911- 20 years later, where were you?

[bykfixer]

I still remember a concrete mixer driver saying "hey man some nut just commited suicide by flying his plane into a building in New York". A bit later he says "you know how the news exagerates but they just said another plane flew into another building" "man those news people are stupid". I was watching a contractor placing concrete for sidewalk next to a road being widened.

Shortly after that a VDOT truck pulls up and says they have to stop working because America is under attack. By then the concrete mixer truck driver was nervously saying another plane had crashed into the Lincoln Memorial or White House or something.

I remember thinking "yikes, how many more? Is it North Koreans, radical Americans? Who could it be doing this?" Later that day a fellow riding a bicycle selling American flag bandanas rode through our project and quickly sold all he had.

I still have it.

 

[scout24]

I had called off that day, our washing machine was leaking like crazy. Bad water pump. There is an appliance part store a half mile from where I worked, so I drove down anyway. Bought my part, it was coffee break time so I figured I'd stop in to BS. Watched what was going on on the TV in our office. Got in my car and drove towards home in a hurry, calling my best friend that I had served with overseas. Three hours time difference out west, but he woke up and answered my call. Told him to turn on the TV and what was going on. There was a lot of cursing and yelling back and forth. I got home and just stared at the television for what felt like hours. I wasn't in NYC, but driving home could see smoke from the towers across north New Jersey from the NYS Thruway. Never Forget...

 

[bykfixer]

911 is the Pearl Harbor for our generation Scout. We will NEVER forget.

 

[scout24]

I so hope that you're right, Mr. Fixer. It's not just that we can't forget, we need to teach a new generation not only about 9/11, but about September 12th. Unity. Common purpose. We were Americans before anything else. One people. Brothers. All the noise that seperated us faded away. THIS needs to be the take away. We need to get there again... God willing.

 

[bykfixer]

Yesterday I was saddened by the state of the nation in terms of people being united. But then again, yesterday I listened to the news.

Later I drowned my sorrows with a chocolate milkshake and a delicious grilled chicken breast and thought "Bin Laden got in a good punch but lost the fight".

 

[3_gun]

Just got home from work. Started LMAO at the idiot talking heads of the main stream media. Had no doubt it was an outside attack 2 minutes into the first "real" report after they dropped the lost pilot/site seeing plane story lines. OBL had been on my radar since the 92 bombing. Guys at work asked why I wasn't working for the FBI if I knew so much. Even then I spent more time on foreign news sites than I did porn.

Had a meeting at work that night about the day & was asked for my thoughts (LOL) All I could say wasn't it wasn't over & wouldn't be for a long time. When the say they want us dead or enslaved it's not exaggeration. It's not politics for them it's a calling. Sadly most still won't believe that simple truth

 

[raggie33]

i left my body for a bit that day i can only desribe it as shock. a deep sadness then when we killed bin laddin we was told not to celebrate . **** that i celebrated

 

[orbital]

+

Living in Colorado, turned on my small tv & thought the same as everyone else in our country=======

Quick story around the grounding of all air traffic ::

Being at 8000' there were mountain passes all over, then I hear a sound like I never heard before.
Stepped out to my back yard area, just then!!!
It was a fighter jet in FULL AFTERBURNER sent from Colorado Springs to intercept a plane that defied local air traffic controller
& took off anyway.
This jet was maybe only 500~800' off the ground; that seems high up enough, but in full afterburner, it felt right over my head.
Visualizing it and remembering that sound still gives me chills....

___________

Add: as many may know, there is an Air Force base in Colo. Springs (I'm sure the command to the pilot was VERY straightforward)
this all was explained a couple days later in the local paper.

 

[knucklegary]

Early news footage, the images of people jumping to their deaths to avoid being burned alive.. The terror of those who were trapped in elevators as buildings collapsed
I hope Americans never forget!

 

[raggie33]

its one of the reason i am into flashlights i always thought to self what if i had to help others escape the darkness of the staires and elevaters

 

[Mr. Tone]

I remember that day so well. I was at a residence that we were doing siding/soffit/windows on. We had just removed a big bay window and were preparing the opening for the new one. The female homeowner came to the opening in the wall and said we needed to come in and see the news. On the TV was the north tower up in flames and the reporter talking about what had happened. At the time, the reporter wasn't even sure what kind of plane hit the north tower and was speculating that it was probably a freak accident.

Then I remember the reporter saying something like "Oh, God, please no!" The camera then changed from focusing on the reporter to the second plane coming in and crashing into the south tower. I saw that live when it happened. Our hearts sank as we saw that and then there was no doubt that it was an attack. Then hearing about the Pentagon and other crashed plane shortly afterward was crushing. A friend working at the site with me had finished full enlistment in the army and was in reserves after that. After the other 2 planes crashed, he said something to the effect of knowing that he would get called and activated. That happened very shortly afterward.

As someone mentioned, the unity and love that occurred right afterward was a unique time in our history. I remember even other nations giving their condolences and condemning the terrorist's acts. I just watched an excellent multi episode documentary on 9/11 on Hulu that was both saddening and inspiring. So many acts of bravery and heroism that day from many different people from all walks of life.

