Where were you 13 years ago today?

[Mumblypeg]

I was in my patrol car headed to the LE Center. I turned on the radio to listen to John Boy and Billy show only to hear Tom Brokaw talking, I knew right then something was up. There was no traffic on the two way radio. Both planes had already hit the WTC. When I got to the office everyone was watching the TV. My only response was "Somebody will pay for this." I felt no fear as we dealt with danger every day but just felt the urge to gear up. I was not totally surprised though as they had tried to blow it up once before and I had always thought they would be back and I still feel the same way. Evil will always be there and some of us will always be ready to combat it. I say just kill them all.

[waksupi]

I was working here at home. I called my X at work ,and told her to turn on the TV. I then got my Garand out, went out to check the zero, and loaded ammo and clips.

[Elkins45]

I was between jobs so I was helping my Dad cut firewood. We came in for lunch and I turned on the computer because I was going to order a camera lens from B&H Photo in NYC. There was a banner on their website saying they weren't taking orders because of the tragedy in New York. I turned on the TV and by then both towers had fallen and they were showing the footage over and over. I remember Dad saying something to the effect of this must be the work of Bin Laden, and it being the real legacy of the Clinton presidency.

Funny how time moves on. He's been gone for four years now but on this day 13 years ago he was in good enough shape to be still driving a tractor and running a chain saw.

[Smoke4320]

At work when UPS Driver came in and said Plane had hit the 1st tower.. I immediately turned on the TV within minutes 2nd plane hit..

I kept thinking Oliver North had it right all along, we should have been looking for/taken out Bin laden much sooner

of course Hindsight is 20/20

[hardcase54]

Across the river from the pentagon. Very sad day.

[waynem34]

I QUIT SMOKING THAT DAY!I seen all those people running and could not get any air.I told myself I may not be able to do anything for them,but I could do something for myself and the people around me.Last smoke 9/11/01.I was eating lunch In the burger barn and seen what was happening.All the guys I was working with wanted to go home and I said hell no.All there gals started calling and the next thing you know I'm the only one there.Me and a lot of work.I went home too.Took a 10/22 and shot my last pack of marlboro.I worked until my boss called and I told him everyone left.Roofing crew so they were all fired lol.I told them not to leave.We had radio/It was heart breaking news though.I wanted to go somewhere and get high and go fishing.It was a nice day like today 90ish very sunny nice breeze blowing.13 years no Tobacco never looked back.

[OverMax]

Sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee & talking with the wife that morning and kind'a watching CNN on the side.__ News Break interrupted the show and got our attention. Seen the smoky damage the first plane had already done. Seen the second plane actually hit the second building at that very moment in time.___ I looked at the wife and said.__"What the he_ _ is that all about 2-planes running into the same building. Gee's some dumb @ss Air Traffic Controller is going to get a Gigantic @ss chewing for that stunt."
Didn't dawn on either of us that it was deliberate terrorist act. Then more bad news.__ The Pentagon.__Later the United Flight 93 tragedy. Both of us stunned & glued to that little TV all day looking/ hoping for more information and someone to make sense of all this carnage we seen. What a day.

[EDK]

Working second shift at Labadie MO power plant. Wife woke me up when the first plane hit..."terrible accident." Second plane hit while getting coffee..."this ain't an accident."
Worked 16 hour overtime on saturday and sunday. Custom ivories from Paul Persinger arrived saturday and I was going to re-assemble the Old Model Super Blackhawk. Osama took the joy out of the ivories and I didn't use them until he got his "wake up call" from the SEALS.
Now I wonder what is going on with ISIS and Obama.

[Pb Burner]

I just finished a string of midnight shifts. Got cleaned up, got in bed and turned the tv on to unwind. Well, there was no unwinding, after watching for a short while watched the second plane hit. I sure didn't get any sleep that day. It's still fresh in my mind and still sort of unbelievable the lives lost that day. Never forget.

[dlbarr]

In my office at home when my son called and asked if I'd heard....we don't have cable TV and usually don't listen to the radio at home. We did turn on the TV that we had (rabbit ears and all) to pick up the news and stayed glued there all day. I remember how quiet the grocery store was when I went in there later that day. I also remember in the following days how polite every one was to each other....very sobering times

[1911cherry]

Im my barracks room on the corner of Bastogne and Ardennes at Ft Bragg. Just finished pt and took a shower , was getting dressed just pulled my boots on ,no shirt yet. I realized I was out of coffee creamer, went to get some from my buddy down the hall, walked in his room saw the first plane hit on his new big screen. Went back to my room and got the coffee pot , walked back in his room lit a cigarette, here comes plane number two- boom. I said its gonna be a long day I'll make another pot of coffee, it was.

[RED333]

I was fixing cars and trucks at the time, boss called me into the office to see.
I did not cry till I got home, this will be a sad day for many years.

[Lonegun1894]

I was in my barracks room with several friends watching a movie that evening, well, evening for us cause of the different time zone. Movie got interrupted when the first plane hit, and we watched the news. We were still watching when the second plane hit. We all just said a few things I can't repeat on a family site, turned off the TV, grabbed our packs, went to the armory to get our weapons, and went to the C-130 that was usually assigned to us. A few hours later, one of the guys called our CO to let him know where were were and what was taking him so long to join us. We knew we were going somewhere, just didn't know where. They kept us waiting longer than we wanted, but not very long in hindsight, and we weren't disappointed in our trips. We hit any target they gave us and asked for more.

