9/11

[skybill 18]

Where were "YOU!!!"

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[Coreeece 2]

skybill

Where were "YOU!!!"

Stop blaming me...

Never was there an answer....not without listening, without seeing - Gilmour

[skybill 18]

At a Truck stop in Terre Haute IN on my first run with my training engineer from Schneider Specialized (Big Glass!!) Trucking!! Everyone was "Glued" to the TV!!! we were watching the first Tower on fire (Live Feed) and then the second plane crashed into the second Tower!!!
Since then.... the "Don't Tread On Me" red and white striped "Jack" with the snake on it is Flown on the Bow of "ALL" United States Ships .....as authorized by the CNO!!!!
"Got That!!!!"

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[RonD1120 58]

Watching the first tower burn and then the second plane hitting the other tower. I was in shock and horrified. I believed MacDill AFB would be the next target because of CENCOM and SOCOM. I knew we were at war and life would never be the same.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[rushmc 18]

The Johnson Bank building in Madison WI.. We had no TVs on the floor and all major online news feeds were impossible to access. We went to a business feed and found they had moved to coverage this.

I had to drive back to Iowa as the shuttle plane we would normally ride on was grounded.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[JohnnyMarko 1]

I was only 11 years old. I remember being on the bus to school when another friend got on and said a plane hit the World Trade Center. As an 11 year old Illinoian, I had no idea what that was. I remember it, but didn't really understand what was happening.

Later on, I was at the local airport helping a family friend clean their plane, when we looked up and saw Angel surrounded by jets, flying from Nebraska back to DC. Memorable, but in a somber way.

[kallend 1,623]

Driving on I-57 listening to NPR

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[turtlespeed 212]

kallend

Driving on I-57 listening to NPR

Figures.



I was watching the news about the first tower impact as the second one was hit live.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[stayhigh 2]

Ft. Knox. KY. Second Phase of basic training.

Do you know how you are getting old? You start hear people saying, "I don't remember much about 9/11"

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[gowlerk 1,912]

At home sleeping on a day off from long distance trucking. My ex-wife phoned me and told me to turn on CNN. It didn't take long to realize the world had just changed. I can recall wondering just how long it would take for the other shoe to drop.

I week or so later when they re-opened the border and I could go back to work I got to the customs booth with my truck. The officer was one I had seen before and we started a conversation about how the border would be different. He said that he felt Canadians should not have such a hard time because they are "on our side". They he paused and looked at me and asked "your are on our side aren't you?' As I paused it felt like I would be speaking for my whole country, I answered truthfully. I said, "let me put it this way. I lie awake in bed every night wondering just how we are going to get that bastard". I left that booth feeling connected with a new friend.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[Hjeada 0]

I was working for St. Paul Companies at the time, and I used to park on Cathedral Hill and walk down to the office...I was walking down that hill when the first plane hit. By the time I got into the office, there was a group of coworkers all surrounding a TV in a conference room watching the news coverage. Shortly after I started watching the coverage the second plane hit. I remember vividly that a VP named Archie looked over at me and said, I don't think this is accident, and rushed to his office to look at policies to see if acts of terror were covered in the policies. Eventually, it didn't matter if they were or weren't, as we paid all claims that came as a result of the attacks.

It is a day that will forever be burned into my memory. As a kid, my dad would always talk about how he would never forget where he was when Kennedy was shot, or for the first moon landing...I always thought it kinda weird, but after that day, we all have our own memory that will last until we die.

Dudeist Skydiver #0511

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi bill,

I was on a United Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Los Angeles, CA. We were diverted to Tijuana, Mexico where we spent about 6-7 hrs before they got buses and moved us over the border into the US. Spent that night in a hotel in Los Angeles & the next day rented a car & drove to Beaverton, OR; not many cars on I-5 that day.

Jerry Baumchen

[billvon 2,400]

Had just landed from a (very delayed) American flight from Boston to San Diego.

They almost cancelled the flight. The first flight out the next morning would have been Flight 11.

[AlanS 1]

skybill

Where were "YOU!!!"

