911. 25 years on.

[bc22wm]

Being a big history buff, I feel it is important to know what the common man went through. Let this be a small permanent record (the internet is forever) of your experiences, feeling, what you were doing, whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
I was a prison guard at the state's maximum security prison. Had just finished doing security for the trash truck. Returned the keys to the count clerk and he said a plane just hit a high rise in NYC. He was a bit of a joker, so I replied with something not nice, questioned his intelligence and the marital status of his parents and walked back down to the yard. No one on the ballfield, no one in line at the commissary. Went into the gym, no one in the showers, on the basketball court, or the rec. office. Back to the guard office, no one. All the doors were open (what to hell?) it started to feel like a ghost town. Then into the "pit" where the weights, pool tables, card tables, were. Every inmate, every guard, all the rec. staff gathered around the TV. Got there just in time to see the 2nd plane hit. That one time in 25 years we were all one. No guards v. inmates. Just stunned Americans.

 

[KillerFord1977]

I’ve stated it before here years ago.

I was in the air on a work flight from Dallas to Houston on SW Airlines.
I’ll note that I am a pilot as well and a frequent flier for work.
About 20 min into a 45 min flight, the Captain stated over the intercomm that drink service is suspended. All crew take their seats. The plane “lurched” like a race car as the Captain went close to full throttle. Gone were the gentle turns and slight movements of an airliner. We made abrupt manuevers and fighter like movements. Something is wrong I stated to my peers. When Captain stated prepare for arrival , we came in “hot”. I looked out to see aircraft stacked like cord wood in the skies. Normal is a couple min spacing of aircraft for emergencies, etc, etc … we had like 20 second spacing. Aircraft were in line like it was Nascar starting line. WTF ! We came in like a carrier landing. Hot, heavy and a bounce.

Once in the terminal, I watched what unfolded on TV like everyone else.
Co worker picked us up and we went to our office. Arrived to see the towers come down. Spend 5 days in Houston at a coworkers house and he then drove us all back to dallas.
All the while, F-16s occasionally were the onlybplanes you saw or heard.
At the time I lived on the approach to Dfw airport and had jets over the house all day, everyday. Not then.. total silence.

May the muslims that want our country to perish rot in hell for eternity.

 

[Retired Bum]

I was getting ready for work when I turned the news on the TV. The first plane had already hit the tower. There was a live shot going when they ran into the the second tower. I knew they didn't have anything that would reach that far up, so the boys were going to be climbing the stairs in all the gear. I was stunned, to say the least. It was a solemn drive to the office and everyone was in front of the TV at the office. We went on alert as soon as I got there, in case there was another attack. I remember how subdued it all was, radios , etc. SWAT teams were on standby, I was attached to the teams as well. We waited, and waited some more. People were called in for patrol on their day off and thus began the 12 hour shift, 7 days a week for two weeks. We had everything the armory had to offer hanging on us somewhere on our uniforms and vests. We were getting calls for the first day or so, but nothing else came about.

Phoenix had a Sikh gentleman killed because he was wearing the turban, but it was relatively quiet here in Arizona.

 

[Recusant]

I was a middle school teacher and our first class of the day had started when another teacher stuck her head in the door and said something was happening in New York and to turn on our TV. For several minutes we watched smoke pour from the top of the first building that had been struck. After watching for several minutes we saw the second plane strike the other tower. I immediately knew that this was an intentional act and assumed the first plane impact was intentional as well. I told my students that the U.S. was under attack and we would soon be at war with those responsible. The admins had us turn off the TV sets as to maintain as normal a school day as possible. As the day progressed I became aware that one of the young teachers in our department had an uncle who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald which had an office near the top floor of the North Tower. He was one of 658 of their employees who perished that day. She hung in there and worked the entire day knowing that her uncle had probably not survived.

 

[KillerFord1977]

I’ve stated it before here years ago.

