9/11 stories

[VAspeedgoat]

I don't think anyone has started a thread yet. I was recounting some memories of that day with some friends and curious to hear yours. Someone will have to ruin it, but I ask to try and keep politics and religion out so we can just hear stories.

A friend at church was working at the Pentagon and got a call through to his wife. Only got out "I'm ok" before it dropped. Then his wife turned on the news and saw.

Dad and I were working and didn't know until the second tower fell. I just remember how blue the sky was. Crazy day.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I was in jr. high and they didn't allow us to watch it after it happened. It shaped who I am. My parents pleaded for me to try college first, when that, I, failed I enlisted! I would've served 30 years if I could but my brain tumor said otherwise.

 

[Scott85]

I was sitting in study hall in 9th grade. I live close enough to the pentagon that a few students had parents working there, lucky no body lost a parent in the attack. It changed my life, a few weeks later I became a volunteer firefighter and did that until I turned 18 and shipped off to Great Lakes for Navy recruit training.

 

[rwc101]

I was in school during a history/civics class. The teacher thought it was important for us to be informed about the news, so we started every class with a news channel on the TV and newspapers to read. A bunch of kids watched the second plane hit right when the teacher turned the TV on. An uncle flew out of NYC that day, and my mom (who was a teacher at the school) ran over to tell me he was okay. Still didn't really understand what happened until the end of the day.

 

[Dave N]

I was at work and my job allowed me to leave the line. I hit the cafeteria for the TV and saw the first tower fall. Had to force myself to leave.

 

[teej89]

I was in 6th grade History and a teacher came bursting into our room telling our teacher to turn on the TV. A couple minutes later we all witnessed the second plane hitting the south tower. I had no idea what it meant at the time but I recognized the distress in the teachers and realized it was serious. We spent the rest of the class watching the TV.

 

[Big Slick]

I was at work out in the field. We didn’t have a TV, so we listened on the radio. It was like listening to war of the worlds. When I got home that night and saw it on TV, it was real. My oldest son was 11 at the time, he enlisted in the US Army when he graduated from high school. I’ll Never Forget!

 

[hank4elk]

I was putting my uniform on ,watching news. No one believed me at work when I got there. Then we were all put on full defend & protect mode for the next 6 months. I spent the time on lake patrol watching the dam with deputies on the top.
Lost 3 friends that day,one in the Pentagon.

 

[HandgunHunter]

I was in NBC training on Camp Lejeune. The officer of the day ran out to where we were training and began to brief us...

weeks later cold weather training was canceled and desert training began.

What seemed like a short time later I was stepping off a landing craft into Kuwait and beginning the patrol north into Iraq.

 

[BAKPAKR]

One of my friends and I were sitting in a pullout on the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier NP watching three bighorn rams feed right above the road. As we were watching, a guy came up to us and said, “The United States is under attack!”

 

[Northwoods]

I was moose hunting in Alaska and had no I what had happened. I was stationed at Fort Wainwright at the time. That one day has significantly impacted my life.

 

[davinski]

Wife and I were getting ready for work, mountain time, and watching the news. We saw the cut in the feed to the first impact and then watched the second. Both still went to work after watching, dumbfounded, for a bit. I told her "those buildings are coming down..." before I left. Civil engineer spouse syndrome. I was still in the Army Reserve at the time. At work I told them I would be deployed sooner or later. Kinda wish I was wrong sometimes.

Fast-forward to 9/12/03, sitting in the morning battle update briefing in Afghanistan where all the various bases chimed in with current events of the morning. One base spoke of a rocket attack, then another, then another, etc. The gent leading the call rather dismissed it, since rocket attacks were fairly common, and said something to the effect of "Well, more rocket attacks, clean up the messes and move on." Our base and TF honcho, an O-6 named Mark Milley, you may recognize the name today, got a bit pissed: "Don't these @#$%! understand that this was a coordinated nationwide attack on 9/11?!" Thankfully those attacks were fairly tame in the grand scheme of things. But he wasn't wrong. Never forget today is a g/d celebration in many parts of the world who hate our guts.

Benghazi on 9/11/12 was pretty obvious right away to those of use who've seen that phenomenon.

 

[Scott85]

Benghazi on 9/11/12 was pretty obvious right away to those of use who've seen that phenomenon.

I was just thinking about that. I was in the middle East that night attached to NCIS. That night I was on the road patrolling and it was eerily quite and the local population seemed to be hunkered down. Luckily nothing happen but it was enough to keep me on edge all night.

 

[FlatlandHunter]

I was taking a crash report when one of the firefighters walked up to me and told me a plane hit one of the towers. Made it to station to see the second plane hit.

 

[RobertD]

For all of you whose first impulse that day was to find a way to serve your country, thank you.

Third grade for me. Adults at our school were managing to keep the news a secret from all of us children. One fifth grader, one of my little buddy's older cousins actually, arrived late from a dentist's appointment around lunch period and spread the word. The cat was out of the bag. Students who had relatives in or near NYC or DC were crying. School cut out early. My mom picked us up and she was crying too. In my young mind my country was a big place full of wonderful people. I didn't understand how someone could look at a place I loved and want to bring it harm. Get teary eyed thinking about it now.

 

[jlong17]

I was in Jr high. I remember watching it all unfold before headed to school that morning, and then watching it in history class (the only day in school where for over an hour not a kid was talking). I didn’t fully understand at the time how it would change my life forever. It was that day that I decided I would become a firefighter. The images of men and women running to help their fellow citizen was so inspiring. God Bless America.

 

[denverteacher]

I was ten and my dad was flying home from a work trip from LA to Denver. We watched the news and class and we all go sent home early. My dad's flight was redirected to NM, this was before he had a cellphone, so the anxiety of not knowing if he was ok was something that I don't think I will forget. The lawfirm he worked for lost at least one employee as she was at the Pentagon that day. As a teacher now, it is so odd to teach students who were not alive when this happened and I think the magnitude of it is lost on them, just as the magnitude of Pearl Harbor is lost on my generation and others.

 

[duck wrangler]

Not to get off topic, but:

Reading these made me realize we have quite a few service members on this site.

Thank you guys!

 

[NSDQ MT]

I was in Army helicopter flight school at Fort Rucker, AL, in the night vision goggle phase, so still at home watching the news and making breakfast when 9/11 unfolded.

 

[np307]

I was in elementary school. My mom had a conference in DC and we were homeschooled, so my mom, grandma, brother, and I went up for the week. We had turned off the radio and were stuck in traffic several miles outside of DC. We thought it was just a bad accident but then we saw k9 units going by and then national guard units. We turned on the radio to find out what had happened. We used the shoulder to get to an exit and turn around to head home. We stopped in Richmond that evening and at that point I hadn't really comprehended what had happened. I just knew our country had been attacked and that it sounded like we were going to war.

I remember later seeing the footage on the news I think. I remember my dad being so angry and almost crying as he said "they can't do this to us." I've been to DC many times since then. I've been to NY and seen where the towers were. Its still difficult to comprehend how much the world changed that day.