posted on Sep, 11 2012 @ 07:10 AM
ATS, it is once again the anniversary of that tragic and fateful day. I would like to hear your stories about where you were and what you were doing
when you learned the world had been changed forever.
September 11, 2001 at 9:00 A.M. central U.S. time. Location- rural central Indiana.
This was during my time in service, one of my battle buddies had broken a leg and was on crutches. A recent storm had damaged the roof of his home,
and it needed repaired. So some of us from my unit had gone to help him out and repair it. We had been tearing off the old shingles so we could lay
new ones, when about 2 hours in my buddy came limping out and said " guys some crazy # is going down!, someone just crashed a plane into one of the
twin towers!"
We all looked at eachother and kind of shrugged it off you know, like wow, that's #ty for everyone there. At the time we only thought it was a small
cesna type plane at the time. So we just keep working. About 30 mins later he comes back out and says "guys another plane hit the other tower". At
which point we all froze, not saying anything yet, just looking at eachother. It takes time for this kind of info to sink in. When all of a sudden the
realization hit us. "There is no way that could be on accident" said one of my section members.
When my buddy came back out and said "they were both passenger liners, THEY WERE BIG PLANES!"
I was looking up, when I realized what seemed wrong to me hit me like a ton of bricks. I said to my buddies" did anybody notice there are no planes
in the air?" ( in central indiana there are always at any one time, at least 7 or 8 planes clearly visible in the clear sky above your head.)
This sent off shockwaves through us all, we were all visibly shaken, when my section Sgt.-------- pulled out his phone and said, " I am gonna call
the unit and see what they say"
That's when it happened. His phone wrang, then my phone wrang, while I was on the phone, everyones phones started wringing, one after another. We all
got the same message.
"You have 1 hour to report to your station with all of your gear!" We pointed out to our unit commander that most of us were over an hour away to
which he ordered us " drive faster! Do not stop, we will take care of the police when you arrive if necessary!"
That's when we saw the price of gas, it had hit $5.00 a gallon already at almost every station we passed. The lines were already out of the lots onto
the streets.
Upon arriving at our station, we were put on 100% lockdown, a straight shKedown inspection immediately took place, then they started issueing weapons.
As a 24 year old with 2 very young children and a young wife at home that I hadn't even talked to yet I was petrified, fear is just not a strong
enough word. For my emotional state.
They confinscated our cell phones and told us to make ready for immediate march orders. Even the grizzled old timers who were some grim faced
inglorious bastards, were visibly shaken, which sent wave of sheer terror through us younger guys.........