[jason f]

butler pa. 7 eleven getting some lunch. stayed there for two hours watching the tv along with everyone else in there. sad day. still raises hair on back of neck just thinking about it.

[canyon-ghost]

At work, heard it on the radio. Saw the video that evening, we kept working. Have you noticed that almost all Americans WERE at work ? What does that tell ya?

[osteodoc08]

Driving back from a college class. I thought our local shock jock was playing a joke so I came
home an saw it on FOX. Tragic.

[Harter66]

9/11.
I have a diary that belonged to an old woman of a simple middle class birth. She married well later on.
Why would an old woman's diary be of any interest to anyone? Well it is a glimpse of who she was a peak into her life . No there is no racey love interest pages. But I found her blase' entry on 9/11/01 interesting because she was a Pan American flight attendant starting in 1939 or so . To be such she had to be an RN. Her home base in 1941 was Honolulu and her apartment was in Pearl City. On the morning of December 7th she was burst in on by a ship mate saying to the effect there's really no time to dress.....with that she grabbed a tea towel wrapped it around her waist and set up a triage in her living room. For those that slipped through the cracks the US was formally dragged into WWII quit literally in her front yard. This was written from her home on California Ave San Francisco Ca.

9/11/01
Spoke to Betty Mxxxxxx she told me to turn on the TV. US under attack . Flights hijacked and crashed into the world Trade Center both towers. A terrible catastrophe.* Staggering unbelievable tragedies.* Huge death tolls. NYC, The Pentagon . Osama bin Laden , Afghanistan!!
Terrible day .
Movie* came vegetables and steak,started polishing silver.

9/12/01
Slept poorly up 5 times
]* [
Divaesed. (Unk)

9/13/01
(Misc notes)
Tylenol PM . Awake past 11.

9/14/01
]* [
Sick and nervous.
Terrible news !! So many killed .That Beast ga Osama bin Laden. ]** [
Watched TV on and off all day.* A Nation in mourning determined to prevent other terrorist acts in the future.* Osama bin Laden WILL BE punished !!

I end there due to the great increase in personal day to day stuff.
I hope Aunt Ginny will forgive me sharing this but it was interesting to read her own words as it happened. She passed in 2006 and only saw the war dragging on .

[MaryB]

I was at work at the casino. I was up against a deadline to finish up the new slot data collection room. My shop was just off an entertainment area with a 40 foot big screen TV that was always on. Fox was on and I saw the first plane hit. I went to the data collection room and dropped off a load of supplies, came back loaded up and talked to the other techs who were sitting and watching what happened in between service calls. Saw the second plane hit and that was when security informed us we were staying open but at the highest alert level that put us on watch stationed around the casino. With TV's scattered all over we all saw the buildings fall and the level of anger was palpable. A lot of players went home, several tour buses pulled out early and we went to skeleton staff. I finished out a 12 hour shift but spent half of that watching the news along with everyone else who stayed behind to keep the casino open for the few players left(we dropped under 250 players on a 1650 slot machine floor).

Casino told 5 Somali housekeeping workers to leave for their own safety after an ugly scene when a player accused them of being terrorists. They were gone for 2 weeks paid vacation until things started to settle down. Business stayed slow for that 2 weeks too, people were uncertain about being anywhere in large groups that could be a target. With some of the terrorists having MN ties it was a bit tense for awhile. But life went on, people armed up and have stayed that way, we will see a repeat be it a bioweapon, dirty bomb, EMP... it is a matter of time before a terrorist inside the USA(they ARE here) does something.

[Frank46]

My wife woke me up and said the world trade center had been hit by jet planes. The girls were in school at that time. Watched it long enough to get a handle on what was going on and told her call the school and tell them we are picking up our two girls. Evidently a lot of folks had the same idea. Parking lot was jammed with cars and trucks picking up loved ones. One woman in an effort to get out of the parking lot decided that driving on the apron of the driveway was a better way of getting around traffic. Unfortunately for her that puddle of brown water was so deep the whole left front of her car sunk down to the frame. Picked up our two girls and went home to watch the events of the day as they enfolded. I used to work at a tank farm in NYC and could see the towers from where I worked. I retired some years earlier from that job and moved to Louisiana. Mixed emotions ranged from astonishment to rage to sadness. I remember all the triage places being set up for the victims, yet strangely as long as they showed them on the TV very few actually were shown to have any victims. That's when the harsh reality set in that a huge number of people had been killed. I will always remember the day the towers fell, the pentagon burning and flight 93 crash in pennsylvania. Frank

[ThaDave]

Basic typing class in High School. Someone came over the PA and told all teachers to turn on their TVs. We didnt think it was real at first it wasnt until we were watching a live feed and saw the second plane hit that we realized something big was going on.

13 years later I am sitting in Afg for a second time, after two tours in Iraq its insane the effects the events of that day has had on the rest of the world.