9/11, Where were you, what were you thinking?

watching from my office window. saw the second plane hit and called my wife to tell her to stay home (she works a few blocks from the towers).

I spent the morning staring out the window while I tried to call family and friends to ensure the safety of the people I knew that were in harm's way. I lost 3 friends that day. The city lost 100's and gained a newfound sense of togetherness. It lasted about a month.

I was actually asleep when it all started, but friends who were back from college woke me up and told me to check out the TV. I must have drank the night before or something because it took a minute or two to engage the brain and wrap it around what was going down. First plane hit and I thought it was a colossal screwup, second one hit and it was cemented in my brain that it was no accident. My following thoughts were basically like the planets aligning, I had told friends for long that we couldnt go without a real attack on our own soil, and I had the reinforcing proof right on the TV every 5 minutes between yapping newscasters.

I turned on the television to watch the news that morning like i always do and found it was immediately after the first plane had hit. While watching, everything after the first plane was happening basically in "real time"....

I was surprised, confused, and most of all appalled...and when the first Tower came down, i was told later by my family...who were also watching these things come to pass, that i said out loud..."Oh my God, they did it...they really did it..."

the feeling i had was hollow...just hollow...because tho i couldn't explain it...somehow, i instinctively KNEW who did it...and it wasn't a foreign source that was responsible.

as the day wore on...and i watched the footage of Bush sitting in that Class Room with those kids, which btw the man could have excused himself from without much disruption to the childrens regular classroom routine had he wanted to, it only strengthened the feelings i was having that it was an "inside job"...

The diversion was a necessity for the agenda of the Bush Administration to further it's demand for the backing of the American People for continuing on with their pre-emptive strike plans on Iraq...such diversions have been perpetratied all through history by the US Government...and this was just one more.

That day was a sad day and a black mark to this country...

~oracle

[edit on 17-12-2004 by Oracle]

Funny, Im going to tell you a story that Rosanne the actress told in an interview once:

She actually didnt know anything about 9/11 for nearly a week!!! I guess she went on some kind of retreat in one of her homes and complely disconnected herself. No phone, TV, internett, anything. I usually dont care for her very much, but the story was fascinatiing. Imagine something that huge in our countries history, in an age where news travels the globe in seconds and somebody in the thick of things didnt know for nearly a week. Crazy.

Iwoke at 5am that morning to our Prime Minister on the TV, and all I caught
was him saying that this was a sad day in History that someone would
do this, my first reaction was that Australia had been attacked.

Untill I got up and turned on CNN, I can still remember the shock on the
US news anchors faces.

I was commuting to work listening to z100 when they first broke the news that a plane had hit the world trade center. They said it was a small bi-plane and at first i thought to myself, what a horrible accident, probably some stunt that went bad.

Then right after the first a second plane hit the world trade center and i knew that we were under attack.

But who would attack us? At first i thought that it could be the work of domestic terrorists...since this wasn't too long after the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Then the pentagon was hit with a plane and i knew that it was an attempt to criple our intelligence. Domestic terrorists would not hit the pentagon...this had to be foreign.

At first i felt horror for the tragedy that took place that day. Then later i said, "whoever did this has some seriously big balls to attack America."

Because of the crude use of planes as missiles and not bombs or actual missiles, I figured that it was an attack by Iraq.

i was wrong about that...but they paid for it anyway.

It was a slow morning at the military hospital I worked at. I had just been plugged into a empty pint during our by-monthly blood clinic .
The technician gasped and pointed at the TV. CNN was on. She turned my cot so that I could see what had happened. It was a replay of the first strike.

Within a few minutes it became very busy at the clinic, and it seemed to everyone that what we were giving suddenly became much more important.

I remember i was working in a small town way up north in canada. I had just gotten off of night shift and went to bed before anything had happened. Later on in the day i woke up to the sound of Fighter jets streaking over head at high speed.. ive heard them before but they had never been that loud. As soon as i turned on the news i was in shock and felt like the world was going crazy.

