9/11, where were you and how did it affect you?

[BehindBlueI's]

I was asleep. I worked late shift at an IT help desk. My grandmother called me frantically and said "they are bombing us" and something about New York. I didn't own a television, so I threw the shotgun in the truck (I had no idea what was going on) and went to town to see what was going on. I heard Howard Stern on the radio, since I had Fox radio (the rock station out of Louisville) on from the drive home. He was doing serious news and not his usual schtick since he was in NYC.

At first it didn't affect me much. Over time, it drew me back in to having a sense of purpose and helped me get away from a pointless life. I hated my post military experience up that point, I hated IT, I hated the feeling of not contributing to something that really mattered, and I heard a radio story on NPR one evening about the British military having retention issues because contracting was so lucrative for them. That was the last catalyst I needed, and I ended up quitting my job, getting a contracting gig, and leaving the US for two years. That was the anvil that broke the back of an already failing marriage, and I ended up with an amicable divorce. There were no children from that one and we didn't have much besides debt, so we just went our separate ways. Contracting paid off the debt I'd accumulated being young and stupid with money and made a decent nest egg for a new life, I met someone new and remarried and started a family, and the experience I gathered overseas helped me into law enforcement. In many ways, 9/11 put my life back on track and helped me live with a purpose again. Tragedy also makes opportunities, and while I'm deeply saddened by what our nation went through I'm grateful for the chance to start again.

 

[Sylvain]

Celebrating my birthday when it happened.I watched the news the rest of the day.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I was in Barstow, FL visiting a customer. When I arrived they told me that some idiot lost control of a plane and it crashed into the towers. I went on down to one of the plants and then I received a call from my company. They said it was a terrorist attack and another plane had hit the towers. We were supposed to take our rental cars and drive home to our families. They said not to call or ask the rental car company, just drive home. We were grounded from flying for several weeks.

I was nervous and not sure what to do at first, but then I realized that If I lived in fear the terrorist succeeded in what they set out to do.

 

[ModernGunner]

Taking the Lady to work. Heard about the first plane on the car radio. At that point everyone just figured it was some pilot error tragedy.

Got home, turned on the television. A few minutes later, watched the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. I KNEW at that point we were at war with... somebody.

Stuck the flag outside (usually only put it out on holidays, like most folks). It's been flying 24/7/365 since, changed as needed, lit at night.

I'll take it down when the war is over. If it's not over when I die, it'll remain flying, maintained by the Lady. After that, other family members as necessary.

Until this war is over.

 

[RedneckReject]

I was asleep. I had just gotten married 7 days prior, had been up late the night before, and totally ignored (or tried to) the phone as it was ringing off the hook. I finally got frustrated and answered it. It was my mother telling me that two planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center. In my sleepiness my first thought was "Oh wow what a terrible accident". Then the gears started turning. One plane could be an accident. Two? No way. The rest of the day was spent both watching the news and frantically trying to get hold of my husband's family back in New York. He had family and friends that worked in the towers. His father had been a fire lieutenant (I think it was lieutenant) and although he had retired and moved to Florida, my husband was still very close with a lot of those guys. All in all it was a terrible day. I was begging my mother to leave work as she worked in one of the top floors the AUL building downtown and no one knew if the same thing was going to happen in other cities. The helplessness of that entire day is something I will never forget.

And I'm with Glueman. I will not live in fear. That's what they want.

 

[WhitleyStu]

I slept in late then went out to mow the yard. The neighborhood was strangely quiet. Took a break from mowing and came inside. I happened to see something on TV about a plane crash then started to see the horror unfold...

 

[Bigtanker]

I was on my last week of being off work from a motorcycle accident. I had dropped my now wife of at Meijer on 331 and turned on Bob and Tom. As soon as she got out, they had mentioned the first plane hit one of the towers. I went home and turned on Fox news just in time to see the second plane hit. I was scared and angry. I was glued to the tv.

When the first tower fell, it seemed like time stopped. I wept several times and prayed often.

Our wedding was less than a month away and we were flying to Vegas for our honeymoon. That never even crossed my mind.

 

[Birds Away]

I was on the USS George Washington. We were pulling out of Norfolk that morning for some scheduled crew training in the Virginia Capes Operating Area. We had no planes, no ordnance and no airwing personnel onboard. We had CNN on and we were watching the reports of a plane hitting the tower. Then we saw the second plane hit and everything changed. Instead of turning south and heading to our area he turned north and poured on the coals, so to speak. Overnight we embarked a squadron of F-14 fighters, ordnance and maintenance crews. When the sun rose on Sept. 12th we were in New York harbor with F-14s flying combat air patrol over New York City.

