Where were you or what were you doing when it happened on sept 11?

I was nearly finished work. (UK)
Had been out with a work colleague delivering all day, and we were nearly back at the depot.
We had the radio on, and a news article came on, saying that a plane had hit one of the towers of the wtc.
It gave no indication of the scale of the incident, or size of plane. In my mind, i pictured a small light aircraft incident, similar to things that had happenes in the past.
i remember my first words distinctly to my work mate, and in hindsight, feel pretty sickened by them.
i turned to my work mate and jokingly said (and remember i had no idea of the scale of this at the time) "i bet a plane crashes into the second tower because he is so busy rubber necking at the first crash" (rubber necking is taking a good look as you drive past an incident, taking your eyes off the road in front).
Felt sick when i heard the scale of it, especially when the second plane hit.

When I saw the first plane crashing into the tower, I thought it was an accident, until I saw the second one...

a reply to: Substracto

I think we all thought that

a reply to: Macenroe82

I was woken early by a phone call from my mom, a grade school teacher, who was letting me know and looking for news beyond what they were getting from am radio (with several other teachers gathered around - lots of "holy #'s" and "oh f's" flying around that elementary school while we were on the phone.)

I turned on CNN while on the phone and saw the second plane expertly steered into the tower. Once i got off the phone, i went to talk to my just-waking brother, who flipped his radio on to the Mancow show. Eventually we heard their response to the collapse, and given the nature of the radio show and the unexpected collapse, were initially appalled they would joke that way. Ran to the tv and sure enough, it was real.

I worked an entry level schedule 10:30-7p at the time. I stopped for cigarettes to replace the pack i tossed when i quit 12 hrs earlier. Thought to myself, "do people really need to die to test my resolve? If so, bleep it, i fold, give me a pack."

By the time i was near work, according to the news radio, congress was gone, wiped out by another plane, the Pentagon was hit, and there were reports the white house was hit. I cut into the last gas station before the office & filled up. I think it was around $2.30/gal. 2 hours later, it was $4.85 and there were long lines.

I sat in my car in the parking garage, deciding whether it was time to bug out to live a life of surviving an invasion and/or anarchy. Eventually, it was known that the government was still there and the capitol building didn't have a scratch on it. I went in to work and basically got paid to search for obscure news sites whose bandwidth limitations hadn't been reached yet.

Shortly thereafter, we knew that Osama bin Laden, aided by Saddam Hussein, was the perpetrator. Mountains of human bodies and trillions of dollars later, and al Queda looks like a charitable organization compared to what the world is now facing.

Abject Failure. 14 years of bad decisions.

september 11th, 2001 Parris Island, SC. 3rd battalion, Lima company, platoon 3076. At 0200 we stepped off for the crucible, the final event before earning the title of United States Marine. I took my position as 1st squad leader and we put boots to pavement.
Daylight was well broken, and training was halted, all recruits ordered to the thunder dome, a special construct for protection from lightning within 5 miles. Our company commander ordered us to sit down. He did not pace, or directly contact the eyes of any young man. He informed us that 2 passenger jets had just impacted the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and another had crashed in Pennsylvania. An order was issued for any recruits that had direct family working in the trade center to come forward to call their families. All of the companies drill instructors pulled their personal cell phones from their pockets and handed them to the young men who came forward.
The words "we're going to war" began to quickly spread throughout the seated platoons. Followed by "we're all 311's now, regardless what we signed up for". An hour passed, and we returned to the crucible.
On Thursday, September 13, 2001, 0800, Lima company stood on the parade deck. I was the first to receive my eagle, globe, and anchor. The green grass never fooled me, and it never changed my mind. The Warriors breakfast did little, but to fill my gut. Hours later, alone, I marched myself over to the dental facility, where I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled at once, and spent the next week in a Vicodin induced sleep, waking up only to change a bloody pillow case, or eat, or use the head.
I still knew nothing. It wouldn't be until 21 September, that I saw my first newspaper, standing in line at Walmart to buy some civilian attire. My mother was with me, and I saw a horrific image of a man apparently committing suicide jumping from a skyscraper. I asked rather sternly what happened, and a 10 meter radius around me went silent as my mother explained to me those events.
Everything I know of those events are retold, edited, or screwed and chopped versions; with the exception of my own.

a reply to: Macenroe82

I woke up excited as I could be as it was my b day. I ran downstairs for breakfast and all I heard was my mom crying. So I went in the living room and asked what's wrong. She told me that a plane flew into one of the wtc towers. Just then I looked at the screen and said "that plane is flying really low" as it flew off screen. 5 seconds later the second plane hit.

That was the first 30 seconds of my 14th birthday.

It was such a crazy day I woke up getting ready for work, while watching the news and then saw it all happen. The crazy part is that I had a family member from out the country visiting me and they were suppose to stop in NY and I thought it was there plane. My heart just dropped, but found out it was her plane. RIP to all the people who suffered that day. You can hurt us, beat us up But America will always stand strong!

a reply to: burkevalocks

It WAS her plane?!
Or did you mean wasn't?