The towers had already been hit and collapsed and then they said the pentagon was hit and on fire. When i heard that I thought the world was at war and something was gonna happen but i didnt know what. A few minutes after that I learned that the jets i heard fly over were heading to the yukon to intercept a passenger jet that wasnt responding to radio calls. Thats when I realized that this event wasnt just affecting N.Y.C. it was the world. I can honestly say that for that day I was affraid that the world would be at war within hours.

[edit on 17-12-2004 by North Rider]

I was running late to work, stuck in traffic towards one of the two matching towers that I worked in. I've never much been a fan of pop music, so I kept the dial pretty much on NPR/PRI 90.1 as 820 took me closer to Fort Worth, a man on the radio interrupted the current news story and began talking about how a plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center. He didn't know much about what was going on... no one did. I winced slightly... thinking there would be another controversy about some drunken pilot, and a bunch of media hubbub that turned an unfortunate tradgedy into a circus sideshow. The reporter was about to sign off and turn the news back over to the news anchor when a very audible booming sound could be heard through his microphone, and a few moments of nothing. An anxious news anchor asked if the reporter was okay. No response. They asked again after a few seconds pause, and then the reported excitedly started saying that another plane had slammed into the neighboring tower. As traffic began to slow down more and more, I remember thinking

"My... God. What are the odds? One in a billion? One in a trillion? What kind of freak luck that two planes would each fly into both of the World Trade Center towers, and within mere minutes of each otherOhMyGoditwasn'tanaccident!!!"

And there 820 came to a stop, as realization dawned upon everyone else on the freeway. Some could no longer drive, they could only pull over and weep, call a loved one, or sit there, confused and shocked. And through the windshield, I saw what I was headed towards...



Two matching towers, built by the Bass brothers, the financial center of Fort Worth, TX...and my workplace.

After a bit, people regained enough of their wits to drive. The reporters were now saying that the FAA had grounded all flights until further notice, and the dread grew within me. Our CEO, a good man, who spent most of his time in the air in the company jet, whom I had the pleasure to meet and admire, would be shot down if he didn't land. He wasn't one to keep abreast of the news, but was much more likely to either be asleep from hard travelling, or in the middle of a meeting. I wanted nothing more than to go home, to turn my car around, buy up bottles of water and non-perishable foods, and wait for the crisis to end, but I knew he had to be warned. As I stepped out of the car and walked towards the tower I worked in, I wondered if at any moment, one of the many many planes circling the Metroplex might crash into the building I was about to enter.

As it turned out, the cause for concern over the CEO was unneccesary. His secretary had come in early and liked to keep the radio on. She'd gotten ahold of him in time. And so my work day began, but the work did not. We crowded around the television, too shocked for words. As we watched, one of the flaming towers collapsed. A lady behind me began to cry. Her husband was on business to the World Trade Center, and she did not know which tower he was in. She prayed that he was not in the one that fell. We joined hands and prayed with her. Though I wasn't a Christian, it seemed the right thing to do...

...that's when the second tower collapsed, and we could watch no more. Perhaps the Powers That Be found our prayers displeasing, or perhaps they just wanted to give her a definite answer--I do not know which. It was a horrible feeling, and I wondered who I might know that would be in the Towers. Eventually we got back to work. Not because anyone told us to, but because it was the only thing we could do to remain sane. We needed something to keep us busy, to stop thinking about the fact that at any moment, we might join the victims of what would later be called 9/11.

I was assigned to installing DSLs that day, in people's homes. It was a huge relief, because it meant that once I finished the job, I could go home that day, and there was only one to be installed. So I left, drove across the city until I got to my destination and set up our employee for DSL. I made the obligatory call, expecting the "Head on home, we'll see you tomorrow" and instead was called back more towards what I was certain would be my permanent resting place...



Four more times that day I was sent out, and called back, every time the Bass Towers looked more and more ominous. Every time a jet flew by (of which there were many that day) I was certain one of them was headed for the building. As it turns out, none ever hit it, and that night, I returned home, safe and sound, even if I was a nervous wreck.

There is more to the story, but it happened in later days, and is off-topic for the most part, so I shall end it here. I'm a grown man, 29 now, and I'm not ashamed to admit it was the most terrifying day of my life. If it was terrifying for me, I can only imagine what it was like for those inside the World Trade Center that day. How anyone could ever commit such an act is still beyond me to this day.

