran around everywhere, traffic was on stand still, and nothing moved. Emergency and Police sirens were everywhere but seem to go nowhere. The Secret Services police blocked and manned all intersections around the White House in flak jacket and with machine guns on hand.

I finally made it home a few hours later using the Metro Train mass transit out of the city and onto Virginia. Only then I was able to call my wife and kid to come to pick me up. Never in my life that I was so glad to see them.

At this 9/11 anniversary, I will again hug my wife and kid.

...And yes, there were tears in my eyes at some time on that day. I never forget.

i can remember walking into physics and seeing a burning tower on tv.  "is that real?"  wtf?  yeah, it really shocked me, then i saw the footage of the second tower getting hit.  at that point, i just had a feeling they were going to come down...  
One thing i had never given much thought to before was the absence of planes flying.  It didn't seem like much of a big deal before the attacks when they were flying but afterward, when there wasn't a contrail in the sky, ...well, something was conspicuously absent.  
I just bought a huge American Flag and it is hanging out the window of my dorm at present.  I can't wait for someone to tell me to take it down.....( it's against regs or something).  

I reckon we will all remember the entire day, won't we?
I was working an injury accident, training a rookie, actually. As we left the scene to go to the hospital, somebody typed something on the car's computer about it, but it didn't make sense. At the hospital, somebody ran up tp us and told about the first plane. The 2nd plane hit as we walked in the door, followed shortly by the Pentagon strike. We huddled around the radio and later moved to the TV.....Chad

I was on a business trip to southern CA.  I flew out on Monday to be there for a Tuesday meeting that included a bunch of us from the east coast.  The ONLY reason I flew Monday was because the boss opted out of the Tuesday meeting or I likely would have been on AA 77 on Tuesday because I like to fly that non-stop to LAX.

I was in my hotel room, TV on and I had just stepped out of the shower when the first on-scene reports of the first plane crashing into the WTC caught my ear.  I started paying more attention...then called my missus in VA.  We were watching when #2 plane hit the WTC.  We were both stunned as we realized we were under attack and at war.

I hung up and quickly called my office in Arlington, VA, just about a mile from the Pentagon.  They were still unaware.  I told them to quickly get the portable big-screen VTC TV system up and running which they did just in
time to hear and feel AA 77 hit the Pentagon.  My boss said they could see the smoke right after that.

We went ahead with the morning meeting but cancelled the rest of the week.  All of the folks from the east coast began frantically trying to find a way home.

I was finally able to get on a flight to Dulles that Friday and I was one of the lucky ones.  LAX was a complete Golf Foxtrot when I got there.  I was booked biz class on a 747 to Dulles.  We waited while everything was triple checked.  There were armed FBI S/As all over the place.  No suits...yellow pull-over shirts with [b]FBI[/b] emplazoned all over the back and cop duty belts.  No attempts to be cool or blend in.  LAPD and LAX coppers everywhere too.

Ok...we finally board.  Just after we are in our seats...we are all ordered OFF the plane.  We deplane and the Feebs and LAPD begin moving around in the crowd.  We're told not to leave the immediate gate area and then I notice LAPD uniforms blocking our way out.

Suddenly, three Feebs snatch up a young man and young womanz, cuff them up and escort them out with their arms way up in back and on their tippy toes!  Holy crap...what was THAT all about I'm wondering.

Finally, we get double checked again...and board the plane.  As we do, I notice that the gate agent and a couple of the flight attendents are weeping.  Being a suspicious old bastard, I asked the FBI S/A at the gate if those two young, Middle Eastern-looking people they had just rousted were in fact terrorists?  The lady S/A in charge, (a fox too!) just told me that they had the goods on them and that's why they got arrested.  After we are airborne, I asked our flight attendant what happened and she said that the two people tried to "breach the security system" with something.  That was a real eye-opener.

I do remember that entire week VERY well.  I was NEVER so glad to be home.  It was like returning from Vietnam in '66 or '69.

Momma was happy too...

I'll never forget.  I wish more of our fellow citizens would refresh their memories a bit better.

That's the one thing I didn't hear...and I've wondered about it. I thought perhaps it was a 'low level' explosion (more of a crash sound rather than an explosion) since we didn't hear anything at all.