Driving to the hospital where my daughter was about to be born.

My daughter was "due on Aug. 2001", but she was late so instead my (now ex-)wife and I were driving to the hospital for an appointment at 8 AM (California time) on 9/11 for her to be born. Below is the story of the day my daughter was born.


My daughter was due in August but, since she was stubborn and refused to come out by her due date, we had an appointment to meet the doctor at 8 AM sharp California time to induce labor. As a result, we didn't listen to the radio that morning or turn on the TV. We just get up and went out the door. Even in the car we didn't turn on the radio. But while driving we saw ZERO cars during what should have been "rush hour". So we turned on the radio to see what was going on. The first words we heard were "The south tower has just fallen...". We looked at each other and said "what is that?", but we could tell it was serious.

By the time we got to the hospital, it was very clear the scope of the tragedy. We checked into the hospital room. When my wife's doctor walked in the first thing she said to us was "My husband flew to NY yesterday and should be near Wall Street right now. I've been try to call him to find out where he is." She then walked out of the room. We didn't see her for two hours after that.

It was surreal watching this day on TV from a hospital room. The hospital staff induced labor and by about 9 PM in the evening on 9/11 a doctor said "Well your baby can come out any time now". My (now ex-)wife looked at the doctor, thought for a bit and said "Come back after midnight". She endured labor pains for an extra 3 hours to make sure her birth certificate wouldn't say 9/11. When my daughter was born just after midnight, I cut the cord and held her in my arms. The first thing she did was squeeze my finger really tight with her hand. A new life born on a day when so many people died.

My daughter Sarah was born at 1:10 AM Sept. 12th, 2001.

What a day.

[kallend 1,623]

turtlespeed

***
Driving on I-57 listening to NPR

Figures.





What exactly is that supposed to mean? NPR had coverage of what happened as good as any other media and better than some.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Coreeece 2]

kallend

******
Driving on I-57 listening to NPR

Figures.





What exactly is that supposed to mean?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQSO0RbmHBI

Never was there an answer....not without listening, without seeing - Gilmour

[grimmie 173]

At my firehouse in California. Worried sick about all of my friends on the FDNY. Wondering if LA would be a target.

[aphid 0]

gowlerk

we started a conversation about how the border would be different. He said that he felt Canadians should not have such a hard time because they are "on our side".

It's sad how that initial international good-will has, generally speaking, been thrown to the wolves since the thickening of that border that began with the continued incorrect belief that the hijackers entered through Canada.

[turtlespeed 212]

kallend

******
Driving on I-57 listening to NPR

Figures.





What exactly is that supposed to mean? NPR had coverage of what happened as good as any other media and better than some.

Evidently it means that you might be a bit senthative.



If you can't see the correlation, you are so far left there is really no hope.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

At home getting ready to hit the road for work. Wife called me into living room to see what had happened. Got there just in time to see 2nd plane hit.
I knew right away that it was no accident. Not two planes. It was pretty clear that the 2nd one had been deliberately (if very poorly) flown into the building. I said something like "That was on purpose. A "not-so-smart" bomb." I also knew that the police & fire would have set up their command center at the base of the buildings and anyone below was probably in a world of hurt from all the shit falling from the 2nd impact.

It took a few tries to convey those two thoughts to her. She (like a lot of people) simply couldn't grasp the concept of an attack like that on our soil.

As we watched, I realized that the towers were likely to come down. Severe impact damage, uncontrolled fires... Again, trying to convince my wife of that was difficult. I still swear that I could see the roof of one of the towers from the view of the side of the building, indicating that the top was no longer straight. None of the TV people said anything about this.
On a similar note, during the coverage of the 89 San Fran quake, I was watching TV coverage and was wondering why the freeway looked wrong (the Nimitz that had collapsed).

I called into work and asked what was going to happen. They weren't sure, but said plan on heading out. Ended up taking a load of paper from Green Bay to Cleveland (more or less). I bounced around the radio dial and found NPR had the best coverage. Going through Chicago was very strange. 3:30 in the afternoon and no backups. So many people had been sent home, there was no afternoon rush.