I was sitting in my tenth grade English class getting ready for class to start when we heard about the news. In fact, we didn't even know it was happening until one of the other teachers in the building called our teacher and have the television turned on. Since we turned the television on late, I think we turned onto CNN, so we didn't see the second one get hit until after the replays of it being hit started to be played. As we were sitting there watching this all unfold. It just seemed like everything around us almost came to a complete stop. Whatever anyone was doing in that entire school at that moment was just put down and forgot about.

As we kept our eyes transfixed on the television screen for what seemed like an eternity. We weren't aware that the two tallest buildings in the United States were going to collapse right in front of not only our eyes but everyone that was watching this. We weren't aware of the people jumping from the upper floors of the building. Unless you were in New York City, you didn't know that people were jumping rather than being suffocated. No one knew what else was going to happen for the rest of the day as it all unfolded.

Where were you or what were you doing when it happened on sept 11?


In shock wondering where my Mother was, If she made it out of the second tower. One year earlier was the last time I'd see her. I was in California, and didn't go to work that day, waiting for news. News that never came.

There is a headstone next to my Dads grave in Utah..... it is Hers.

a reply to: Plotus

I am so sorry Plotus.

Like many others, I'll never forget that moment.

I was in Kosovo at the time, as a Dept of Defense intel consultant to SpecOps 10th group. We were at a nearby KFOR base used by the Greeks, and I was in a meeting with the officers when a flustered Greek soldier just barged in. In a thick accent he said, "Americas, Americans, come quick!"

So we followed them to their mess hall where soldiers from different nations stood around, watching a few small TVs. We walked in just as the first building collapsed. The feeling was surreal, it took us all a few moments to realize we were not watching a movie.

We had about 15 minutes to talk to them all and watch before we got radioed to turn back in, but what made it even more strange is all these Germans, Spaniards, French, Greeks, along us Americans watching this together -- all in total disbelief. We all knew the world was about to change.


Khar

I was away from home attending a training course . I woke up dressed and went next door to a workmates room to see if he was ready and he was sitting on the end of the bed glued to the tv so i went in to see one of the towers collapsing . I t was a replay as i live in Australia . I remember asking him , what movie are you watching . It had to be a movie right , things like this just dont happen . Sadly i was wrong .

I was picking up my two youngest kids from school, and had all the mothers rush up to me in front, coming to kiss me and say "I am so sorry for you!"

I was perplexed and asked why. Someone said, there's been an attack upon your country! New York has been attacked!

I was sure there was a misunderstanding. Something had gotten lost in translation somewhere. I grabbed the kids and headed home.

My eldest was sitting in front of the tv, and turned with wide eyes to say, "Did you SEE this???"

I saw a plane sticking out of one of the Twin Towers, and flames. I was flabbergasted. For some reason, I made the assumption I was watching this live, in real time. We saw another flying by in the background, and with my usual inappropriate humor that spurts out sometimes to relieve stress, I said, "..and that one is going to fly into the other building."

Then it did. I was frozen, breathless. (and feeling guilty about my smartass joke). We watched the whole rest of the day, the fall.... the chaos. For weeks, people around showed me sympathy here, as I was (for most) the only american they knew. I was just as freaked out as any other american, and feeling personally attacked and insecure.

Then I talked on the phone with my father, and he said, "We Americans thank you for your sympathy."
That comment became as big for me as seeing that skyscraper fall, internally.

Up to that point, I had refused to integrate French society. I clung to my american thought patterns, values and beliefs. I did not take french nationality, I did not get a french drivers license (I illegally drove only with my Calif. one, in a silent show of defiance). I was still sure I was going to go back home still.

But with that comment, I realized I never would. The doors were closed. My family, my country, my origins, had rejected me, and my identification as American was only in my head. For them, I was not included anymore.


So while my family saw that day as marking their change to being paranoid, opinionated, religious, right wing, it marked the moment I mourned the loss of my roots, and began the process of getting the french nationality, drivers license, and a job here, with the view of the rest of my life outside the closed doors of America.

a reply to: Sremmos80

Same exact situation for me also. It was a school day morning and it was on the news before I got on the bus. I was in 6th grade.

I missed the day. I was on a military exercise out of civilisation and came back into a movie. I remember only bits and pieces like a guy yelling something about 50.000 potential victims and a strong feeling that I have to resist mass hysteria flooding from TV and everyone around me.
I remember guys watching the Fahrenheit 9/11 a few years later (in the military lol) and the deja vu feeling. My inner voice was right and even now it was telling me it's not a complete truth either. I can force myself to live on the same planet but I never run with the crowds without checking my heart rate. Ten years later I was on ATS. No question 9/11 made my way here. Now I think these "in a plain sight" conspiracy theories are a hidden conspiracy itself to lead the world into hate and war with the US and Israel. Even if something is the truth there use to be a lie behind it and a hidden truths and lies behind this lie.
RIP 9/11. We need to move on.