Where were you on September 11, 2001?

[Fud]

I had just finished doing morning PT at my college when I reported to a running class about an hour later. I was lucky in that I did not have to wear a uniform of any kind to this class, and that I could blow off some steam. It was a particularly cold Texas morning, and I remember having the chills until I started running. All of the sudden, someone ran up to our group as we were doing some cool-down stretching, and she said that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. I immediately thought in my mind that this must have been a mistake, and how it might have been a single engine aircraft that did not cause much damage. The class broke early, and we glued ourselves to the television to watch the horror that unfolded in the next couple of hours. I still think about those exact moments, as I'm sure my grandfather remembers December 7, 1941, and I will never forget. I was not in the military at the time, but am proud to serve alongside each and everyone of you on here. I just wanted to share where I was, and hear some other peoples' accounts about that fateful day. We will never forget those lost, or those who are currently serving. Thank you and God bless!

[StoleIt]

I was in high school. I remember hearing about it in English and class thinking pretty much the same thing, it was a mistake and must have been a small airplane.

Next class was TV Broadcasting and we were glued to the TV. I remembered skipping my following classes. When we heard about the Pentagon I rushed to call my Aunt (her son, my cousin) was a Navy Flag Lieutenant at the time and worked in the Pentagon. Found out later in the day his admiral and their staff wasn't in the office that day, luckily.

Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbours. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.

A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America -- with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbours who came to give blood and help in any way they could.

Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts.

Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.

The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well.

The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them.

I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

Edited September 11, 2009 by stoleit2x

[zrooster99]

I was a newly minted 1Lt at KBAD working nights during an exercise. I was on my way home from the gym and heard it on my car radio... Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that day as I sat guled to the TV like everyone else in the nation. I was thankful over the next couple of days to be on nights as I drove off base in the morning and noted the line of cars trying to get in the gate. A couple of weeks later my SQ was deployed, getting ready to drop some mothafuckin' bombs.

Edited for grammer.

Edited September 12, 2009 by zrooster99

[skinny]

I was holding short RWY17 at RDR, prepositioning to Hickam for a Coronet when CP called us back to the ramp and told us to report to the squadron. This was the ACs first trip after upgrade so he was freaking out thinking he jacked something up. However as soon as we walked into the sq lounge, we realized it was much worse. Everyone was glued to the TV and we were swept away in a crew bus and taken to billeting to assume A-Alert. We launched later that evening to spin overhead metropolitan areas with a few very small offloads to 16's and 15s. I think total duration was like a 9 or so. Made for a long day for sure. We were cleared direct "wherever you want to go". We took direct RDR-OAK. We were literally one of about a dozen jets airborne that night in the entire western US and the first to launch out of RDR for ONE. Pretty damn humbling.

edit for spelling

Edited September 11, 2009 by skinny

[Vertigo]

I was stationed at YSRI (RAAF Richmond, Australia) and was just about to head to bed for the night when the news broke of a fire at the first tower... it was rumored that a plane may have flown into the building but that wasn't confirmed yet. Then I watched on live TV as the second plane flew into the other tower and I was just devastated. I remember calling and waking my CC and the other members of our detachment and informing them of the news. Most of us stayed up all night watching the coverage. I remember that former President Clinton was speaking in Alice Springs and we had to redirect the Credible Dove jet to go pick him up instead of flying back home that next morning.

Surprisingly the Australian TV stations showed direct feeds of the U.S. news stations 24/7 for about 3 or 4 days straight. You couldn't find an Australian show on any of the locals stations; just U.S. news. I called the TV stations and expressed my appreciation for their continued coverage.

Shitty thing to have happened on your birthday, but now no one forgets it.

Cheers to those that died in the towers, the pentagon, and the brave souls on flight 93 that saved countless lives by giving theirs.

To all the first responders.

[M2]

Oddly enough, just down the hall from where I am now!

I was exec'ing for a two-star who had just gone to Maxwell for a course. The new one-star vice, who I knew from USAFE, had just arrived (it was his first day) and was using my boss' office. I was in my office catching up on the usual bumpf when he walked out and announced that a plane had just flown into the WTC. We were watching the news when the second plane hit. Everything after that is a blur...and it is hard to believe that eight years have gone by since.