So many people had no clue who AQ was, or why they didn't like us. It was pretty clear in a day or so that we weren't going to simply send a few T-Hawks into a training camp or two. The US was going to send SF teams into Afghanistan to lead the Northern Alliance against AQ & the Taliban

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[promise5 17]

In school. They closed early and sent everyone home. My dad was called to his unit.
My uncle that was a FF at the time left within a day or so with a crew to help. Our neighbor that was part of a Search and rescue group left with her dog to help.

No matter how slowly you say oranges it never sounds like gullible.
Believe me I tried.

[mrubin 0]

It was my freshman year in high school. I had just come downstairs for breakfast and turned on the news minutes before the second plane hit. My dad and I watched the news while we got ready and decided to wake up my mom after the Pentagon got hit.

I had geometry first period that day and we spent just about the entire time watching the news. I don't think I'll ever forget that.

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi joe,

Quote

"That was on purpose.

When we got to the hotel in Los Angeles & could get a tv on, I was not so suprised; obviously shocked, though.

A similar hi-jacking had taken place a few years earlier of an Air France plane ( I think ). They had gotten into the cockpit and ordered the pilot to fly it into the Eiffel Tower. He refused; and I not sure what the outcome of that incident was. However, due to that resistance from the pilot, AQ knew that they would have to fly the planes themselves to pull something like this off.

Jerry Baumchen

[pchapman 261]

JerryBaumchen

They had gotten into the cockpit and ordered the pilot to fly it into the Eiffel Tower.

Air France flight 8969
They landed to refuel in Marseille and the GIGN evntually stormed the aircraft including the cockpit in a shootout captured on video.


When "9/11 happened" I was just at work in an office near Toronto. When someone announced the event from checking news online early in the work day, I thought it might have been a small aircraft (and I mentioned that a B-25 in WWII didn't do all that much damage) but it soon became obvious it was more that just that. We basically got to head home in early afternoon.

A few things came to mind:

-- A quote from the movie Aliens, "Maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal! "

-- Things like the 1993 tower attacks and the Pacific airliner plot in the mid 1990s - Stuff that didn't get much talked about once the immediate news cycle ended, and so left the uninformed puzzling over just what the conclusions were as to what it was all about.

-- I also thought that now Americans might start realizing that their actions in the world have consequences for themselves and not just others. I was a little naive on that point, as the following decade would show. Bad things don't just happen in shitty places far off in across the planet.

[GeorgiaDon 340]

I was at a research conference in Scotland. We had wrapped up presentations for the day about 4:00 (so 11:00 AM New York time) and a group of us went to a nearby pub. As I got a pint I noticed the TVs were showing the towers burning, and I asked the bartender if that was a promo for some new Bruce Willis movie. He told me "No man, that's all real!" For the rest of the conference we sat through the talks, but at every break we rushed off to find a TV and find out what was going on.

After the meeting ended I couldn't fly home so I went to stay in Oxford where I could get a dorm room, as my University has a study abroad program there. I should have made a holiday of it, but the situation was so screwed up I was mostly just concerned about my family in the US, what was going on, and when I would be able to get home. Trying to get info from British Airways was hopeless. After several days I gave up my room and took the train to the London airport, planning on camping out in the terminal until I could get a flight. As I walked into the terminal from the train station, they were calling for passengers for Atlanta; flights had just been approved for international flights, and they needed to get a plane loaded and headed to Atlanta ASAP. Less than an hour after getting off the train I was airborne. I didn't even have a chance to call home and let my wife know what was going on.

On the route back we flew East of Long Island, within sight of the World Trade Center, or rather the still-smoking rubble. I had a window seat so after I took some photos other passengers were handing me their cameras. A bit later we flew within sight of the Pentagon. It was very surreal to see the smoke plumes still rising from those two places.

Once in Atlanta I retrieved my car and drove home. I didn't get a chance to phone (those were pre-cell phone days, for me at least) so I sure surprised my wife when I pulled into the driveway, as the last she had heard I was still stuck in the UK. Surprised in a good way, she was working in the garden.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)