I was in the air on a work flight from Dallas to Houston on SW Airlines.
I’ll note that I am a pilot as well and a frequent flier for work.
About 20 min into a 45 min flight, the Captain stated over the intercomm that drink service is suspended. All crew take their seats. The plane “lurched” like a race car as the Captain went close to full throttle. Gone were the gentle turns and slight movements of an airliner. We made abrupt manuevers and fighter like movements. Something is wrong I stated to my peers. When Captain stated prepare for arrival , we came in “hot”. I looked out to see aircraft stacked like cord wood in the skies. Normal is a couple min spacing of aircraft for emergencies, etc, etc … we had like 20 second spacing. Aircraft were in line like it was Nascar starting line. WTF ! We came in like a carrier landing. Hot, heavy and a bounce.

Once in the terminal, I watched what unfolded on TV like everyone else.
Co worker picked us up and we went to our office. Arrived to see the towers come down. Spend 5 days in Houston at a coworkers house and he then drove us all back to dallas.
All the while, F-16s occasionally were the onlybplanes you saw or heard.
At the time I lived on the approach to Dfw airport and had jets over the house all day, everyday. Not then.. total silence.

May the muslims that want our country to perish rot in hell for eternity.

My great friend and co worker who let me stay at his house and drove me back to Dallas later died of brain cancer. Today is a rememberance of him as well. Great man .

 

[Onewolf426]

I was just getting ready for bed, having worked nightshift. My Mother's friend called me and told me to turn on the TV. I still remember the shock of it all, the disbelief, then the sheer anger. My Mother was at the V.A. with my Dad, who was in the nursing facility due to an automobile accident that left him in a wheelchair. Security was very tight going in and out of there after that. I will never forget that day. I still get choked up watching anything on it.

 

[Wirenut]

What is sad is we were attacked on our own soil. by foreigners wishing to cause harm to our way of life, but that day and the ones that followed we regrouped and said, "Never Forget".
Sadly, a lot of people did forget!!!

 

[Blackmesa96]

I wonder if it's a matter of people forgetting as much as younger people not understanding. A large percentage of American adults weren't old enough at the time to fully comprehend what the attack truly represented.

It was an attack on our values, society and culture. The terrorists who carried it out hated western civilization and those who live in the United States. The attack wasn't military, it was personal. It was a statement that radical Islam hates you if you oppose anything they purport to believe. They believe they have license to murder those who disagree with them.

Many of the younger people in this country have been brainwashed by the "education system" and the propaganda machine of the left.

They saw the election of a president who demonstrated his disdain (hatred may be more accurate) for the founding values of this nation. They have been lied to repeatedly to believe that Islam is a religion of peace. They have been told they are victims of the free market. The evils of socialism/communism are hidden from them. This assault has been so successful that less than 25 years after the event the people of NYC elected a supporter of Islamic terrorism to be their mayor.

It's difficult to forget something you never learned.

 

[OkiePewPew]

Worked overnights so I was asleep. My wife woke me and told me there’s something wrong. I follow her to the living room and immediately see the second plane hit.

 

[Old_Me]

i dunno..

what actually became of the attack...did the USA annihilate the country responsible?

seems to me, that should have happened.

actually, it should have happened (full annihilation) after the first attempt when the garage was destroyed, years earlier.

i dunno

i do know that every night on my way down to Jersey, to swap out trailers, and come back, all i ever saw was the GWB was tons of soldiers and automatic weapons drawn on all us truckers.

i dunno, we could not use the lower deck on the GWB, we'd get stopped by LEO if we did, and the MP's were with them, weapons drawn....

like we were the mad bombers...??

i dunno

ever been on the approach to the GWB, and NOT BE ABLE to get to the upper deck, cuz all the dumb 's cut you off and force you to the lower deck..???

i dunno

they.....(all the LEO, and military went into full WTF mode in less than 1 nano second) and the end result..??

nothing......the country responsible still exists.

that's what I REMEMBER......

 

[3L120]

Retired, my wife alerted me, and watched it all. To me, the worst part was watching the tower victims jump to their death rather than roast!

