Where were you on 9/11?

[Charlie]

Getting ready to go to work in the morning, flipped on the news before I left. Saw the footage of the first tower burning, before the second one was hit. Said "hmm, odd", it sort of reminded me of the plane that hit the Empire State building back in the thirties. News flipped back and forth, at that point I saw the second plane hit. It was a "damn" moment. Sort of surreal. You knew what you were watching - but you just couldn't rationalize it. It was almost like a dream Packed up to get to work, figured I'd watch more there. I got to work, and I got a call from my dad. My dad is a 22 year retired ex-military LTC. He was going to go interview for a consulting position that morning. The location? The Pentagon. He was driving down to the Pentagon and saw the plane hit. At the time I was 21 years old, I have never heard fear in my dad's voice. When he called me on my cell phone, I could hear a sense of panic and urgency. Someone standing outside saw me on the phone and said I turned white. At that point, it all became very real.

I'm a military brat from the NoVa area, so the Pentagon deal hits pretty close. I knew three people that died that day. Two in the Pentagon, and one on the flight, the dad of a friend of mine in HS. Needless to say, you don't forget.

-Charlie

[Jean]

Was on the way to work that morning, when I arrived I saw the news printed and taped to the service dept. door and it was closed. Traffic that day was light, I still remember that day like it happened yesterday...

[asubimmer]

I was in high school Law/Gov't class. My teacher basically said to us, "I told you so...the US was asking for this fucking shit to happen."

I'll bet 80% of Americans have forgotten about this tragedy and just think it's another Tuesday, those 20% being the people who actually lost family. Other than that, nobody gives a fuck because deep down, we know we deserved it.

Compared to many other developing countries, 9/11 isn't a big fucking deal. When people are roaming the streets freely with assault rifles, it really puts shit into perspective. US citizens are whiny bitches.

So because its not the "worst" thing that has happened in the world its not a big deal??? Get the hell out of the US!

[Dave]

I was at my old office. One of the girls in the office heard about it on the radio. From that point on, we were glued to the TV in the conference room the rest of the day. My then partner in the firm (who is a greedy SOB) was livid that people were not working. I remember him saying "its not like the plane hit our building - why aren't you people at your desks?" Stupid fuck. Funny thing is, he sure wrapped himself in the flag and talked an awful lot about his NY roots and 9/11 in his speeches and literature when he ran for office a couple years later.

When the word broke that the plane hit the Pentagon, I think it really cemented just what was going on. The real question then was just how big was this thing?

I remember not hearing planes fly over our house at night (we were on the landing path for one of the larger runways, and at that point, our airport was a DHL hub) but after a couple of nights, whenever I heard something loud outside when I was sleeping that remotely sounded like a plane, it woke me up in a panic.

I also remember having to fly to Houston, TX for business the second day commercial flights were allowed to operate. NOBODY was on the plane that day. On the flight back, I remember seeing a middle-eastern couple get on the plane. If looks could kill, they would have died several times over. I know the guy across from me in the last row in 1st class kept looking over his shoulder at them.

[atomic]

BANstick FOR BrandC!

[FredK]

I was in programming class. It had just started at 9am. Partway through another instructor came into the room and turned on the TV. Class was dismissed quickly thereafter. By the time I got home, the footage of the towers was being played on every single network. For the rest of the day I watched TV. It was jaw-dropping to see those enormous buildings collapsing.

[Jscotty]

I will put this story in retrospect to knowing now what I didn't know at the time. While everything was going on we were completely clueless and oblivious to what was happening:

I was working in corporate america at the time and I was on my way to a big business meeting in New York. Myself, a co-worker and our manager were taking the train up and just as we were entering the city, Tower 1 had already been hit. We saw the plume of smoke over in the distance while we were on the rail bridge and about to go into the last tunnel that takes you into the city. The manager said, "Hey, that building is on fire." I thought it was a factory and the co-worker thought it might have been a cruise ship or something on the other side of the building. So as we are discussing what else it could be, the manager kept insisting that there was a fire burning from the Twin Towers.

So the train went into the tunnel and then while we were switching from Amtrak to the subway, Tower 2 got hit. While we were getting our tokens some of the overhead lights started going on and off as if it was a thunderstorm or something. The lady behind the counter said, "Oh, that probably has to do with the stuff going on downtown." And at this point we thought that what she said was a bit odd because we still had no clue as to what was happening. We got on the subway and rode it uptown to our hotel, checked in and then got ready for our meeting. We were running a tight schedule so nobody even bothered to turn on the TV.

While we were on the subway on the way to our meeting the first tower fell (tower 2). We got off, walked 2 blocks to the office and there was a security guard telling us that the building was closed. We tried calling anyone and everyone we knew but none of us could get a cell signal. This was wierd event #2 and we still had no clue as to what was happening. We waited for a little while and then finally decided that we were going back to the hotel.

Once we got back into the subway station an announcement came over the PA system that said something to the effect of, "This is the last train going to 34th & Penn. And everyone in the station just goes CRAZY! It was total pandemonium down there. I figured that this was just "normal" for new york and I didn't think anything else of it. Our hotel was in the other direction so we waited a while for the other train to come. Somewhere during the course of waiting for the train and dealing with the crowds of crazy people, the second tower fell. Once we got back to the subway station closest to our hotel, we come upstairs to ground level and there are people all over the streets and sidewalks yelling and crying, "Oh GOD THIS IS TERRIBLE!" and stuff like that. Now this was REALLY wierd! It was like something out of an old science fiction movie.