 

[Beamhead]

My trip to the Shanksville PA. site in 2002. NEVER FORGET!

 

[chaoss]

I was watching it unfold live on the TV that morning and remember yelling GTF out of those towers NOW! 😥
That night and several after saw zero air traffic (usually pretty heavy for Phoenix metro), the only aircraft up there for the next few days was a pair of F 16's out of Luke AFB circling the area.
NEVER FORGET!

 

[PhotonWrangler]

First of all, my deepest sympathy to all of those who lost loved ones on that day. I can't imagine what it must have been like for them to go through this.

At that time, one of my jobs was maintaining some large outdoor "Jumbotrons" in a public plaza. The huge LED screens included a sound system so passersby could hear what was being shown on the screens. Sometimes it was ads, other times news and weather. Not Times Square but the same general idea.

The morning of 9/11 started out as a quiet workday for me, but then I got a panicked phone call from a guy yelling "where the f@&k is the SOUND?" Um, ok I don't know what's going on but I'll be right over.

As I'm scurrying towards my vehicle, I passed an office where some co-workers were glued to a TV set. One of them saw me walk by and said "Hey, a plane just crashed into one of the WTC towers!" As I walked by I started to wonder if these two events were related.

When I got to the site, I found a small crowd of office workers had gathered around the screens on the plaza and were watching in stunned silence. I fixed the sound issue and hung around to see how this was unfolding. We had a news feed from the local ABC affiliate punched up so there was Peter Jennings taking us through the event, trying his best to remain calm and composed as we watched. It was about this time that we saw the first tower collapse, followed by the second one. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Looking around at the faces of the gathered crowd, it was clear that they couldn't either.

By this time a larger crowd had filtered out of their offices and had gathered in the plaza, watching the events, still in silence. The city then announced that they were closing all of their offices for the day and recommended that others do the same. Shortly after this announcement there were lots of cars heading out of the area like a bat outta hell. Afterwards there was an eerie silence around the plaza. Time to get out of there myself. At the time it wasn't clear if other cities were going to be targeted.

 

[flashfan]

I was waking up on the West Coast and turned on the radio to listen to the news as I do every day. There was a report that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I didn't pay much attention as I thought it was a small private plane that lost control. At that point, they also didn't indicate that it was THE World Trade Center in New York. As more news trickled in, I began to realize that it was not an accident, and turned on the TV. Couldn't believe my eyes.

In the aftermath, for those who are old enough to remember, one of the hallmarks of the succeeding days, weeks, months and more, is the patriotism that seemed to unite all Americans. American flags flying everywhere, out of most car windows, at homes, buildings, etc. Flag makers couldn't keep up with the demand. Fast forward to today...how many American flags do you see? And our nation seems to have become so divided...

Oh, and 9/11 happened around a month after I joined CPF, and if I remember correctly, there were at least a couple of CPF efforts to collect funds to get flashlights to first responders. I wonder how that worked out.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I was heading to school when the towers fell. I was in California. When I got to school, the teachers turned on the news and we watched history in the making as the towers fell, the Pentagon was hit, and another plane headed for the White House crashed. The Taliban lead by Osama Bin Ladin is the reason why our freedom of movement by air has been impacted leading to the creation of the TSA. Now, in Afghanistan, we just used the Taliban as TSA agents to get our people "safely" out of the country. There are no words I can express for how messed up that is. This makes me want to

 

[WarriorOfLight]

The Taliban lead by Osama Bin Ladin ...

Osama Bin Ladan is no Taliban, he is the "founder" of Al Quaida. The Taliban only accepted that Al Quaida is in Afghanistan... He is from Saudi Arabia and had rich parents.
Only to prevent misunderstanding, the Taliban are no nice people, but non of the terror attacks (USA, France, Germany, ...) were done by them.

 

[raggie33]

911 was one of the worst days in my life . when we killed bin laddin i went crazy for a bit i was so joyful but then the media told we shouldnt party i forgot why.

 

[bykfixer]

If I'm not mistaken Bin Laden planned out the first attack on the world trade center but the guy who carried it out parked in the wrong location of the underground garage. Like section H when it was supposed to be G or something.

He also planned out an attack on the USS Cole if I recall correctly. He was a mean SOB, yet never seemed to get his hands dirty. It has been said he was mad at the US for walking away from Afghanistan after the Russians had tried to take it during what has been called Charlie Wilson's war where the US funneled a bunch of weapons to a small army called the Mujahadine (spelling?). Later on the Mujahadine were no longer the good guys in Afghanistan.

If you've ever seen American Sniper, Chris Kyle talked about taking care of "the mooj" over in Iraq.

When they got Bin Laden many people beilieved (and still do) that it was not actually him because he had already died of kidney failure, but the US government wanted his legacy to be over in a more dramatic fashion. We'll probably never know. He's gone, and that's good enough for this American.

 

[raggie33]

i hate spider they scare me but i dont harm them they are just spiders but bin ladin i would of loved to kill that sob. i hope it was a painful death