 

[Onewolf426]

i dunno..

what actually became of the attack...did the USA annihilate the country responsible?

seems to me, that should have happened.

actually, it should have happened (full annihilation) after the first attempt when the garage was destroyed, years earlier.

i dunno

i do know that every night on my way down to Jersey, to swap out trailers, and come back, all i ever saw was the GWB was tons of soldiers and automatic weapons drawn on all us truckers.

i dunno, we could not use the lower deck on the GWB, we'd get stopped by LEO if we did, and the MP's were with them, weapons drawn....

like we were the mad bombers...??

i dunno

ever been on the approach to the GWB, and NOT BE ABLE to get to the upper deck, cuz all the dumb 's cut you off and force you to the lower deck..???

i dunno

they.....(all the LEO, and military went into full WTF mode in less than 1 nano second) and the end result..??

nothing......the country responsible still exists.

that's what I REMEMBER......

If it were one country, we would have annihilated them. Unfortunately, it was done by a terrorist group founded and led by a goat banger who could have been taken out by Slick Willie, but was spared due to the risk of "collateral damage" to "innocent civilians" by a worthless POTUS who was more interested in cigaring and staining the dress of some young intern in the oval. Then the next POTUS chose instead to take out Hussein in Iraq, rather than put everything into taking out Bin Laden. This destabilized Iraq and gave rise to ISIS. But, I digress.

 

[Old_Me]

If it were one country, we would have annihilated them. Unfortunately, it was done by a terrorist group founded and led by a goat banger who could have been taken out by Slick Willie, but was spared due to the risk of "collateral damage" to "innocent civilians" by a worthless POTUS who was more interested in cigaring and staining the dress of some young intern in the oval. Then the next POTUS chose instead to take out Hussein in Iraq, rather than put everything into taking out Bin Laden. This destabilized Iraq and gave rise to ISIS. But, I digress.

exactly what i was saying...nuffin was done to annihilate....

who cares (not me) about "collateral damage or civilians killed elsewhere"......???

the terrorists killed ALL civilians.....and a "few" people in uniform at the pentagon.

"do nuffin response from those in charge"

gimme a "get the bombers over there and DESTROY THEM ALL"......Leader.

"an eye for an eye".......

never mind a "Day of Remembrance" for the victims.

better to celebrate, "A Day the USA Did Nuffin"

 

[Naildriver]

I got up early that morning to make my wife breakfast. It was her birthday! After we ate I went upstairs to shower and get ready for work. Always have the radio on in the morning, so was listening to it while shaving. Special report broke in announcing the first airplane hit. Ran downstairs in a towel, covered in shaving cream, and flipped on the TV to see the North Tower burning. Unreal I thought……then the live feed shows the hit on the South Tower. Immediately my state of mind went to anger. Called my sister to verify her boyfriend had made it out of the Deutsche Bank building in the WTC and he had.

First call into the house was from a good Canadien friend expressing shock and support to their closest ally. Ya.

Due to our proximity to LAFB, we were well aware something big was up, because the base extremely active. Fighter jets were up, and everywhere.

25 years on, the emotion has not subsided. #neverforget

 

[Shibadog]

I worked for the Gov’t at the time. I was at my office. My buddy at work called, said “a plane just hit the World Trade Center”. I told the other 5 folks in the office, we went into the conference room and turned on TV just in time to see the 2nd plane hit. I had jobs scheduled at Coatesville PA and Augusta Me the last two weeks of September. Facilities had already paid for me to be there. (And Fed $$ disappear Oct. 1) No flights, so I drove from Ga to Pa, on up to Maine. Flags on pretty much every overpass you went under. Smoke still rising on Manhattan. Gates closed at Fed facilities I was working at, with armed guards at the gates controlling all access. Unbelievable trip. First two weeks of October I was at my office in DC. Armed F16’s with missiles hanging off the wings flying over the city. Humvees with AA missles near the White House and Capital. Very very strange/spooky time.