Where were you ?

[Northpark]

8th grade science class. Small town country school. We all went home after we watched the second plane hit.

 

[longspeak74]

Walking across Isle Royale. Didn't find out until we got picked up in the harbor a couple days after it happened. Couldn't believe what I was hearing.

 

[robtattoo]

Welding a floor into a 32' grain trailer.
Heard it live on the radio.

 

[riversidejeep]

Had the family on vacation in Montana, was at the ticket counter of the Butte Mining Museum and the lady was watching a small tv and I asked her what was going on. I loaded the kids and headed for the hills away from town. My wife asked why we weren't going home and I told her we are a lot better off were we are than going back to California and the population centers.

 

[mlgc20]

Living near downtown Dallas. Getting ready to go to a job interview at the World Trade Center in Dallas.

 

[505Wapiti]

Was in college and walked into my advisors office that morning as it was unfolding on the news on his TV. Sat the rest of the day watching the news in complete disbelief.

 

[ZDR]

Last day of hunting elk in a small wilderness way up in northern NM...we had hiked up right to timberline early and were glassing. We had to pack out that afternoon so were just getting one last try in. As it warmed up, my hunting buddy and I both commented about the lack of planes in the sky and how quiet and peaceful it was. After hiking out and driving down an extremely rough rd, we turned the radio on and couldnt figure what was going on. Finally got down to Questa and called home. I'll never forget that day

 

[grfox92]

10th Grade Social Studies class. Watched the second plane hit on the news on an old desktop PC.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[SpringM1A]

In PA, checking on my farm.

 

[gonhunting247]

Heading out to pack a bear out of the hills, that I'd shot the night before. Very sad day.

 

[justinspicher]

I was in the military, had just gotten home from doing day and night live fire training. I was just about to get into bed for a quick nap when my phone rang and was called back into work……

 

[5MilesBack]

I was in Iceland, probably one of the safest places on earth at that moment. It was late afternoon there and I was getting ready to head out fishing. CNBC was on as I always had it on for the markets, and Mark Haines was reporting that a small plane had hit the north tower. While we were watching live, I watched the airliner hit the south tower and was like "well, that was no accident.......we're under attack". I set the VCR to tape it all and went fishing. When I came back, the base(s) (worldwide) had gone to threat level delta.......complete lockdown. I knew the gate guard, and I finally got back on base.

Terrorist's goals are always to disrupt our everyday lives. Don't ever give in and allow them that satisfaction. Just keep living your normal life, whether it's attacks like these or attacks like Covid.

 

[realunlucky]

I was TDY stopped at gas station. Clerk said you guys better watch this just as the second plane hit. That's still burned into my memory.

Called CQ "Boys, someone's just called down the thunder, turn around its time to get to work"
Drive back to post was dead silent everybody in the van reflecting on how we were going to war.

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[EastHumboldt]

I was asleep when it happened and didn’t find out until I got to work at 10:00 am New York time. About an hour after it started. One of my coworkers said “They ran an airliner into the WTC”. So we went up front to the conference room and they had the TV on. I couldn't believe it was on purpose, even though that’s what the news guy was saying. Then I saw the footage of one tower billowing smoke and the second plane came in spewing flames and debris out the other side of the building. Well that convinced us. We all stood around for a few minutes in shock trying to figure out WTF was happening.

My son was in the 82nd airborne Div at the time so one of my first thoughts was “We are going to war with somebody and he’ll probably be among the first wave. “ IIRC he told me later that they locked down the base and even the barracks and all the troops were walking around wanting to kill something or somebody. Later on (weeks… months can’t remember). he said his PIR regiment was loaded into planes and sitting on the runway at Pope AFB, cocked and locked. Ready to jump into the airport at Kandahar. He said he felt a mixture of fear and excitement while they waited, and then an odd mixture of relief and disappointment when they didn’t go.

I was sick to my stomach. I also remember thinking “This is what Pearl Harbor must have felt like to my parents and grandparents”. I got a call from my girlfriend who was almost hysterical with fear and grief, so I told the boss and my crew I was gonna take some personal time to be with her and left for awhile. We met in a parking lot and she just got in my truck and we hugged and then talked for a long time. It was raining. I can’t remember the rest of the day, I was certainly in a daze and I’m sure very little work got done in America that day.

One of the things I do is write songs. I’ve tried to write one about this for many years but it’s just too… raw? painful? immense? just can’t seem to get that one done.

 

[Ross]

Elk camp napping two guys in little suzuki samurai drove by and stopped and told me we are being attacked

 

[Mosby]

I was on the phone working in downtown OKC when the Murray Bldg was bombed. My bldg was 2 blocks away and could see part of the bldg missing from my office hallway, after the explosion. That I remember.

9/11. I honestly don't remember other than I was working.

 

[knale87]

8th grade health class. At the time I lived about 45 minutes from the city. We were sent home shortly after the second the plane hit.

 

[AZ8]

At work. Our office was just getting settled into the day, general chit chat. Word started to trickle in that something bad was happening in NYC. The announcement was made and we dragged a TV into our work area. After the towers collapsed, we were sent home. In shock and being numb, it was the most surreal drive home ever for me. The anger came later in the evening.

 

[ODB]

Getting ready for work in Seattle. My dad called me from the FBI in Quantico and told me to turn on the TV, the shit was hitting the fan. That was a very surreal moment.

 

[nodakian]

Manhattan (Montana) staking out a subdivision. I heard bleed-over voice traffic on our little handheld radios. Someone said "...this is bigger than Pearl Harbor..." and "...my cousin at NORAD says they're at Defcon 1...". A couple hours later we went to a gas station for a break and asked the lady at the counter if something weird was going on the world. She said "They few airplanes into the World Trade Center" and described the situation.

Upon learning it was airplanes, I thought "terrorists", not bombs/aircraft/missiles, and was actually a bit relieved because I figured if Defcon 1 was actually implemented (I don't know if it was), it was probably an understandable reaction that would soon deescalate. Having been an ICBM crew commander two years earlier, I understood Defcon levels, we practiced Defcon procedures every month, and let's just say Defcon 1 procedures are VERY serious.