Where were you on 9/11?

[Txjake]

Me, I was at work, first few weeks for the US government. Still pissed off. Lost a real friend and mentor LTG Timothy Maude. R.I.P.

[elchivito]

Originally Posted by Txjake

Me, I was at work, first few weeks for the US government. Still pissed off. Lost a real friend and mentor LTG Timothy Maude. R.I.P.

In class. I had left for work at 7am and hadn't had the tv or the radio on so had no idea. When I got to work the office secretary had moved a television into the office. We sent the kids home early that day and closed school the next.

[Dee8go]

I was at work, watching it unfold on the Internet. I went home and watched it over and over all night on TV. I remember talking to my daughters about it and thinking that this would be for them much like the Kennedy assassination was for me. I think they were just about the same age on 9/11 as I was on 11/22/63.

[Air&Road]

I was in my office on the eleventh floor when I saw an email from my wife saying that a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. We then heard of the second plane, then the Pentagon. When they said Pentagon, that's when I lost it. I said "they hit the Pentagon?" loud enough to hear down the hall. Someone told me to "calm down." At that point I was no longer calmable.

The first thing I did after that was to go on the US Army website to find out the maximum enlistment age. If I had been young enough, I would have been at the recruiters the next day.

It was the first time in my life that I understood how they felt on Dec. 7, 1941.

Larry

[davidmash]

It was my day off and I was in bed when a friend called and said a plane crashed into the tower. She did not mention it was a big plane. When I finally got out of bed, the towers were already down.

It was a crappy several months art work for me. I worked for AA at the time and it was hell getting the system working again. We had flight attendants and pilots spread out all over the place.

I remember being out side and going to work for the next few days here in DFW and it being so quiet. Not a plane flying for several days. Very surreal.

Seems that people have taken 9/11 and commercialized it like we do everything else. All these shows on TV. The interviews. New footage ... etc. I'm not saying we need to move on and forget about it but I think we do need to start stepping back from it and realize we are not alone in terrorist attacks. Yes this was one of the worst ones but it is not unique. In that regard, I think it is time to move on.

[pj67coll]

Driving in to work I heard a plane had hit the WTC on the radio. My first thoughts were about the bomber that had flown into the empire state during or just after WWII. I thought it was probably another small plane which had an accident. When I got to work a colleague called and said to look at the news. I opened up a web browser and saw the picture of the burning tower and the fireball from the impact on the second. Realised it was a terror attack soon as I saw that image.

- Peter.

[tbomachines]

It was my first week of classes in high school, nobody knew each other yet. One of the teachers came into my math class and told us about it...we briefly put on the news and watched the second plane hit on live TV. The air was thick as peanut butter, people began scrambling all over the place, some folks hysterical (I was up in CT, so many relatives, family members, friends, were in the towers). The day was just emotionally difficult...not sure how to describe it. Everyone was in between shock, panic, and concern for their loved ones. While its a national tragedy for sure, I always have a difficult time describing it to people who didn't know anyone lost in the attacks, only saw it on the news, etc. I can't believe it was 10 years ago already.

R.I.P. those who died on 9/11/2011 and those who have died since as a result of it.

[Billybob]

Originally Posted by davidmash

I'm not saying we need to move on and forget about it but I think we do need to start stepping back from it and realize we are not alone in terrorist attacks. Yes this was one of the worst ones but it is not unique. In that regard, I think it is time to move on.

Who is it that doesn't realize "we are not alone in terrorist attacks"?

Not unique? Can anyone provide a comparable example of a terrorist attack that was similar in some way?

Here's someone's compendium of terror attacks that might provide some perspective:

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/wrjp255i.html

Most significant to less significant

Date , event, fatalities, and injuries

11 Sep 2001 crashing of hijacked planes into World Trade Center, New York City, New York, Pentagon in Alexandria, Virginia, and site in Pennsylvania, USA 2,993 8,900

14 Aug 2007 multiple car bombings in Al-Qataniyah and Al-Adnaniyah, Iraq 520 1,500

20 Aug 1978 arson of theater in Abadan, Iran 477 ?

1-3 Sep 2004 hostage taking at school in Beslan, Russia (includes 30 terrorists killed) 366 747