 

[bmbutch]

Had just resigned, taking a new job @ a new automotive start up (HUMMER H2 in Mishawaka). Was in the new model office of "then, & once again" employer (KY, now IN), & was glued to the news. Very quiet day @ work, a day I'll never forget!

 

[nascarfantoo]

I was at work. Someone had a radio on that brought the news. Everyone that could was near a radio trying to absorb the information they were hearing. Very, very difficult to comprehend what was going on. Just couldn't happen under the stars and stripes. Rest of the was spent checking on family and holding them tight.

 

[churchmouse]

I was in the mechanical room at a school on the south side rebuilding a compressor on the cooling equipment. Phone ran. Good friend was an air traffic controller. He was brief as they were over whelmed getting all the planes on the ground. I went outside stunned. Looked up and the skys were completely clear of the contrails from the planes. I went and rounded up the crew and we went to an early lunch. We sat and watched as the second tower came down. No one touched their food. I called all of my family and went home. Our fear was riots/looting possible terrorist hits locally.
The lines at the gas pumps went on for blocks. Grocery stores were slammed as were the banks.
We sat on the porch and watched the world.
Terrible day. One I will never forget. It opened our eyes to the madness we are surrounded by.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I was at work at my former job. As usual, I was goofing off in a political chat room and saw someone mention the first plane hitting the tower. Like others have said, we all thought it was an accident. When the second plane hit, I ran to my boss' office and told him what was going on and got him to drag the tv out of our conference room. We didn't have cable or anything so we jury-rigged an antenna of sorts. In order to get better reception, a bunch of us all held hands with one person holding the antenna wire. We all were circled around the set as we watched the towers collapse. After work, I went to a "gentlemans's club" (Classy Chassy) where I knew several of my friends would be. The bar was quiet, other than the musc, and all eyes were glued to the tv sets, despite the girls on stage.

 

[Brandon]

Senior in high school. The underclassmen were in the middle of I-Step testing and we were in the PAC where we were listening to guest speakers about the usual don't have sex before you are married/unprotected, don't drink and drive. Our principal came running down the center aisle yelling to stop everything and have the huge movie screen turned to the news... this was just in time to watch the second plane hit.

 

[churchmouse]

Taking the Lady to work. Heard about the first plane on the car radio. At that point everyone just figured it was some pilot error tragedy.

Got home, turned on the television. A few minutes later, watched the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower. I KNEW at that point we were at war with... somebody.

Stuck the flag outside (usually only put it out on holidays, like most folks). It's been flying 24/7/365 since, changed as needed, lit at night.

I'll take it down when the war is over. If it's not over when I die, it'll remain flying, maintained by the Lady. After that, other family members as necessary.

Until this war is over.

Respect........

 

[Birds Away]

I was in the mechanical room at a school on the south side rebuilding a compressor on the cooling equipment. Phone ran. Good friend was an air traffic controller. He was brief as they were over whelmed getting all the planes on the ground. I went outside stunned. Looked up and the skys were completely clear of the contrails from the planes. I went and rounded up the crew and we went to an early lunch. We sat and watched as the second tower came down. No one touched their food. I called all of my family and went home. Our fear was riots/looting possible terrorist hits locally.
The lines at the gas pumps went on for blocks. Grocery stores were slammed as were the banks.
We sat on the porch and watched the world.
Terrible day. One I will never forget. It opened our eyes to the madness we are surrounded by.

We were in New York harbor for a month, I think. We were totally oblivious to what the reaction was at home. I had never heard this about the gas lines and grocery stores. Thanks for that.

 

[churchmouse]

We were in New York harbor for a month, I think. We were totally oblivious to what the reaction was at home. I had never heard this about the gas lines and grocery stores. Thanks for that.

I left for home and just beat the rush at the bank. I grabbed some cash and headed for home. I was lucky to have filled up everything the day before. We live a few blocks up from a gas station and the line was blocks past us. Stayed that way until after dark.

 

[Birds Away]

We were, as usual, very insulated from the outside world. We could watch the local NY news but they didn't cover that kind of thing.

 

[churchmouse]

We were, as usual, very insulated from the outside world. We could watch the local NY news but they didn't cover that kind of thing.

My entire block was on high alert for days after. Some of the locals were a bit restless but nothing came of it.

 

[Expat]

I was stopping by a customers office. The secretary said something was going on. I called the wife to see if she knew any more. I raced home then and arrived just before the second plane. At first it was sort of surreal. I thought something like this can't happen here. Then I got pissed and wanted someone to pay for this.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

I was standing on the loading dock at work and one guy, that was always late, came strolling up and said, "Hey did you hear a plane hit the WTC?" The crew and I were on the way to German Park when the second plane hit. One of the guys stopped at his house on the way and picked up a handheld tv. Needless to say, not much work got done the first hour on the job site, with frequent breaks to check the news, the rest of the day.