Where were you on September 11, 2001?

[nsplayr]

Fast forward 8 years, and a majority of Americans feel we have no business in Afghanistan. WTF has happened? Do Americans really have that short of a memory?

Unfortunately yes.

I was a junior in high school and sitting in a boring business management class. A teacher who was friends with mine came into our class and told her to turn on the TV. At that point the attack had already been going on for a little while, so we all saw the initial coverage of both towers burning and were wondering WTF had happened b/c it was the first news we had heard and thought maybe both towers got hit at once. Once we heard that the Pentagon got hit as well there was an announcement that all teachers were to turn off all TVs in the building because a ton of students had parents who worked at the Pentagon. I remember several people just up and leaving because they knew their moms or dads had been in the building at the time and they wanted to rush home and try to call them. Meanwhile the rest of us who stayed in school missed the live coverage all day until school got out. One of my best friends' father had his office completely destroyed and he most likely would have died had he been at work. Luckily he was on terminal leave before retiring from the Marine Corps a few weeks later and was at home smoking a cigar and reading the newspaper.

to those guys who were jumping in jets on that fateful day while I was still a kid in school

Edited September 14, 2009 by nsplayr

[JarheadBoom]

Finally got my scanner working right...

A picture from better days. Southbound, Hudson River, from the gunner's window of the CH-53E.

* edit: user error

Edited September 14, 2009 by JarheadBoom

[Goblin]

What really pissed me off was when the local news stations interviewed the "residents" of Dearborn some of them openly admitted they were glad it happened.

Wow I forgot about that! Then they get all pissy when people question them. My Dad worked in Dearborn and said it was nuts the first few days after. (Dearborn, MI is the nation's largest Arab-American population)

[brabus]

I remember sitting at the kitchen table just eating a bowl of cereal when my Dad comes out of the bedroom and turns on the TV about 10 min after the first plane hit. I think his exact words were, "some fucking terrorists hit the WTC with a jet!" I remember saying, no way, it had to be an accident of some sort. I ate my words a little while later when the 2nd plane hit...it was obvious at that point. I was a senior in HS at the time and still went to school all day, but most of the classes were spent watching the news...minus a couple teachers who could give a shit about what happened and were going to have a normal day no matter what. 8 yrs later on that day I dropped live bombs for the first time. For me, there's been nothing better than flying with live weapons on 11 Sep, pickling on the target and watching those things explode (sts). It doesn't change anything or bring people back, but it made me feel good that I was working towards doing my part to bring pain on some piece of shit people like those who commited those crimes on 11 Sep. Prayers for all the families and friends of those lost

[BADFNZ]

TTT.  I read this thread every year on this date to relive what must have been an unforgettable day for those serving.  A toast to those lost.

[ATIS]

Dyess AFB BOQ....sleeping in after an early morning swim practice.  Heard my cell going off....and heard speaker announcements and SF running around the bases....slept a few more hours until my sister kept calling my cell and decided to answer.  Pulled out camcorder and started recording live TV coverage.  It was a beautiful morning in Texas that morning, absolutely CAVU. 

Base was on lockdown so buds and I went to bowling alley and raised some beers to the fallen...then bowled the best game of my life that evening. 

Five years later after getting back into the Navy....started the U-28 program May 2006.

 

ATIS

[daynightindicator]

I was a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park...woke up a little later than usual since I didn't have class until 1030.  No TVs were on in the house, and my roommates were either in class or sleeping.  I got a call from a roommate's sister who was frantically trying to get in touch with her.  I explained she was in class, and she said "With the bombing at the Pentagon I wanted to make sure she was all right."  I turned on the TV in time to watch the second tower fall.  I ran outside and saw the smoke billowing from the Pentagon (UMD-CP is only several miles from DC).  Spent the rest of the morning trying to get a hold of my sister, who worked in DC, and my mom to let her know I was okay.  I was glued to the TV and was in complete bewilderment as I read ticker headlines that included "fighter patrols established over all major US cities", "aircraft carriers patrolling both coasts", and "US borders locked down, armed forces on war footing", among other reports of additional attacks that were thankfully inaccurate.

Later that afternoon my roommates and I called different area hospitals to see if we could donate blood, but they already had more donors than they could handle.

In the weeks following, I saw National Guard checkpoints in downtown DC and patriot missile batteries on the national mall.  It was a scene I never thought I would ever see in my country and one I hope we will never have to see again.