While trekking through Crystal City, the road towards Virginia was packed. Gridlock would have been an improvement. During one of our stops to a bar I made note of a particular white van and it's location. 2 hours later when we came out, the same van had moved about 1 car's length! All the while, police parked at every intersection to keep the road open heading towards the Pentagon. Fire engines, police cruisers, unmarked cars, ambulances, rescue vehicles, construction equipment...from every community within 50 miles were streaming in.

I will say that except for the sonic boom incident, no one was hysterical or panicking, although you could see the fear and confusion on everyone's face.

I was driving to work with the radio on. Not really listening, when I heard that a plane had flown into one of the world trade center  towers in NY. I remember. I thought to myself" the ATC that directed that flight is in deep shit" A few minutes later I got to work and a bunch of people were watching TV in one of the offices. As soon as I walked in the other plane hit.Its funny but the first thing that popped into my head was"Fucking Arabs." It was later that morning that I found out it was Muslim extremists.

On Sept 11, I was still living in NJ in East Brunswick. I was home watching the kid, the other two were in school, and my wife was on her way to work in Rutherford. She was on route 3 when she called me on her cell phone."A plane just hit one of the towers. I watched it hit" she said, and began to cry. I was immediately in shock. I told her screw the job and get home NOW. Two of my cousins work right next to the plaza and my thoughts turned to them. I told her I'd call her back. I turned on the TV and watched the rest unfold. I began gathering my  gear in the living room and began loading mags and checking the essentials. Then the other tower was hit. I knew right then, our country  was the recipient of a terrorist attack. I tried the cell phone again, but realized that almost the whole northeast would be down since there was going to be a huge influx of calls. So I waited.Anxiously.hoping that my relatives were allright. Every second was like an hour. I went to the school and picked up my daughter and son, and my 9mm was tucked into my waistband the whole time. I had no words for them at all. They kept asking "who would do such a bad thing dad?" I said "bad people". It haunts me to this day. My one cousin went on vacation on the 10th so she wasnt even there. My other cousin ran like hell and was consumed in the dustcloud that followed the fall of the first tower. He has asthma and was hospitalized for 3 days. I wont forget it, nor will I forgive it. Since then I've moved to Florida and am trying to still cope with the loss of friends that worked there.I remember it all like it was yesterday.

What happened? Did I miss out on something? I HAVE been watching the TV for the past 8 months and I dont remember seeing where the WTC buildings fell.

Clue me in on this!

*** I wish they would show the footage 24/7/365 until the Dems get a clue ***

I was woken-up, by hearing on the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the towers...I got up really quick and turned the TV on...5 minutes later another plane slammed into the other tower.

I was making breakfast for my daughter (3 yrs old) and watching the Today show. I saw the 2nd plane hit live. I caught myself wondering what kind of world my daughter would grow up in.

At the risk of getting the thread locked, I'll ask, "Is there a difference?"

Oddly enough, I've been thinking that since the presidential election fracas. September 11th helped not one iota in calming my fears...

And considering how the leftists, socialists, marxists, communists, environmentalists, anti-globalists, and other Democrats have been acting, my worries grow daily.

i was home that day with a severe headache, got on the net to check email, and a friend in cali msged me saying "the WTC has been hit by planes"
asked her what game she was playing. none she said, i went and woke up my server, turned the tv on and tuned the server to a local station.. after that my headache was of little concerne to me.

the eerie thing is the day before i had been reading a bit on the WTCs. one thing of note was their ability to withstand the impact of a jetliner.

I remember that day vividly, much like people who were around when pearl harbor was attacked remember that day, or Challenger's final flight.

I was just getting out of the shower, getting ready to go to the TWA training center to learn the new American Airlines computer system.  When I saw the second tower hit, I knew that Muslim terrorists were to blame.  I also knew that our lives were forever changed.

The strangest thing was that the class went on as scheduled, and everybody had to pass a test at the end.  

Management kept coming in with updates.
I'll never forget the looks on everybody's faces when we learned that there was a United flight over western PA with some fighters on it's tail.  Many of the pilots in class were military pilots, and there was a universal feeling of sadness that some fighter pilot might be forced to shoot down an airliner.  Of course, we now know that this didn't happen.

I also remember the feeling of panic in the streets at about 4 PM that day.  In STL, in complete safety, people were driving like idiots and lined up 20 deep at the gas pumps.  I wondered what they would do if ever faced with a real emergency.