[Guest Lockjaw25]

In high school, US History class to be exact. Lots of confusion, we only had a radio to figure out what was going on, then one of us was able to get on the internet (jammed with traffic) and we saw more of what had happened. My father, FDNY, went down to the site that day to help search. The next few months were filled with funerals and memorial services, some of whom I had known.

I had always wanted to serve, but that day served as the final driving point to place me on the path.

and to all those who perished that day.

[contraildash]

I was trying to stay awake in my cartography class when one of the teaching assistants ran in and said a plane flew into a building in new york. No one paid attention, then when class broke we noticed everyone was standing around the one TV on that floor. They were showing the building smoking, then the second plane hit. I couldn't believe it. I went to my next class and they promptly canceled classes for the day.

I tried calling my old man at his base in NC, he picked up and gave a quick "i love you and you might not hear from me for a bit." He ended up staying at work for the next week.

I remember how quiet it was, as everyone was at home glued to a TV. One could usually look up and see the regular airline traffic on arrival going into IAH all day...then nothing.

[summe32c]

I was a young dude in HS at the time. I was working office duty running around delivering notes to students (sweet way to get credit and do absoutly nothing. I learned early) I remember there were TV's everywhere showing news for Weather, and I remember the "BREAKING NEWS." Everyone watched as if nothing else was going on in the world, no school, no work, just the news. I can not even describe how I felt as the coverage showed the fist tower bellowing out smoke, and watching the second plane smash into the second tower live. I felt deep down, before it was ever said, we were getting attacked. I agree with some others posts; just like our grandfathers and relatives before, this is a day no one will forget. Funny thing was, I had just recieved my "DRAFT" card in the mail one day prior.

to all who have served overseas, and at home.

M2, you're right, hard to believe 8 years ago today. CHEERS TO ALL!

[brickhistory]

In the Pentagon. But nearly as far away from the impact point as is possible and still be in the same building.

Oddly enough, we were in a meeting in the XOO's (now A3O, I believe)office discussing part 1 of a 2 part CBS News series on dangerous military flying. The previous night they'd run many clips of guys doing "dangerous" stunts at game flyovers, the F-16/Cessna Florida mid-air, etc. We were crafting a rebuttal for PA to go to CBS with.

We got word of the first WTC hit, turned on the TV, some smartass jokingly said "Hope it's not one of ours." At that moment we thought it was an accident like the B-25 into the Empire State Building in WWII.

Went back to my office, saw the second hit on TV.

When the Pentagon was hit, from my perspective it was like a movie theater Dolby explosion without the sound. Really didn't hear it, but felt a vibration in my solar plexus. Another comparision is feeling a building A/C compressor kick in when it's right above you.

A comic relief was the GC secretary across the hall pulling the hysterical woman from "Airplane!" scene. She was screaming and freaking out, raising the ping factor for everyone - who, by the way, we were all kinda standing about since we didn't know what had happened/was happinging and a solid building with no threat seemed better than a cattle stampede exit.

Anyway, rather than slap her a la "Airplane," one of her officemates calmed her down.

About 10 minutes after impact, the PA directed an evacuation into South Parking - which I discovered later was the impact area. Not the smartest move, but no blame as it was very confusing.

About then, the office phone started ringing as families wanted to know about their better halfs. As my family was in Kansas at the time, I stayed behind and answered the phones and everyone went to South Parking. I found out later that a couple of retired guys now working as civil servants helped out. My salute to them.

When I was ready to beat feet, the PA came on and said go to North Parking. Just as I was leaving, our satellite office - manned by part-time Reservists, often no one there, but that day there were three - located at the FAA's ATC Command Center - that's the place were day to day CONUS airspace is coordinated - called and reported that we'd been hit by a general aviation plane. Obviously, it was a chaotic time for the FAA and many reports/rumours were rampant in the moments following.

So I go to North Parking along with 10,000 of my closest friends. At that time Hwy 110 ran right by the lot. Being the brave soul that I am, I took cover between two vans because I'm thinking the herd would make a great drive-by mass casualty event.

I eventually E&E'd my way to the Command Center mentioned above, figuring they'd need help. By the way, the roads leading out of DC were freakishly snarled. A mass casualty evac will be a really ugly thing should it ever happen in a metro area again.

