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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

A crazy day that I'll never forget. I am sure that everyone here remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about this.

I was at work in a book bindery. No access to TV. We didn't have smart phone yet. All we had were radio reports.

After hearing that both towers fell I remember saying that there could be over 10,000 people
Dead. Thankfully many either hadn't arrived at work yet or got out safely.

Hopefully no shit happens today. Stay safe my friends.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I drove down 55 to yhr 4900 block of pulaski yo work at 6.40

Got in to see tv on in conf room

Watched it all day

Everyone left after lunch shocked

That evening went for a ride on LSD bike path to clear my head

Some idiot i was unaware of was drafting me. I pulled out to avoid a cyclist riding in the wrong bike lane. Hear enormous bang. Stop. Turn round. See bloke behind me on deck. Broken colar bone. Guy he hit on shopping bike. Helmet in basket is on the deck siezing and out cold.

The only fortunate thing was in happened by northwestern hosp and all the staff on smoke break came over

I turned round. Went home and got drunk. Decided it was just a shit day.

It is amazing to think 16 years on how the world has changed as a result.

NFNF

I was doing rounds when the first plane hit and a patient was watching on TV and said terrorists flew into a building in New York. I said no more likely a plane just lost control. Duh!

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

i was living in texas at that time and was supposed to go fly that afternoon. when i turned on the tv the only thing they were showing and discussing was the first plane that had hit one of the towers. they kept saying it was an airliner but knowing how bad the news screws things up i thought that there was no way it was accurate. then the second plane hit. i called my buddy that i had flown with for years. he was flying for another company and had moved to phoenix. i asked him if he was up and had seen the news. he said no. i told him to get up now and turn on the tv. he asked what was going on, i told him i couldn't even describe it, to just turn on the tv and start watching the news.

that evening i called two guys that i knew who flew for American hoping to hear they were still alive. they were.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
we're doomed

Yeah, the first we heard of it they were just saying that a plane crashed into the building. And we all assumed it was an accident. Although I remember wondering aloud how the hell a plane that size crashes into a building.

Then, of course, the second plane hit and we stopped wondering.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

That was my first week of university. I remember riding the bus to campus and hearing two kids, Elementary school age, talking about planes crashing in to buildings and thinking "that's kind of a weird morbid topic for this time of day". Got to my first class, math, and our proof told us what was going on. He was in shock. Tried to give his lecture, paused around 15 minutes in and said "you all should probably go home, be with friends or family if you can, or see what's going on on the news". Got to a tv just as the second plane hit.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I was in Houston on business and driving to the airport to fly to the Valley for another meeting. I remember pulling into the parking garage at the airport and noticing every one on their phones (which was odd in 2001). As I walked into the terminal, things were odd (I still didn't know). As I walked to the counter I looked at the agent and said "I don't think I am traveling today, am I? She said nope. And she shared what she knew. I left and went back to the hotel and turned the TVs on in time to watch the buildings fall. I stayed in Houston for 2 days and then drove the rental car to Nashville to get home...I will never forget.

Was on a backpacking trip near the Grand Canyon (Havasu Falls). Didn't hear abou it until 9/12. A Havasupai Indian told us about it, drawing in the dirt with a stick as he spoke. He had drawn the Twin Towers and described how planes had flown into them.

Then he said, "one of the buildings came down, then the other", as he erased his drawing with his hand.

My wife and I were just sitting there like...



Didn't fully grasp what had happened until the 14th when we checked into a motel in Needles, CA and flicked on the TV.

I called my mom...

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Was on a conference call heard the first bang. Saw the second on TV. Had a lot of former coworkers and a friend or two in there. All were physically fine. Evacuated our building so I headed to the train station to take the train to the suburbs to get the fuck out of dodge. I ran into my dad in the train station. He had just gotten off. I asked him if he heard what had happened. Yep. Why aren't you heading home? They aren't going to fly a plane in my building and I have work to do. First person I met who basically said fuck'em.

A few months after I had a guy give me surf lessons in Florida. He tells me his new girlfriend had moved from New York to Florida to live with him a few weeks before the event. Her job was in the twin towers and would likely have been at work that day if she had not moved. He said her family seemed to really like him.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I was in Paris with my wife who was 4 months pregnant. That day, and the trip home from England, will never be forgotten.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Living in Austin just after undergrad graduation. Was headed out to work when it came on TV. Sat there for hours with my Mrs. OCTri just watching the looping news. Terrible. Went out that night with a couple, had beers, sang "Proud to be an American." Terrible time.

Worst day of my personal and professional life all rolled into one. I was stationed in VA Beach, been married 5 months.

Our first attempt a pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, I was at the Dr's office with my wife while she was undergoing a D&C procedure and I watched the whole thing unfold on TV, when the second tower was hit I called into work. My job at the time was air defense and was pretty god damned sure our unit was actively turning everything up to watch the unfriendly skies and make them friendly once again. Perhaps the the biggest lesson I ever learned in my 22 year Marine Corps career was given to me over the phone by the Master Sergeant I worked for at the time. He simply said, "you stay with your wife, she needs you more now then we do. You've trained your Marines, they're doing fine, we'll see you in a few days" then hung up before I get out the obligatory "but...but....but".

I never forgot that lesson. And I can never forget this day. It changed not only the our mck414 lives forever, it changed the world.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

First year law student, my Contracts professor had a note handed to him in the middle of class, he read it gravely and then told us what had happened. Finished the lecture early, we all went out to the halls where TVs had been rolled out and we watched it on live TV. Classes were cancelled, I was a month post-Ironman and (as I still do) looked to exercise as therapy and stress relief - went home and ran intervals around the lake until I was on the verge of vomiting.

Pretty much the same story for my wife. I think that she was also first year law. Watched on TVs in the main area of her campus building for a few hours, then went home.

I don't think that she ran until she vomited though.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I was thinking about this this morning on the way to work. How long until 9/11 is relegated to textbooks and history channel specials a la pearl harbor? On Dec 7th, you might here a blurb here or there, but for the most part, its been relegated to history.

Of course those of us who were old enough to witness and grasp what happened on 9/11 will never forget.

My first thoughts as well. I was wondering who approved some idiots pilots license who couldn't avoid a big ass building; thinking it was a Cessna or similar. Then the second plane hit and broadcasters were still wondering whether or not it was an act of terror and thinking what kind of idiots do they let report news on live tv/radio.

Good question, I would think 2-3 generations. For me Peal Harbor was "just a text book" lesson, but for my grandparents it was something a whole lot more and a very real part of their lives decades later. I suspect my my grandchildren, should I blessed as such, feel the same way with 9/11.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I was mid-air between Hong Kong and Anchorige, AK. Ended up turning back over the Andreanof Islands and spent the next 4 days in Osaka.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

When did you find out why you were turned around?

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Posted to IG by a good friend, photography mentor, NASA moon shot king pin and genuinely crazy person...

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

I worked for a venture capital company that was traded on Nasdaq. We had TVs all over the office and, as the markets were closed, there was nothing to do but watch the news. We dealt with analysts at Goldman Sachs, UBS Warberg, etc. who were headquartered in Tower 6 (or 5?) and we didn't get any news about them for several days so it was pretty somber. The whole city was somber, taking the bus in to work and walking around downtown everyone looked shell-shocked.

At the end of the day I'd had too much of the news so headed over to my friend's. She was supposed to be flying out that day for a four month trip through Syria, Jordan and Egypt. She'd packed up her house for her trip so all we had to entertain us was Disney movies and ouzo.

^^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."