Although I had already signed my contract for the USAF, my catalyst for service immediately went from wanting an exciting adventure to a somber and concrete desire to get into the fight we all knew was coming.  It took another 5 years before I would pitch into the fight in OEF, but I still remember that day as a stark dividing line between two distinctly separate worlds that have since defined our lives and service.

[yatalpan]

Al Jaber AB, Kuwait deployed supporting OSW.  AlphaSigOU spoke of the Tulsa ANG jets flying back home which is a story in itself, but much of the 125FS was at Al Jaber.  I was walking through ops and saw a few folks congregating around the TV showing the feeds after the first tower was hit.  I was there to see the second tower get hit and then it became clear this was no accident.

That night, the base had every light in the place ordered on and I can remember helos patrolling the areas around the base.  The following nights we were ordered into blackout conditions until our redeployment back to he States. 

[HuggyU2]

I was 1.5 years into my airline job, sitting sideways as a 727 second officer, on a flight between MCI and ORD.  I was a 2nd Officer Line Check Airman and was giving a new guy a checkout.  We got a few odd messages from the crew scheduler on our ACARS unit, and thought there had been a power failure in the North East US. 

Landed in ORD, and nothing was moving.  That was when we knew something very unusual was happening.  Sat on the tarmac a few hours.  I tuned in a news broadcast on the radio, and literally gave the passengers a play by play for 90 minutes.  I remember walking back through the cabin to check on the pax, and a women stopped me and said "my brother works in the twin towers.".  

After a few hours, we were able to get permission to drop the rear stairway of the 727, and off-load everyone.  Once I was inside Ops, people were in shock.  I recall the staff ladies crying, and the pilots watching the TV.  I figured out where my hotel was, and headed out of O'Hare.  

What was very eerie was going through that tunnel between the two United terminals:  middle of at the day, and I'm the only person in it.  Came up to the main ticket area of O'Hare, and the only other people there were National Guard with automatic weapons.  Surreal.  

Spent 5 days in Chicago, and was on the first plane that went into San Antonio.  

I had decided 6 weeks earlier to go back onto Active Duty, and return to the U-2.  I'd also called the U-2 SQ/CC at that time, and he supported my decision.  I had completed all of the paperwork for AFPC, and that stack was sitting on my desk at home when I left to fly that trip on 10 Sept.  Once I arrived back home, I waited about 2 days, and made the 15 minute drive out to AFPC at Randolph, and hand-walked my Return to Active Duty application in to Adriana Bazan.  Couldn't wait to get back in uniform.  

I was back on Active Duty on 19 Nov 2001.  

Edited September 12, 2016 by HuggyU2

[HU&W]

I had an 8am Spanish class at the local community college that morning.  I left class around 9.  There was a TV in the hallway with a large crowd.  I caught a peek of the TV with the WTC burning and asked a fellow student what was going on.  He said that there was a horrible accident and a plane hit the tower.  Almost on cue, the second plane hit on live TV.  There was a collective gasp of realization that this was no accident.  

I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV and most of the next week trying to figure out some way to help.  I had no rescue skills so driving to NY or DC was out of the question.  When the recruiter's office reopened within the next week, I was one of the first through the door.  I shipped to BMT at the end of that semester with hundreds of like-minded souls.  

[matmacwc]

T-38's, DLF.  Watched the second airplane hit on the then TV in the flight room, still stepped to my contact solo.  Crew chief told me to shut down, didn't know why, went back inside Andre realized we were at war.  Every former fighter guy in the building was pissed they were in AETC at the time, made an impression on me......don't be a former fighter guy in AETC.

[HerkFE]

Full time avionics technician with the Alabama ANG at the time. Just came off the line from loading Mode IV and Secure Voice for the morning launch when the phone rang. It was the wife of one of my co-workers telling him that a plane hit the WTC. We turned on the TV and watched the second one hit. A few hours later the supervisors came back from a meeting in Ops and said they needed half of us to go home, get some rest, and come back that night. I volunteered to leave and come back. When I got back in that evening all of our jets were parked facing the runway loaded with live missiles. We flew CAP for the next several days and nights then picked up the alert mission out of Tyndall for several months.

[Bergman]

Edited September 13, 2016 by Bergman

[HerkPerfMan]

[12xu2a3x3]

I was in my first day of 10th grade. I'd been sent to boarding school the year previous and I was working in the kitchen, or I guess more accurately, I was washing dishes. Saw the second plane hit the south power on the grainy, antenna UHF TV in the back. I am still amazed to this day how, at the time, I couldn't even begin to perceive what the implications for what I'd just witnessed would be for both myself and the world at large.