By the time I got to the Command Center, the displays showed only 35 aircraft over CONUS. All either fighters or tankers. That is when the seriousness hit. Normally, on a weekday, there's 5500-6000 IFR tracks and an unknown number of VFR stuff.

The Command Center is where the GS-15 National Operations Manager (forget the Sec of Transportation or the CinC claimng credit, it was this guy) who made the unprecedented, unplanned for, and gutsy call to land everything. That it happened without further loss of life is a credit to the controllers, aircrew, and airports who stepped up. My salute to them as well.

For the next 3.5 days, we hand cleared everything that flew in the US while also figuring out how to start an airspace/ATC system that was never designed to crank from a standing start.

We have some smart people at the worker bee level.

Too bad we have politicians to fcuk it up strategically.

Don't forget the bad guys want to kill us and make our way of life 12th century.

Edited September 11, 2009 by brickhistory

[Guest CA]

Happy Birthday Vertigo

I wrote this for my Friends and Family on Facebook earlier, thought I'd share it here as well since there's a thread.

September 11, 2001, I was a Junior in Highschool in Tampa, FL. I was home alone that week and was at school as we started 2nd period geometry class. The classroom sat right next door to the main office and also shared a connecting door to the next classroom over. Shortly after class began, someone from the next room over came in to tell us that a plane had hit one of the towers. Assuming that it was a small Cessna type and knowing what I know about large structures like that, I figured that it was no big deal and wondered why it was worth interrupting our class. I had no idea that the other classroom had a TV going and had already watched the 2nd plane crash into the tower. After saying a prayer for those in the planes and towers we began to wonder what was happening as we continued to watch the news. After a few minutes we all went back to our rooms and settled in for class. Every couple minutes someone would come down to the office crying and saying that their parents or someone they knew was supposed to be flying in or out of NY that day and were scared that the worst had happened. It was very surreal and heartbreaking to hear them crying. Little did I know that I'd be in their same position.

A few minutes before 1000 someone came in again and told us that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon. A plane might as well have crashed into me as my heart sunk to the floor. My mother, who worked at SOCOM at the time just happened to be at the Pentagon for a conference that week. Knowing nothing about the structural fortress that is the Pentagon or where it hit or where my mom was, I had no idea if she was dead or alive. All I could do was call her cell phone and hope she answered. Of course the lines were all jammed pack and nothing was getting through, but I didn't know that at the time and when the message came up that there was a problem, my first thought was that her phone was obliterated and she was dead. Not cool. I called my Dad who was out driving in Kentucky or something and no luck either. I call through to my Mom's office at SOCOM and finally I get in touch with her boss (the Chaplain) who knows nothing either. I call my brother who's an F-15 crew chief out of Jacksonville and finally get through to someone in my family. He was out on the flight line but they were nice enough to call him in and we were able to talk. After a while I was able to get in touch with my Dad and that was a relief. After waiting for what seemed like forever, though it was only a few minutes, I called the Chaplain again and he told me that he got word from them that they were OK and nobody in their group was hurt. What a relief.

After a while I was able to get through to my Mom who assured me she was alright and everyone there was OK. They didn't even know what was going on at first. They were just told to evacuate the building. The plane had hit pretty much straight across from where she was and it didn't even make a noise on her side. What an amazing structure.

It was a very scary time for me. I was a 16 year old kid home alone during the worst attack on our country since Pearl Harbor, not knowing what was going to happen next. There was a lot of talk of MacDill being a target of a nuclear attack due to SOCOM/CENTCOM being located there and that made it even more scary, living just 25 miles away.

It was such a surreal day and I'll never forget it as long as I live. I still pray for the families of those who lost loved ones on Sept 11, and for the Soldiers who have fought and continue to fight since that day as well as the families of those who lost their life defending our freedom. This is a major part of why I plan on joining the Air Force, to support our Men and Women on the ground giving their all for us.

[Guest PerArduaAdAstra]

I spent the morning of 9/11 having an early morning minor outpatient procedure done at a local hospital. I came out of the drug-induced haze to see all of the staff crowded round the TV. A nurse told me a light plane had crashed into the WTC. As my wife drove me home (we live about 30 miles south of DC) we heard the report from the Pentagon. I spent the rest of the day recovering in front of the TV and I don't mind admitting I cried like a baby when the towers fell.

edit: we live under one of the main flight paths to Washington National Airport and I still remember how eerie it was to have nothing flying overhead for so many days afterwards.