We went into the hotel, turned on the TV and that's when we discovered what was happeneing. We called our families and then we started making plans to get out of there. My manager said, "Hey guys, we gotta get outta here NOW." and that turned out to be the best decision that we made that day. We barely missed the last Amtrak train going back to DC so I considered us fortunate.

[Erick]

I was in HS. 9th grade.

It was a new HS and there were no TVs installed yet. I remember around lunch time students were saying random things (I was still oblivious) like "oh, there's a bomb in the school, they are blowing up it all, etc". I was like "wtf is wrong with this High School?"

When I came back to class, my teacher was a former reporter, and was getting all her information through him. We got a TV and rigged an antenna off a notebook binder to watch the news.

I remember parents freaking out coming to pick up their kids in fear of an attack.... in Miami out of all places. By the time school was dismissed.... there were no more than 50 kids in the school. Parents were pushing themselves against each other in the hallways to get to classrooms.

Crazy day.

[smonkbmw]

I'll bet 80% of Americans have forgotten about this tragedy and just think it's another Tuesday, those 20% being the people who actually lost family. Other than that, nobody gives a fuck because deep down, we know we deserved it.

Compared to many other developing countries, 9/11 isn't a big fucking deal. When people are roaming the streets freely with assault rifles, it really puts shit into perspective. US citizens are whiny bitches.

" We deserved it because we have a society of laws and protections that allow us to voice our opinions, no matter how backwards and retarded they may be....."
-Charlie

ok, so if hes stating a opiniion, and its allowed in this country, whats the big deal? whats the problem if he says whats on his mind. i partially agree with him. then again im a conspiracy theorist also (which will most likely start another debate) so i most likely will get "the banstick".

to keep it on topic (sorry tom). i was asleep, and my roomates at the time woke me up. i stumbled downstairs as everyone was around the tv and sat for a hour watching the same footage over and over. pretty shitty to happen to the innocent people.......ill leave it at that cause you all dont want to know what else i think this is apparent with what you all are flipping out over brandc's response.

edit: JScotty that is a AWESOME story!!! very trippy for sure!!

[BrandC]

ok, so if hes stating a opiniion, and its allowed in this country, whats the big deal? whats the problem if he says whats on his mind. i partially agree with him. then again im a conspiracy theorist also (which will most likely start another debate) so i most likely will get "the banstick".

I like how some people on this forum are advocating how this "great country" promotes the practice of free speech/opinions, and the second I have a dissenting idea, I get a s'load of shit for it.

Way to be open-minded you guys. Ban me if you like. Throw me in the towers to die. I'd die happily knowing everything I know to this day, doing whatever I have done.

I really think some people are mixing up my opinion on why this country isn't that great with my sorrow for the people that died in 9/11. I grieved for anybody who died in 9/11, or anywhere in the world because of other people's slavery to dogmatic ideas. I do not condone any kind of killing at all, especially over beliefs.

Some of the board members here are guilty of ad hominem. Do not confuse my personhood and opinions with what really goes on in reality.

[BimmerToad]

I was still in summer, just before my first year of college. For some reason I decided to turn on the TV to catch the morning news (which I never do) and I caught it all happening :?

[asubimmer]

I'd die happily knowing everything I know to this day, doing whatever I have done.

and whats that? Add to the conspiracy theories of #7 lol?

[BrandC]

So because its not the "worst" thing that has happened in the world its not a big deal??? Get the hell out of the US!

You live in a small world. Perhaps when you gain wisdom you will understand the world does not revolve around the United States.

Proof of this is that because I have an oddball opinion, you feel my voice on this forum should be silenced because it does not allign with your irrational clinginess to the idea that a country is a "united" entity.

"Banstick for BrandC", yes this is real mature. I'm only sorry you are a US nationalist. Hitler and the Nazi party were nationlists. I'll leave it at that.

[jflip2002]

I was ironing my clothes before my senior year in high school. I saw a plane had hit a "building". If you recall a week or two earlier, some dumb ass crashed a crop duster into a building somewhere in Florida. So I thought it was a weird coincidence. then all of a sudden, I see the second plane crash into the trade center, live. I was in shock. I still went to school, but there was no use of that. We were watching the news all day long.

I remember this hot cheerleader Shandi was real upset, more than the rest of us. Then a teacher called her out of the room, and let her know that her dad was safe, and was on a different flight to New York City. Close call on that behalf.

[gregmacdonald77]

I was stationed on board the USS Nimitz sitting in port in Norfolk, VA. I was conducting a tag out audit (ensuring circuits where properly de-energized and labeled so work could be conducted on them) when I walked through the lounge of my divisions berthing area. Some of my ship-mates where watching it on TV after the first tower had just been hit. Being that I had just flown into New York about a month earlier to visit the in-laws and circled Manhattan I could see how it could have been a accident and figured that was the case and carried on with my work. A little bit later I walked by the TV again and started to BS with some of the guys just as the second tower was hit. That’s when I realized this was no accident. A short time later our ship and the entire base for that matter went on a total lock down, most of the ships set to sea as soon as they could. Everyone of our 50 cal machine guns was manned and ready to go. But our ship was unable to go to sea, half our crew was either in San Diego or on their way there moving their families. We where scheduled to get underway about a week later for a change of homeport to San Diego, but we couldn’t do that until all of our crew got back from the west coast. And those of us there where still in Norfolk still had to finish taking care our own personal business before leaving the area for good, a very difficult thing to do when they won’t let any of us off the ship.

Everything worked out and we left on schedule. We just got done with a major overhaul and where in no way ready for war so we proceeded around South America as planned. Well not totally as planned, we had port visits set for Rio, Chili, and Uruguay….all got cancelled do to force protection security concerns.