Thread: Where were you Sept.11 2001?

I was in my final days of advanced training in the army, and soon to become up-close and personal with the struggle. When we heard the first plain had hit the towers I said the first thing that came to my mind “We are under attack, the next plain should be hitting soon.” The entire platoon gave me dirty looks until the word of the other plains reached us. But for the next few days we had other problems. The air force base my army unit was attached to had locked down, It was actually on a war footing at that time. And my platoon was trapped in a remote training sight with no supplies and now way back.

Mason

I was in bed, as usual that early in the morning Pacific Standard Time. As ususal, my alarm clock woke me with the CBC, but this time not the usual banter and weather and what-not, but talk of hostages and hijackings ... I thought that was pretty extreme for the radio to be taken over with that news, and then a comment about one of the WTC towers collapsing, and that was a real "holy $h!t!" moment. I listened much more intently, got up and watched the tv for a while before going to work.

About a week later, when they lifted the continent-wide flight ban, I was standing outside Church and looked up in the sky and happened to see an aircraft up there, and felt a real relief as I felt that the worst was starting to pass.

4 Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan very recently, as part of the international force trying to reconstruct that country after the Former Evil Regime was expunged. Many more have died there, and many more will die there in the future, but 9/11 is still with us.

Originally Posted by ScottS

What do we do about those that aren't Dick Cheney?

ScottS, please! Snide remarks are unnecessary.If you wish, you can start your own thread on "The evils of Dick Cheney", but here I would prefer that you stick to Where you were and what you thought and felt!

Thank you,
Mark Avery

I was in High School in Dallas, Texas. Initially, there was a lot of confusion; I thought it was minor, like a small aircraft accident. It took until around the third class for the teacher – it was a social studies class, after all – to explain in patient detail what had happened. It was very surreal. I remember an announcement being made over the PA system at some point, giving the bare facts and instructing teachers not to have TVs on. This attempt to isolate us or protect us or preserve order or whatever the hell the school admins were trying to do annoyed me immensely, and it seems many teachers shared that sentiment as they disregarded the order. Gym was particularly surreal that day. We went outside, and the school was located close enough to DFW airport that you rarely went 3 or 4 minutes without hearing a plain go by… dead silent.

-Michael

I really appreciate the posts so far guys! I realize that for many of us this is an extremely emotional issue. I also know, and understand, the wish to forget 9/11 ever took place!
For those who are still willing, please post as I do not wish to see this thread dry up before the anniversary, but believe me when I say that I would understand if not another person posts. It took me a day or two to gather up the fortitude to start this thread and another day or two just to post where I was on that fateful day!

Thanks once again to all who posted thus far!

I choose to remember these days because they are days when people came together dispite all the petty differences we all have.

I was working on one of the main servers at a customer's data center when the CEO of that company came in telling me what happened. I just thought he was joking and I actually didn't believe him. I told: "Yes, sure... which movie where you looking at, Roger?" (He's quite a funny pal, one of that guys that's always making some kind of joke). So he took me to his office, turned on a radio and I heard the direct of the second impact... I literally felt on a chair, unable to talk or to move anymore. I'd been unable to leave for at least an hour, and unable to sleep for a few days...

I was in High School and was in one of my computer classes. My teacher said a plane had crashed into the WTC. We watched the news and checked the internet for the rest of class. I was confused for the next couple of hours with teachers unable to decide whether to turn on the tv or try to teach class. I went through the rest of the day sort of like a zombie. Went home after class and just sat.

I was driving into the city. There were about 10 of us commuting in a van. Ambulances and fire trucks were flying by us but we had no idea what was going on.

When we tried to get where we were going in Time Square there were police barricades everywhere. We asked what was going on and a police officer told us (incorrectly) that they had bombed the WTC, the Whitehouse and the Pentagon. We laughed at him because it sounded so far fetched. He told us to turn on our radio and we heard it for ourselves. We also started seeing the smoke rise into the air.

NYC was on lock down. I was there for a week without being able to leave. All phone communication was cut as well so I had no means of contacting my family to let them know I was OK.

I worked at Ground zero for a few days. The aftermath was unbelievable and surreal. I was supplying the workers, firefighters, volunteers with food, water, clothing, whatever they needed. I also ended up fitting people for gas masks and putting them on. It is a very strange feeling as a civilian fitting FBI agents and CIA agents with gas masks.

I'm never going to forget that day or the months that followed it.

I don't think I have ever seen people so united though in the weeks that followed it.

I was home from work with the flu. My Mother-in-law called and told me to turn the TV on. I tuned in just in time to see the second plane hit the WTC. I sat numb for hours watching the news. I can still remember waiting for days to hear which country we turned into a smoking glowing hole for committing this atrocity.