Edited September 11, 2009 by PerArduaAdAstra

[BQZip01]

I was in my apartment at college trying to cram my four years of study into my fifth year. I was asleep when my girlfriend (now my wife) called and told me to turn on the TV. I watched (as most of us did) in shocked awe. As someone above mentioned, I thought it was like the accident where the B-25 flew into the Empire State Building in the WWII-era. I was trying to figure out how something like that could happen on such a clear day. A couple of minutes after I turned it on, the second one crashed into the towers and my confusion was replaced with crystal clarity: this was no accident.

I called several of my buddies who were in various branches of ROTC (1 AF, 3 Army, 2 Navy) and we put together a letter to the commandant stating our intent to terminate our education (and thereby our commissions) to enlist in the military if additional personnel were requested for the military (not without precedent, at my school on December 8, 1941, the entire senior class resigned en-masse to enlist; the Secretary of the Army promptly voided the enlistments and commissioned them all). It never came to that and I graduated 9 months later.

[The Kayla]

I was a senior in High School. By the time I knew what was going on, it was already 12pm NYC time. See, I lived in CA, and oddly enough, I didn't have my radio on, nor did I turn it on when I was driving to school. I remember going to my econ class, and everyone was "normal"--I remember the class clown asking about "What happened this morning, I think we should talk about it.." and my teacher saying "My sister is an AA flight attendent, and we don't know where she is. This probably affects me more then you guys.." I asked my neighbor, Bob, what was going on, and he said "I don't know."

I walked to my Modern Lit class, like normal. And my teacher had the TV on and was bawling. I asked her what was going on, and she told me.

Edited September 11, 2009 by The Kayla

[brickhistory]

And my teacher had the TV on and was balling.

That is an OUTSTANDING reaction to stress.

If, on the other hand, you meant "bawling" as in crying, well, then I'm just a bad man...

[Techsan]

I was stationed @ Eglin as a casual 2LT and was actually sleeping in (standard ops) when the attacks happened. I was awokened by a recall from the squadron, and was told to report to base immediately. I didn't get a chance to even watch the news until I made it to work. When I arrived @ the front gate, I saw that we were in FPCON Delta and the SPs were wearing full up combat gear and they were doing full up searches on every car entering the base. There were also 2 humvees parked right at the gate with machine guns up top that were pointing towards the gate. Crazy! As I parked @ the squadron, I noticed that there were 4 fully loaded Eagles sitting alert at the end of the runway. Very sobering.

AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

[JoeNJ]

I was a sophomore in high school, and I live just a little more than stones throw away from Manhattan. I was in biology class when we heard the news. We had no TV to watch so we waited until class let out and everyone scrambled to find the nearest TV. Due to our proximity, we were allowed to use the office phones to call anyone that may be working in the area. My mom was, and she was fine, thank god. We finished out the rest of the school day in disbelief, grief, shock, and a million other emotions shared by the rest of America. I remember walking out of class and seeing two things. One, the winds that day were blowing smoke from the towers in such a way that all you had to do was look up and see it. Two, a two ship of Eagles flying overhead. The Trade Center burned for days and smoldered for weeks after and believe me when I say you could smell it when you woke up. Some people told me they woke up the next day with soot on their windows. As the day goes on I'm sure I'll remember a million more things from that as today wears on.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

[disgruntledemployee]

On 9/11, it was the standard reaction and bustle. But I flew to Andrews on 9/12 at 0600. It was very eerie. We tookoff and was handed from departure to center before the aftertake checklist was complete. We were the only plane on freq and the center controllers were all very somber that morning. We flew into the sunrise, of which I snapped a few pictures. That photo is my reminder of 9/11. During the descent, we could see the smoke coming from the Pentagon. We were intercepted by an F-16 then given clearance to land at Andrews.

