Where were you ?

Gunner46

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My Dad use to tell me about Pearl Harbor. As I kid, I kinda got it, but not really.

I had just gotten back from my deployment (or so it felt) of kicking Sadam's a$$ out of Kuwait.

I was at work, when I heard on the radio about the 1st tower. Thought that was pretty weird.

When the news of the 2nd one came though, I instantly said Bin Laden !! Then I knew the fan just got hit.

Where were you this day in 2001 ?
 
Spangdalem AB, Germany

I was awaiting my A-10A Thunderbolt II to come back from flight, my boss pulled up, said catch the jet and put it to bed asap then get to the office.

Get the jet caught, shutdown, talked to the pilot a min got some insight and did the stuff I need to. Got to the office and we watched TV till our Commander came in and briefed us, we went home, grabbed our 72 hr bags and started our rotations for on call's...
 
At work. Ended up watching coverage in the cafeteria until we heard another plane went down near my place. Tried to call home but couldn't get through. I live about 20 miles from Shanksville and details were sketchy. Confusing and scary time.
 
I was late to my first class of the day my senior year of HS. Walked in and expected to be publicly humiliated as was the norm. Instead the whole class was watching TV with a few people crying. I silently took my seat and watched the news in disbelief...
 
On the way too my tax lady when the first hit, was in her office watching on TV when the second hit. Most helpless feeling I'd ever experienced. Emotions went from awe and sadness to instant anger when the second impacted because it didn't require the mind of a genius to figure what was happening.
 
Colstrip Montana, getting ready to go to work.

My best friend called, I thought he was jacking me around. My wife and I turned on the TV, watching in disbelief as the second plane hit on live TV.
 
Watching interrupted programming getting ready for work....vividly remember watching the 2nd tower impact while they were talking about the first. Horrible feeling.

I fear we are being pc lulled to complacency again.
 
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I was working for GM in Detroit. The FBI was in our building. They scrambled and left within an hour of the attack - concerned another federal agencies would be attacked. GM wasn't concerned and we stayed at work.
 
Was getting ready for work, lived in Paonia, CO at the time. Turned on the TV to eat my breakfast in front of and turned on the tv and the first thing I see is shot of the 1st plane hitting the tower. I wasn't sure what channel it was and I remember thinking "Is This a movie?". About 30 seconds later the plane hit the 2nd tower while they were talking about the first, that's when I realized it was no movie.
 
What a crazy day. I am showing my age but I was in the 7th grade. Our school administration decided it would be best not to tell any of the kid's. I went through the day as just another day. I can vaguely remember the teachers and faculty being a little somber but I had no idea why. A girl came from the orthodontist and was crying but I had no idea why. Our last two classes of the day were when we practiced for football. A large plane flew overhead and my coach made a big deal of it. After practice school got out and my dad picked me up. I remember him saying "pretty amazing day". I didn't know what he meant. He went into it and told me about the attacks and how our country would change. I was 13 and set there in disbelief. I asked if we should go and stock up on ammo. Of course that's is what a 13 year old would think, but living in Nebraska I think we were okay.

Looking back I am a little upset that I was not able to know when it happened. But I remember setting around the tv the rest of the night with my parents and little brother. It was a surreal moment in time to say at the least. I now realize that the plane flying over our head at practice was Air Force One flying from Omaha to Colorado Springs. It is weird to here everyone else's stories of that day and think that I was on a 8-9 delay of reality.
 
My FIL called from Brazil with the news of the first tower, as my wife and I were getting ready for work. Then the second tower hit came and I knew I'd better get in ASAP to the TV station I worked for. The place was on lock down with added security. I was on loan all day to the news department and had to watch those images non-stop. Stunned and sick to my stomach the whole day.

I also think we're falling complacent - though I don't think PC is the cause - and the mantra "We will never forget" has faded for most people.
 
I was working on a superfund site just north of Cincinnati called Skinner landfill. We were putting a cap and interceptor trench in. One of the track hoe operators had his radio on and stopped to tell us. The company I worked for, Earth Tech, had federal contracts for FEMA and OSHA.
Later that afternoon, after the enormity of what happened settled in, our pagers started going off with calls to come and help. I woke up on September 18 with a call from my boss telling me to report to the office, that I was going to New York. My friend showed up as well, receiving the same call.
I ended up going to Utica for a job we had going there and he went to Ground Zero. He was there for over 11 months, throughout the cleanup. I wish I could say he returned the same person, but he didn't, after some of the things he witnessed. I would have gladly went, but I don't regret not being sent. Remember all of the thousands of people that worked there as well.
 
I was in the Alaska bush , did not know what happened until I got picked up by the bush pilot. He was a few days late and brought newspapers for us to read.
 
I had a full day of meetings planned with clients as I had some brass from a major MT. Insurance company in little ole Glasgow. First time most of them had ever been here. They started getting calls from Corporate HQ and one told me what was happening. They had flown into town on a charter and the airspace was shut down and they had to rent a car to return to Helena.

It was a day nothing go done at the office or anywhere in town. Everyone was glued to their TV's, I sent all the office staff home to be with their families and closed up shop to go be with mine.

Nemont
 
I was a sophomore in High School. Woke up and the news was talking about the fire in the first tower. Went to take a leak and my younger brother yells, "Holy Chit!" That 12-old-boy cussing in front of my mother told me something serious had happened. Came out and saw the damage to the second tower.

I remember watching the news in Computer Science later that day and the teacher was really buying in to the mainstream hysteria, advising us when we got home to store and ration water and food. Kind of a strange period of time really.
 
Here's my brother's view. He was in DC. He had worked at the Pentagon until shortly before.

"At work with the US Marshals Service 3 blocks from the Pentagon. Could see smoke from the Pentagon. I'll never forget the sights I saw that day. The Pentagon on fire, US Air Force Fighters flying along Interstate 395 at a very low altitude. Car traffic headed one direction away from DC, no matter what lane they were in. Virginia State Police blocking Interstate ramps that headed into DC. That evening looking into the skies and not seeing any civilian aircraft (normally our skies are full with three major airpots near). The Aircraft I did see were the US Military fighters on patrol. (I never thought I would ever see US Military Aircraft patroling the US airways protecting us.) I'm proud they were there but pissed off, and still am, that they were there. I'LL NEVER FORGET!!!!!!!! "
 
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I was coming back from a successful elk hunt with a nice 6x6 bull. Called the wife when I got cell service, she told me what happened. Instant downer from the incredible high I experienced taking that bull.
 
Sitting in a big briefing room on our main base, when the Commanding General walked in, interupting the brief he told us of the attack. We were locked down for the next 4 days until things got sorted out and we knew what would come next.

It created alot of concern with our families, when we weren't allowed to go home.
 
I woke up late for my HS senior english class to the radio talking about the first tower. I stayed home from school in a sickened panic.

My cousin worked on the 58th story. We didn't know that he was in another building on the 120th floor watching the whole thing. For two days we weren't sure if he had made it out due to the phone crisis.

He lost most of his coworkers and many of his friends and watched it happen.

I worked at summer camps the following years in which some of our kids had lost their parents.

How do you ever come to terms with senseless violence. I'm not sure.
 
Was living in Fairfield, CT (about 50 miles from the WTC) when the phone rang. I sat glued to the TV all day and it literally flew by. It was sureal. Living in a community where many worked in Manhatten it was incredibly somber for several months. My wife treated several PTSD patients that worked in the towers.
 
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

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