^^This was me.


I was onboard USS SIROCCO (PC-6) (30 man crew 173’ long 25’beam, 8’ draft)we had just left Majorca Spain and were on our way to Rota Spain with our sister ship USS TYPHOON (PC-5) so that myself and three guys on TYPHOON could go through Chief Initiation. Our Navigator had just got off the phone with the Squadron back in Little Creek working on our homecoming when the second plane hit the Towers. I was on the Mess Desks doing some work on my crew’s health records when he told us what had happened. This class of ship was so small that at the time we did not have access to the Internet we had no satellite TV connection. To send email we had to compose it in WORD save it to a disk and the duty in the Radio room would send it out via the phone system. Our inbound email was downloaded the same way. The CAPTAIN’s wife had left Majorca and landed at Dulles, about 20 minutes before the first plane hit the Towers.
My wife knew we needed to know what was going on so she spent her day downloading articles and sending them off. The guys in Radio kept waking me up all night to view her emails.


We were able to pull into Rota mid-day on the 13th, my brothers and I went through Initiation on the 14th, and like Duffy said I wasn’t able to fully grasp what happened until the 15th.
That class of ship was scheduled to start decommissioning October 1st of that year, but based on the work that we did that summer in the Northern Arabian Gulf they realized how vital they were to Homeland Security. Sixteen year later those ships are still participating in Homeland Security and working in the NAG.


This class of ship ins only supposed to be underway no more than seven days, twice that summer 5th Fleet set Threatcon Delta where we were out to see for 21 days straight. We had to refuel every 72 hours or so, the Navy sent our Fuel Ship back to the Eastern Med so we were stuck in Rota for an extra week, wouldn't have been so bad but we were not allowed to go off the base. On the way home there were 25' foot swells of the Virginia coast so we had to ride out the storm in Bermuda, not a bad place to visit but after that deployment we were ready to get home.
My wife is tough as nails and has only cried in front of me twice (her miscarriage and when one of her Grandmothers passed away), when she called my mom to let her know we were finally on our way home she broke down.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I was working for Marsh & MClennan in Bermuda. I was sitting at my desk and the computers were showing the smoke coming out of the World Trade Center. A friend and I were watching it live and the first reports were that it was a small plane. We counted the lines representing the floors and there were about 15 floors. Our first reaction was that 15 floors would be about 150' so the plane was a big one.

We all went up to the board rooms and watched for the rest of the day. Our head offices were in the World Trade Center and at the time, there were almost 2,000 staff. The Company lost 259 people that day and although I didn't know any of them personally, it was pretty traumatic for a lot of our senior staff who went there regularly and a few who had offices there.

I was just leaving for a meeting when one of my co-workers said his wife called and the first plane had hit. They way he explained it, it sounded like a Cessna type plane. Got to my meeting, at a fire station. They had the TV on. Sat around and watched the 2nd plane hit. No one talking, everyone in shock. Came back to the office and we had a tv on all day, just watching.
Still get the chills thinking about it.

I still remember exact details of that day when I heard the news. Reminds me of when my parents would speak about hearing Kennedy getting shot.

These are all amazing stories and reminiscences from each of you. I'm so glad to have read every one of them.

Indeed, our world has changed since the events of that day. I'm not exactly sure if it's changed for the better, though.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Was a battalion commander and at a rifle range watching one of my companies qualify w M16s that morning. Have been at war ever since.

Today over here we started the day with incoming IDF attack and later we had a VBIED attack on one of our patrols. It's been a long day. It's been a long war

/r

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Steve

Thank you Steve!

I had just started a position at an NPR affiliate a few weeks earlier (corporate sales). Walked in and everyone was in the newsroom. The first plane had just hit the first tower. We were all discussing what it could have happened... then, the second one hit and we all knew. Watched it all day, left early to pick up our one-year old at day care (in a military facility no less... all of the kids were outside of the building. Cribs and all.)

Went home with my wife, daughter and dog and wondered what kind of world my daughter would be growing up in.

Learned later that night that my brother was in tower 1. He was taking a dump on the first floor when the plane hit (when you think about it... someone probably was.. right?). Got out of there, went to the conference room where his meeting was and it was empty... folks were being escorted out from the hallways through the lobby... he followed. I won't go into what he told me he saw from that point onward. He decided to walk back to his house.. in CT. He eventually made it to a train back to his house sometime that evening. I had no reason to think he'd be there since his office is in CT. He just happened to be there for business that day.

I was just getting into Tool at the time and it was very therapeutic in dealing with my complete rage... which was balanced by my sympathy for the loss... and honor and respect for the brave.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the *date* itself: it was also the date of my first concert in 1980 and IMW in 2005. But unfortunately, this event is always my first thought...