My friends and I knew we would loose our jobs by the end of Sept.  Now the furloughs are extending back to those hired in '96

I know we are only supposed to blame the "extremists",
but I would volenteer in a heartbeat for a citizens army to conquer the entire MiddleEast.

It was my 47th birthday.

how could we forget?

i don't wand to recall that day, but  i can't forget it.

i first heard of it on the radio in the m&m diner in ausable forks, i  thaught it was a joke at first but 105.5 doesnt joke around like  that.

i work cable, our first job in jay was a didgital upgrade. i couldn't bring myself to unplug the tv for the box. i could n't stand still either, kept paceing back and forth. when the second tower collapsed it was like the sky had fallen. i never would have thaught a 4x4 s10 pickup could have moved that fast going home.. the cops didn't even look twice we waved and kept on going.

i too raided the stores and fuel point. i still have 6 20 rounders loaded since that day, and i wont be downloading them any time soon.

thats what i have left, at the time i loaded mags for 9 hours. one round at a time stopping to listen to the radio.

the next morning when i got to my second job, a co-worker (who allways thaught i was slightly off my rocker for being a survivalist) said to me  " you know? you don't sound so crazy anymore."

hell of a way to come around huh?

Ouch! That's gotta SUCK!

(As though anything about that day could be anything other than at least "sucky")

Happened to me, too. Wonder how many on the board can say the same?

I was sitting on a boat getting ready to go out cod fishing. After the second plane hit the captain said " we need to get out of the harbor before they close it". Well we ended up having an exelent trip, the deckhand stated my wife and I were the only people he had seen all year limit out on rock fish and Ling Cod. A day to rember in two ways for sure.

I was working nights at the time, so I was sound asleep.  My mother called and woke me up...asked if "I was seeing this."  I of course replied with a drowsy "Huh?"

Her reply was something that I remember to this day:  "You better turn the television on.  We're under attack."

Such a statement caused my mind to race to several conclusions in the seconds before she elaborated some more.  Domestic invasion?  No possible way.  Russians pull something goofy over in Europe?  More plausible.  China hit one of our fleets in the Pacific?  Again, even more plausible.

In the depressing hours that followed I remember when the cameras zoomed in on an F-15 patrolling the skies over New York which brought on an overwhelming tingling sensation and and general state of euphoria...I believe its called a "natural high."  The sight of that Eagle and its pilot gave me a sense of security I guess.

Also, when the tape was played showing the British playing the U.S's national anthem during the changing of the guard, it for some reason touched me deeply emotionally and I completely broke down crying.

It was more of a strong loud rumble that we heard, loud and strong enough that caught all of us attention. Right after that, we received so many reports, the first one was that of a bomb that went off at the Old Executive Building which is a building right next to the White House, then someone said it was a bomb that went off near the Capitol, and finally a co-worker who said that he has a relative who worked at the Pentagon phoned him at that time to say that it was a bomb that went off there. Of course, no one at that time knew what was really going on. Much later that we learned from watching the news that a plane has crashed onto the Pentagon......I am not sure of what we heard, from what or where.....But we all heard it.

I know, I am not trying to make up anything here, but that was the way it was as I can recall it.  Specially that there is a controversy theory about the Pentagon crash.

Edited to say that yes there was also a report that a car bomb has gone off at the State Department and that all access to that area were been block off.

I woke and was having a nice morning.  I don't watch TV, or have cable, or log on usually when I was working.  Ate breakfast, played with my dogs for a bit, then hopped in the car, and was listening to some CD's all the way to work.  

Got to work was feeling pretty good and walked into my office, where 6 people were in there with my office mate.  Something was wrong so I asked them about it, and that was when I first heard about the events of the morning.  It was quite a shock.  Most of us left work by noon pacific time.  

It's been a while, so let's see if I remember how to do this...

I was still employed at the time, and my usual routine was to get up in the morning, log on at home with coffee and check email and take a gander at the mornings headlines.  On Sept 11, I skipped that routine for some reason.

