I was driving to our PI office when my partner called me and told me to get to the office ASAP. We watched the towers fall.
And when they played the Battle Hymn of the Republic at the end of Bush's speech at the National Cathedral, I knew that we were at war.

I had flown into Newark and was in a hotel in Jersey City. My daughter had been born early at 36 weeks and was now 3 weeks old...we had spent prior 2 mos in hospital trying to keep my wife healthy and delay the delivery.

Next day saw the 2nd plane hit, towers fall, and told a friend his brother had died...did not know that at the time.

I was a student dispatcher for the campus cops in undergrad, I went to work at 2300 CDT September 10th, got off at 0700 CDT September 11th and was asleep at 0730 CDT. I woke up that afternoon and absolutely no idea what was going on or what I had missed.

I was in Austin TX visiting a buddy. I dropped his 2yr old at daycare and had just joined him at the office when the first plane struck. We turned on the news and saw the 2nd plane strike. I will never forget the feeling of shock and then the waves of anger.

My buddy past away last year from cancer. His 2yr old started college last week.

I know a lot of water has passed under the bridge, but the fight continues and we must never forget what happened.

We were on Maui on Sept. 11. The phone rang at 0600 local time and woke us up. My friend answered the phone and it turned out to be her mother calling from the mainland. She told her to turn on the television. That's when we first saw the pictures of the twin towers burning.
It was surreal, being on Maui and knowing that we when returned to the mainland, we were going back to a different world than when we left. And it would never be the same.

That whole week leading up to the 9/11, I was working in West Jefferson, Ohio knocking down and re-building a blast wall that was damaged during explosive testing.

Around 0900hrs, I was on the way into the town to grab breakfast at the McD's for me and the other laborers. I was listening to AM radio since that was the only thing I had in my beloved 1994 Ford Ranger.

For some unknown reason I turned on the radio (I only had AM in my beloved 1994 Ford Ranger). and caught some morning show, and the individual was on some rant. I thought it was some conspiracy theory stuff and turned it off. I did not find out what happened until I went inside the restaurant.

I immediately returned to the testing center, and thankfully the security personnel recognized me and let me in. They were locking everything down, and we had to report to the job trailer.

We were sent home shortly after. As soon as I arrived home, I was glued to the TV and knew I would be re-enlisting.

Sept 10th 2001 I worked the Swing shift, got home about midnight and in bed around 0130.

My wife woke me up shortly after the first tower was struck, telling me a plane had hit the WTC. I assumed it was a small plane in bad weather, and turned the TV on. Seeing a beautiful clear day, I was confused how it could have happened. I watched live coverage as the second tower was struck and knew immediately what was going on.

Didn’t/couldn’t go back to sleep, watched the news coverage all day and tried to make sense of it. Then I went to work the night of 9/11 on little more than 4 hours sleep to do a 12 hour shift.


One of my employees was in the air at the time it happened, on vacation and returning from England, her plane was diverted to Gander Newfoundland Canada where she stayed until air travel resumed on 9/14.



I believe it is my generations “Kennedy” moment, everyone old enough to understand remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news.

Sept 10th I attended a Yankee-Redsox game at Yankee stadium, it was rained out we went to Carmines in Times Square as I was staying at the Marriott Marquis.m I recall drinking way to much wine because Carmines has small water glasses and its tough to judge how much you're really drinking.

When the 1st plane hit I was in a meeting with a customer on Lexington Ave 23rd street. The rest of the day was basically trying to get out of Manhattan which took many hours.

Traffic was gridlocked and finally got to a spot where I was able to get on a closed FDR drive which I took up to the Willis Ave bridge and I was able to cut through the Bronx and out of the city.

I remember how deserted the highways were in CT and MA on my way home to Massachusetts.

I grew up in NY and had visited the towers many times as a child.

I had retired from the PD and we had moved to the ranch to raise horses and cattle. I was still a reserve agent with OSI and they were sending me to various places on special assignments.