Though I was sad and sick to my stomach about the
whole thing I knew that sooner or later someone would bring
the fight to our front door. I don't remember having any fear or anything
like that but I remember the impact it made on me.


geo


[edit on 12/17/2004 by geocom]

I was in class unknown of the period i was in the bathroom and students started being called to report to the main office like 30-40 kids were being called over the intercom but i didnt know this cause i was in the bathroom at the time.. then i got out of the bathroom and heard my name and reported to the main office to see whats up then i was told what happened i was shocked like hell for my safety i left the school watched the news saw what happened recorded it (its history!!)
called up my dad because he was driving in new york city because hes a public bus driver he was on 26th street and 5th when the plane flew over his bus and another driver came over the cb radio and said thats a direct hit!! and my father turned the bus off route and came onto the brooklyn bridge right before it got backed up..hes lucky! it was good to hear that he wasnt hurt then i just wacthed the news and put on my police scanner and was listening to everything going on..



[edit on 17-12-2004 by ShadowMan]

The company I work for makes and sells software for archives, and I was in the Portuguese military archive, one of our clients, when someone entered the room and said that a plane had hit one of the towers. We had just returned from lunch and so we went to watch it on TV. We were watching for 1 or 2 minutes when the second plane hit the second tower.

I do not remember very well our reactions at the time.
I thought it impressive, but I did not had any special feelings about it, but usually I do not react much to big events.

The director of the archive, who is a Lieutenant-Colonel and was one of the organisers of the revolution that ended the fascist regime in Portugal in 1974 said something about the probable response from the US but I cannot remember what he said.

The next week we went there again, but then the security had been heightened, but not by much.

The archive building also houses a military museum and some services from the Portuguese army head-quarters.

The next day my wife and I were scheduled to start a three-week vacation in Greece and Turkey, and had already packed. It was going to include some scuba diving, and I had just finished a hurry-up certification course and needed my last open-water dive to get my certification. So I'd come in for a half-day at work; when I saw the second plane hit, I knew our vacation was not to be.

The most common single emotion at work was rage, not just at the terrorists but that they were all Boeing aircraft; I felt just as violated at that as I had felt when I'd come home ten years earlier to find that my house had been robbed.

I went ahead and met the diving instructor for my final checkout dive, and my PADI certification is dated 11 September 2001. Of course, they'd cancelled all flights out of the country, and, since all our hotels reservations, side tours, etc. were impacted, we ended up missing the vacation completely.

Fortunately, we did buy vacation insurance and got our money back, although it took about nine months to get it back.

I was working at a highly secure facility when it happened and we were in a lock-down faster than I could say boo.
I didn't get home until around 7:00 that night; after men in suits checked us out one at a time.

As I sat there watching the endless replays of the attack on TV, my daughter, who was almost a year old, decided that this was a good time to present to the world that she could walk. I have her first steps on video, with news coverage going in the background.

I was saddened that terrorism had found its way to America, as I naively hoped that it would never come. It changed so many aspects of our culture overnight. Like most Americans, I was shocked at the vivid realization of what had happened and I was among those who screamed for blood. I supported military action against the Taliban then and still do today.


bg

My husband and I were still asleep since Phoenix isn't on DST. The cell phone rang and it was my best friend, in Texas, calling. She was screaming so hysterically that I could hear her across the room. The was saying" The Twin Towers have been hit and so has the Pentagon. We are at war." We immediately turned on the tv, of course, and it was just too much for me to handle. My church is only a block away, so I bolted out of the house and went to the church to pray. I will never forget the swerving cars and dazed drivers as I crossed Central Ave. After praying for a bit, I came home and my husband screamed "Come in here, the towers have collapsed." I don't know what I did then. I guess watched in stunned silence. Then, I remembered that my brother was supposed to be visiting one of his company's offices in the WTC that morning. Thus began an all day attempt to reach him. Fortunately, he'd caught an earlier flight to Dallas and was safely at work. At noon, our time, I went to mass and I'll never forget how shaken the priest was. I remember thinking "Whoa, this is really bad if the Priest can't even keep it together." I kept waiting to hear from the President. I guess I wanted some reassurance.
I think I've suppressed most of the tv images of that day. I can only remember how strange it was to NOT hear planes landing nearby and, every hour or so, hearing the fighter jets flying low over the city.
As a child of the Cold War, I couldn't help but think about my childhood days of "duck and cover" and how that wasn't going to be of much help.
joey

I was on leave from fort riley kansas. I had only been in the military a little over a year at that time. I was at my mother in laws house in bed when I got woke up my wifes family screaming. That is when I found out.