Frank

Waiting in line for coffee prior to big client meeting that morning and guy in front of me gets a phone call and then blurts out "Holy shit, right into the building?!?!?!?" and darts out. I get to the office and someone mentions as we're walking to the meeting that a plane hit the WTC. I'm thinking small plane and that it was a terrible accident. Meeting begins and about 30-40 minutes later someone comes into the conference room and says everyone needs to leave the building. Person running the meeting says "We have the room booked all day, what's going on?" and they reply that the WTC is gone and the Pentagon has been attacked. I'm thinking "Gone???" - I haven't seen a TV yet so I had no idea what was happening. I get outside and every building in downtown Boston has cleared at the same time, yet everyone quietly walking to subway stations, parking garages etc to go home. I tried getting my wife on the phone to let her know I was on my way home but cell service was spotty. Train was packed but eerily quiet. Didn't see what happened until I got home and then couldn't leave the TV for the rest of the day.

I got up around 5 the next morning for my usual run and could hear fighter jets circling high above the city, and I'll never forget thinking that the world would never be the same.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Right now at Pepperdine...



It's dusty in here...

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

I was a company executive officer in a Marine infantry unit and was driving into work in Jacksonville, NC. It was the day our pre-deployment leave block ended. As I had turned cable off in preparation for the deployment, I heard Howard Stern describing plane 1 on the radio. I thought it was a joke and thought Stern was pretty f'ed up for doing it (ala War of the Worlds). When I got to work, I figured out it wasn't a joke. We deployed that week and ended up in Afghanistan by Christmas.

My God, Skipper.

It's only because of men and women like you that the rest of us can sit here and reminisce. Thank you for your continuing service to our great nation. I for one am grateful you're out there, believe me.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

A million thanks, Marine. Those early days defined the Marine Corps for the 21st century, to date, and its always faithful service to our nation. Starting immediately after 9/11, the Armed Forces of the U.S. did a lot of heavy lifting. Something that continues to this day. And they've proven up to the task time and again.

To me, Afghanistan then was, indeed, "the good war." And it was fought by good men and good women. Thank God for them, is all I'll say.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

6 years ago yesterday I retired from the World Trade Center reconstruction. I set my goal to make it to the 10th anniversary. The 10th anniversary was a big dead line for the memorial and since my work was under the memorial on the PATH station we had to work out of sequence an up-side-down. Hours, hours and more hours. My hips were shot and sometimes it was so painful that I would stand at a work bench and use my hands to try and take the weight off of my hips,


Retired 9/10/2011. Walked out with my head held high.


Shoulder surgery from a fall from a scaffold two days later.


Bilateral hip resurfacings two months later.


And I'm a new man; running, racing and living the good life.


It turned a sad, shocking day into a great memory for me.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Weird day for me, too. For whatever reason I can't recall anymore, I went in early that morning ~ First cue something was a little off was that I was the only one there well after the time I'd normally show up, by which point usually everyone else was already in. Finally my wife calls in and asks if I've heard the news... What news? So I flip the browser over to CNN and start seeing coverage; about that time, I start getting other calls & emails from co-workers checking in to let whoever know that they weren't coming in, so I remained the only one there at work all morning. I guess I eventually just said 'fuck it' and went home early, but I don't even remember when. Just kinda bizarre how time seemed to kinda stop running for awhile and the normal routine just totally fell apart, even though it happened 3000 miles away and none of our peer group actually knew anyone personally who was even in the area ~ still left everyone in a daze.

I was living in our ancestual home in a small French village with my son. MY husband was arriving that day from Boston. We had no TV in France. One of my neighbors came by told me what had happened and siad I should not be alone and please come to her home. I spent the rest of the day watching in horror. I was very wierd to be so far away and unable to help our neighbor New Yorkers.
After there was no movement-no planes, no work, on nothing. My husband just felt lost with no family, no work, no pateints.

I was so far away I think the effect was minimalized by the distance but I could not look at any pictures. My husband borught the Time magazine when he arrived. I buried it so my son could not see it. I saved it for a long time thinking I might one day look at it-finally had to throw it out. Same with the photo that Tony posted-I just can't look. I remember seeing a photo of the Greenwich CT train parking lot taken at night-with all those cars no one was returning to.

We hung a huge American flag from our terrace-people came by to photograph it. Authorities thought it best to remove it as to not provoke.

What a world we live in. Thanks to all for helping to keep us safe.

Provoke whom?

2017 (so far):

918 terror attacks. 5,239 fatalities. Countless more injured.

Is the world any safer since September 11th, 2001?

2017 Terrorist Attacks

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."