I rushed to get to the ferry - oddly, I wasn't listening to the radio, which I usually did, waited in line to drive aboard the boat to Seattle, and was on the boat when I first turned the radio on.  The first report I heard indicated that it was possibily a small plane, I proceeded to get coffee, and talk to another apparently clueless passenger when the announcement that the run back to where we just came from would be the last until further notice for the day.  Hmmm, I thought - must be something wrong with the dock or the boats...  and started the car to go to the office.  On the way, teh second plane hit, and I knew that things were not good.  I picked up the phone and called my wife - still asleep, she had teh same reaction most had - a small plane, nothing to worry about - and instead of turning on teh tv as I had instructed, she went back to sleep.

I got to the office and proceeded to search all teh news websites for news - people attempted to continue to work, but I was getting pissed.

A few days later in a discussion with the boss, I (half in jest) mentioned that if anything further happened, the company would have to think about revising it's firearms policy (not allowed on premesis) and he just about went ballistic - saying that it would be very bad for people to be carrying, etc, etc, etc...

I had never taken him for a lib before... I think this incident may have palyed a minor part in why I am no longer emplyed there... Just as well, I've now enjoyed nearly a year's vacation - at very low wages, but it has been theraputic...

I shall never forget that day though. The sight of those planes flying into the buildings will forever be etched in my memory, and I am still, and always will be, pissed off about it.

I knew it was bad, but since then, I have discovered things about the beauracracy that is our gov't that upset me even more... ah well, that's another thread.

That day was a bit different from my normal schedule.

I had no customers to see and atypically decided to work out of the office.  I made my normal stop at Dunkin' Donuts for my morning coffee.  The DD had the news on and showed the first airline that hit the building.  No sound, but was thinking to myself it was a horrble mistake/accident.

As I continued my drive, listening to the news (about the only thing I can tolerate in the morning) I hear about the other airliner.  News attitudes changed very quickly, as it is obviously a terrorist act.  I was in shock.

I answered a panicked phone call from my dad wondering my whereabouts, as I do travel to NYC quite often for work.  He asked about my brother (state trooper) as he just started his shift.

Got to the office and everyone was glued to office building's TV in the fitness center.  SRO.  I followed the news and continued to work while making phone calls and emails to take inventory of all my friends and collegues who work/live in/near NYC.

It took a few days, but all were all accounted for, alive and well.  A blessing, for sure.  Some of my other collegues were not so fortunate and lost many friends.

I left the office early, as my g/f left work early and invited my parents to our house.  Ate pizza and drank a few beers while watching TV.  Later that evening, we saw my brother on the local news as he was working the detail guarding the governor.

I will never forget that day.

-934

I was at work that morning. I heard about the first plane hitting and thought, "God, that has got to be the world's worst pilot".

After the second plane hit, I told the guys at work that we would be attacking Afghanistan. One ask why, and one ask "Where's Afghanistan?".

They actually had no idea what had been going on in the world. Happy little sheeple.

The news started talking about the Pentagon, car bombs, planes being sighted in our area, the news casters didn't know what was going on.

I called everyone I could think of and told them to turn on their TV's. I was outside on the cell phone and saw the English woman, who lived across the street from the jobsite, returning from a jog. I told her what had happened and that they had shut down the airspace over the country. She broke down and said her husband was in Germany and was supposed to be flying home that day.

I told the guys it was time to go home, there was no way we were going to get any work done.

I went home, turned on the FOX news channel, and parked in front of the TV. In the days that followed, I burned the word LIVE into the upper left corner of my new big screen TV.

I was driving to the dentist.  A friend called me and told me some jerkoff pilot flew into the WTC, thinking it was an accident.  We talked for a few minutes about what a dumbass the pilot must have been, blah, blah.  A few minutes later, he calls me again and tells me a second plane had hit the WTC and a helicopter had hit the Pentagon.  The helicopter part was later clarified.  We both knew something bad was up.  I got to the dentist office, they had it on TV, and everyone was in shock.

I was on a senior management watch that day for a nuclear facility.  Went into work at 4:00 AM PCT.  Listened to the radio on the way to work.  Everything was normal.

At around 6:00AM the workers started to come in.  They mentioned a plane crashing into a WTC building.  No great alarm.  A little later someone came in and said the second plane hit.  Mental alarms went off all over the place.  I called my wife at home.  She turned on the TV and fed me news at it came in.

Statements like:

Another Pearl Harbor.

Tens of thousands may be dead.

We are at war.

Washington is under attack.

Airspace over the US is closed.