Out

[TacAirCoug]

I was briefing to fly my 2nd FAM sortie at Corpus. We came out of the briefing room to find a crowd huddled around the TV watching the smoke rising from one of the towers. We were running a little late, so we hurriedly stepped, pre-flighted, and cranked motors. We tried to check ATIS prior to taxi, but there was no recording, so we called for taxi. Before we got a response, the recording came back on with a very excited controller directing all Navy Corpus aircraft to discontinue training, return to NASCC immediately and land full-stop, no touch and go's. None of us made the connection to what we'd seen on the TV before stepping, so needless to say our IP was a bit annoyed. I was going to ride jumpseat for the first half, so I was the one to pop the crew door open after shutdown. As I did, one of the contract maintainers was running up to the door yelling, "They hit the Pentagon!" That's when it finally hit me. Most of us spend the next couple hours glued to the TV in the lounge until one of my classmates suddenly jumped up and bolted for the door. "HOLY SHIT, we've got to get out of here before they lock down the base!"

[Vandal]

High School Sophomore in biology class. I stayed at school all day but we didn't do much. Spent a lot of time watching TV.

[MadMac]

I was just returning from a dental appointment at Randolph AFB Medical Hobby Shop when the 1st plane hit.

I was amazed by the change in reaction of everyone when the 2nd plane hit.

We'd gone from "What a horrible accident" to "Holy Sh1T, we're being attacked" in a blink of an eye.

As a side note, I'd like to know what happened to anger, the righteous indignation, the ire of the American people. It just seems like they’ve written it off as another minor incident in our history. I’m still pissed and I don’t understand why everyone else in this country isn’t…with the exception of most military folks who seem to really understand.

[Wolf424]

I was a junior in high school. I had just finished 2nd period, and was sitting in homeroom (we had homeroom for 15 min between 2nd and 3rd period) Our principle came on the PA and said that there was "an air attack in New York City". I remember turning to my best friend at the time and saying, "What do they mean air attack? Which country wants to get blasted off the face of the earth?" I really didn't think it was anything as serious as it was. The school admin told all the teachers not to turn on the TVs. (I was living in Warner Robins, GA and the school admin. said they didn't want to "distract" students who had parents working at the base, total BS) After homeroom, I had to walk through the school lobby to my next class (which had 2 TVs in it) and I remember stopping in my tracks watching TV...in a daze almost. A teacher told me to go to class, along with the other 50 or so students who were watching. Of my last 4 classes, 3 let us watch TV including President Bush's speech. After school, I got home and found a note from my Dad saying he was called in (he was a MSgt in Security Forces at the time). I didn't see him for more than 20 minutes or so for the next 3 days, he was a little busy. As cliche as it sounds, that day kind of solidified what I wanted to do after high school.

[Guest PerArduaAdAstra]

As a side note, I'd like to know what happened to anger, the righteous indignation, the ire of the American people. It just seems like they’ve written it off as another minor incident in our history. I’m still pissed and I don’t understand why everyone else in this country isn’t…with the exception of most military folks who seem to really understand.

Good question. I was watching early morning TV coverage of it today and realised that in a few years time it will be like Pearl Harbor day - just another date on the calendar with a mention on the 6 o'clock news, a footnote in history. Remember the flags flying everywhere and the pride in what this country is? That's all forgotten.

We neeed to be little bit more angry and have longer memories.

[Quartz]

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

At PSAB for OSW. I was an ADO, and I met an Lt early that morning to open up shop for the daily flights (we weren't 24/7 then). It was an 11 mile drive from billeting to Ops. The first plane had just hit right before we got in the truck, and heard about it on the radio. My thought it was a small plane in bad weather. The somewhat sarcastic Lt said "Terrorists!" Before we got to Ops, we heard the second tower was hit. TV went right to the Today show, and we knew the Lt was right.

All I can say is it got real busy after that. With the CAOC right there we had info on every single plane flying in the world, and which ones had even the slightest 'issues' with a squawk or other procedural error. Of course being in Saudi meant we were carrying around all our chem gear, etc., for the next few weeks. But more than that I remember how surreal it was.

[discus]

I was a SrA standing on a -86 diesel generator set in the Kirtland AGE shop with a wrench in my hand. I remember someone hollering from the break room "Hey, come in here and take a look at this"! I walked in right as the second plane hit, and went out to the floor and told everyone to come into the break room. I remember one of the young troops looking at me and asking "I guess this means we are at war, huh"? I replied "You're God Damn right we're at war".

I spent the rest of the afternoon with an M-16 guarding the base fuel dump. Just writing this and reading all the stories brought chills from the memories and emotions I remember feeling on that day.