Of course I was scared crapless that I would be going somewhere soon. It was bad as my leave ended on september 13, 2001. I had to travel the 12th to get back to my post. Fortunatly I had driven. I stayed at a hotel in st. louis missouri. A nice one across from the arch. I asked for a miltary discount and the guy asked me if I had been called back to my post. I said no my leave was ending anyways. The dude put way up on a top floor in a room right next to the indoor pool. Awesome.

Well I worked my butt of after this fixing my units trucks as I am a army mechanic. We prepared to go for awhile working to 6am to 9pm quite a bit. Then I got orders to go to korea in march 2003 when the war broke out. So needless to say I never have been to iraq. I spent one year in korea. I came back in june to here in fort eustis,va. The unit I am in right now has sent people to iraq but not deployed as a unit. I didn't get picked because I had just returned from korea. But now of course I am up for grabs. It's just a waiting game I guess.

i was at work,caring for world war 2 and vietnam vets. it was emotional. some of my vet alzheimer's patients were asking for orders from their commanders,some were ransacking their rooms,looking for weapons. it was crazy to say the least.

I was in 8th grade. I first heard during orchestra, 2nd period, around 9:00. When this happened we did not realize the seriousness. Many people even joked. We first thought it was a small plane that crashed into the Empire State Building and it was nothing serious. Then word came in that a large airliner was being reported as highjacked. At this point we stopped playing when we connected the two together. Then we got word that a second plane had hit the other tower. The period ended and then we went to 3rd period. Then there was a new rumor that a plane had hit the pentagon. Then later during the period, the principal got on the PA and anounced what had happened. You could hear the fear in her voice as it shaked. Next period was the first time I got to see it with my own eyes. When I saw the images I was shaken. I could not believe what I saw. It looked like something out of a movie. Then there was a new rumor that a bomb was on a plane in cleveland ( I live in a suburb of Cleveland). All the buildings in downtown were evacuated and it was mass chaos. They showed video of the plane on the runway. Luckily, this was just a false rumor. Then next period I learned that the buildings had collapsed. I couldn't believe it. This was when it really seemed to become serious to me. The rest of the day I just remember fearing further attacks. I was greatly saddened; I think the most out of anyone I could see. That day seemed to go on forever.

I was alseep when the first plane hit then my friend called me and told me about it. Then iI picked him up and we went to circut city and then the liqur store. Later that day I went to take a test for my g.e.d. What a day

The 10th, I was at work for Inventory. I went in at 8PM, and being in the Restaurant Biz, I had to do all my numbers before we closed, then count and weigh every single piece of food, and Alcohol and come up with My Food Cost and such. Many a moon and Many Many Many a beverage later, I was out the door at 7am, I got home around 8am on the 11th. This happens twice a month, so my Wife would take off work and let me sleep in till about 3-4Pm. I remember I had just fallen asleep and she starts shaking me, and I said "What the *Expletive* is wrong with you?!?!!" and she said "Check this *Expletive*ing *Expletive* out!!!" Meanwhile our 1 year old is staring at me and I was Like "Why are you cursing in front of our daughter?" Then she grabbed my head and pointed it at the TV.... I was dumbfounded and speechless. about 1 minute later the second Plane hit... I wanted to leave and go up to NY...She stopped me and we watched TV all day. I was up for at least 50hrs straight, I couldn't comprehend it. My wife was getting dressed and our daughter was watching "Blues Clues" on nickelodeon which was channel 23, and she was playing with the remote and hit the channel up to 24, which was CNN. If she had not done that I wouldn't have witnessed the second plane hit "live", which really did me in.

To this day I still can not figure everything out, which is one reason I found ATS.

*I can't Spell

[edit on 17-12-2004 by TrickmastertricK]