Other highjacked planes in the air.

Pentagon hit.

Bombs going off in Washington.

We soon started to make arrangements to send people home and secure the facility.  Everyone was in shock.

Went I got home I checked my 1911.  Not for any real security but just to make me feel good.

I was away from home on training in Chicago.

One guy in the class was from newark and on the call list for emergency response. He was called and that is when I (we) first heard of a plane crashing into the first tower.

Classes were put into "low", access to the auditorioum where news coverage was shown on the projection screen.  people moped around that day.

To offically show our rememberance of all the people who died, i say we all go to the range on sept. 11th and have a (similar to 21 gun salute) fireing range salute to those lost!  

September 11, 2001

I woke up at the last minute that morning (as usual): 0700 CST. Shit,
shower and shave and get dressed. I didn't own a TV and didn't turn on
the radio, so I had no idea of what was happening.  

It was a bright, clear day, seemingly perfect.  On the bus into work
someone mentioned a plane crash, but they had no details.  I figured
it was just the run of the mill airliner.

So I get to work and get started on my day.  One of my co-workers flags
me down and asks if I knew about what happened at the Pentagon (she
knew I was a vet, so that's probably the reason she asked me about
this as opposed to the WTC).

I shook my head, and followed her as she scurried down the hallway to
one of our conference rooms.  As soon as I walked in I knew something
was really wrong:  the room was nearly packed with people watching the
TV we had in there.  And on the screen was a true vision of SHTF.

With unbelieving eyes I saw the twin towers on fire, and the gaping
hole in the outer wall of the Pentagon.  My ears were just as hard to
convince as the TV reported a car bomb outside the state department,
and that 4 unknown aircraft were headed towards DC with F-15's in
pursuit.

We watched the atrocity unfold before us.  Some of the girls in the
room were visibly upset, but most people stayed very quiet.  I was
successful in supressing my anger and fear, and tried to concentrate
on what was happening, and what I was going to do the rest of the day.
Should I go home, should I stay at work, or should I bug out?  (I was
living a midwest capital city at the time.)

I knew I was shutting down emotionally when my dream girl walked into the room
and stood next to me.  My heart usually does a gymnastics routine
in my chest whenever we spoke, but today, nothing.  We exchanged a few
words, she was calm but I could tell she was worried.

We left the room briefly when they started showing people jumping,
and bodies falling.  I've seen some horrible things overseas in the
military, but the images I saw that day of the jumpers will haunt me
for a long time.

Then the towers collapsed.  I didn't think it was possible, but there
it was in living color right before our eyes.

At this point the news was beginning to sort itself out.  They were
reporting no aircraft left in the skies except military, and the
confirmation of a crash in PA.  No other attacks so far.

I made the decision to stay at work. However, I said to myself if there
was any indication of a chemical attack anywhere, I was gone.  During
the day I spoke to a few people about what they should do that evening.
My little preparedness lecture went a long way that day.

As the hours passed things calmed down somewhat, and then the gas price
spike rumor began.  People started leaving early to top off.  Stories
were reaching us by phone of $4.00 per gallon at some places.

Quitting time:  I left the building and walked out into a downtown
that looked like a scene out of a movie circa 1930-1940.  Newspaper
employees with bags slung around their necks were hawking special
editions about the attack.  "Extra!  Extra!"  It said.  Wow.

On the bus going home a mother and her son were seated in front of me.
The kid was proably 5 or 6 years old, and he was patiently explaining
to his mom what he had heard at school about the attacks.  I was
thinking what a hell of a way to learn about the world.

The bus route took us by several gas stations, and the lines reminded
me of the 1970's gas crunch.  Cars lined up for blocks and the
LEO/JBTs out trying to sort out traffic.  

I lived near the airport at that time, and on my walk home from the bus
stop I was confronted with an eerily complete silence.

Then the ANG F-16's took off.  No orange training missiles for these
guys:  they were loaded for bear.

Once in my apt I locked up the door and opened the gun safe.  The first thing I
checked was my NBC gear, then onto my food and water supply, stored
in various spots around my place.

Now settled, I turned on the radio and listened to the various news
reports.  I didn't even bother with the internet.  With the lights out
and a candle burning, I took in the news, wondering what the hell was going
to happen now.

One year later, I'm still wondering.