23 Jun 1985 mid-air bombing of Air India flight off Ireland, and attempted bombing of second flight in Canada 331 4

12 Mar 1993 15 bombings in Bombay, India 317 1,400

8 Aug 1998 truck bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Saalam, Tanzania 303 4,954

23 Oct 1983 truck bombings of U.S. Marine and French barracks, Beirut, Lebanon 301 161

22 Sep 1997 attack at Ben Talha, Algeria 277 ?

30 Dec 1997 attack at Ami Moussa, Algeria 272 ?

21 Dec 1988 mid-air bombing of Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland 270 12

I was at home that morning with the TV on in the background because there was a late tide that day. I had actually been down in Manhattan about 5 blocks from the WTC delivering to the Fulton Fish Market about six or seven hours earlier. As business effectively collapsed for the week or so I lost about $10K on stripped bass and whole live scallops that could not be sold but luckily I was able to get back down there to recover most of the shellfish I had delivered that night, minus the tap of course! I was not so lucky with about $25K worth of IQF surf clams (hoki gai) that had just left from Boston enroute to South Korea that ended up defrosting and spoiling on the runway in Wichita after flights where grounded and the ground services where overwhelmed by the number of planes on the tarmac that needed auxiliary power. I hadn't been fishing tuna at the time so it could have been potentially even worse.

My oldest daughter was home and as soon as it became clear – the second plane, reports of others, scrambled fighter I told her I knew it was jihadi and new the world would never be the same. It was and it hasn’t. Much later that day I learned that a very close friend of many years who worked for Dun & Bradstreet in WTC 1 had managed to run down the 14 floors of stairs after taking off her high heels and made it out and away from the buildings before they collapsed.

[Honus]

I was driving to work, listening to Howard Stern on the radio. I don't recall whether they made any jokes about it, but I also don't recall there being much alarm about the whole thing until they got the report on the second plane. The weather was incredibly beautiful that week.

[G-Benz]

Wife and I stopped for coffee on the way to work. Wife mentioned hearing about a crash at one of the towers. By the time we got back in the car, we heard about the second one. The second one I feared, indicated a terrorist attack!

CNN was on all day at work. Everyone was stoic, glued to TVs, not doing any other work.

Our building is near the DFW flight path, and it was eerie to not see or hear any aircraft fly that day...or week!

And yeah, the skies were blue with not a cloud in sight!

[SwampYankee]

I was just walking into our monthly board meeting when my wife called to say that a plane had crashed into the WTC. Speculation was that it was a commuter or sightseeing flight gone wrong. We started our meeting when our bookkeeper interrupted to say that a second commercial airliner had hit the second tower and the talk of a terrorist plot had begun. We convened the meeting, informed the employees of what happened and sent them all home. I spent the rest of the day glued to the tv, watching the footage and the subsequent crashes. It took everything I had to keep it together since I figured I had to stay strong for my wife and kids.

We lost a long-time family friend and three HS alumni in the towers. The friend was there for the first time for a meeting. The three alumni worked there.

Judy Keene, wife of Richard Keene (they and their kids have been family friends for 30+ years, he coached all of us at various times in every sport), and her sons have worked tirelessly in the aftermath in his memory by setting up a foundation that puts on sports clinics, sponsors youth sports leagues and renovated the community center sports facilities as a memorial to all who perished that day.

She was the first private citizen in the country to secure a couple beams for use in the memorial (one beam stands outside and one is mounted on a wall inside the gymnasium) and I believe she was the first private citizen to be allowed into the hangers containing all of the artifacts from that day.

[Botnst]

At a GA airport going through preflight when the FBO guy came in and said, "An airliner flew into a a skyscraper in New York." We all crowded itno the lounge and watched, speculating on how a pilot and crew could screw-up so badly.

Then the second hit.

Not an accident.

[MercFan]

Was in Europe visiting my family there... a neighbor ran to the house we were staying and knocked on the door to tell us to turn on the TV because something very bad is going on in NYC... we were glued to it and speechless for a long time. Some cried. That night the local TV station had broadcast the mournful message and requested that everyone burn a little candle in solidarity for the American people. It was a sad yet beautiful sight that night....

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by MercFan

That night the local TV station had broadcast the mournful message and requested that everyone burn a little candle in solidarity for the American people. It was a sad yet beautiful sight that night....

It was nice for that 3 month or so stretch when we all got along.

[pawoSD]

I was a Sophomore in HS, heard what happened in the last 20 mins of my first block of the day, Concert Band class. The rest of the day was spent watching the news in the following classes.

My band teacher died of a heart attack in our band room during our exam in Jan 2002. Not the best year.