I was on one of those assignments on 9/11, giving an intel briefing to a deploying AEF wing. When I finished the briefing I went back to the intel SCIF to shred stuff and watched the second plane fly into the tower.

There were very few of us who knew anything about Osama bin Laden at the time, because there wasn't much available, and I was peppered with questions from command that I did not have answers to. I was astounded by the number of so-called "experts" on the news talking about bin Laden who really didn't know anything but went with BS instead.

I remember calling my wife that morning and remarking that I hoped America had the fortitude to stick with a war that would last a generation. We have faltered several times since.

I was mobilized within the hour and spent 6 of the next 9.5 years on active duty and deployed somewhere, our lives like so many others profoundly changed that day. Every year on this day a bone deep anger wells up in me as it did on that day in 2001. I have passed the age to go fight, but am so proud of the young men and women who have shown the courage and resolve to go in harm's way for America.

Three of my four children served or still serve in the military in this conflict. God bless the first responders. and countless warriors who answered the call to serve.


I am going to go clean my rifle.

Tuesday September 11th 2001 was my Friday.
Day started out at 7AM for a morning sales meeting. After the sales meeting I went out to my location.
It was an absolutely beautiful day in central Florida.
Being from New Jersey I would still watch the morning news from New York on my satellite. It was an absolutely beautiful day in New York.
I do not remember the exact time when I checked my work voice mail but my wife left me a message a plane had hit the Wold Trade center tower.
I thought how could some one flying out of a local airport be flying so low on a clear day and not see the building. I thought it was a small plane.
A little while latter I checked my voice mail again and my wife left me another message about the second plane and the Pentagon.
As soon as I got the second message I went to our back office to turn on a TV. When I got to the TV it was on and surrounded by people that were in shock.
I called my wife to find out if she had talked to my mother to find out if she had heard from family in New York. Several relatives are FDNY and a friend who worked for the Port Authority at the world Trade Center. She had not been able to get through. In the end they were all okay. I was told my one cousin was in tower one when tower two came down. He survived.
I spent the rest of the day in a fog/shock wondering about friends and family members in New York.
The company my wife worked for close for the next few days and when we both got home we turned on the TV and did not turn it off for the next two days.
I was a volunteer firefighter when I lived in New Jersey so not only the losses of all of the civilians but the emergency service personnel hit especially hard.
To this day the sound of Bag Pipes makes me cry from watching all of the funerals.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 71 TRUCK,

Prayers for all on this day.

On the west coast, many of us were getting ready for work, my day started early. My routine at the time was to turn on the news and make coffee. Everything was focused on the North Tower; I remember making coffee and thinking it was weird that a plane crashed into a skyscraper in Manhattan. Literally minutes later, I saw the 2nd plane impact in real time; it took me a few seconds after the initial shock to realize that this was an attack, not a coincidence. My boss shortly afterwards calls me to cancel the work day. I was in my bathrobe with my 3 yo son and wife, who also stayed home, all day watching TV and fielding phone calls.

That day yielded perhaps one of the most profound epiphanies, it completely changed my life. Many preconceived notions disappeared, my already cynical attitude ramped up considerably. I was not the same since.

I was at work, had a friend helping out that morning. He was out getting ready to leave when the news came, he ran in to tell us. One of my employee's niece and nephew worked in the WTC. It was a very chilling morning in the office as we kept updated on a tiny radio. The nephew died, the niece had not gotten to work, yet. I get chills just writing this, a terrible day!

I started the morning with a visit to the to get a new licence. I got into work and started my day. Was on the phone to an agent at Cantor-Fitgerald when the line went dead. I called back, and there was no signal. We had three TV's on the trading desk, and CNBC came on saying the world trade center was on fire. The next 3-4 hours we watched in horror, then just after noon, the emergency evacuation of our building came in and we were forced to leave everything. We were in the second tallest Bank building in Charlotte.

I'll never forget.

I was working in Midtown and could see the smoke. I would be standing in the rubble a short time later. I will never forget it and still seems like yesterday.

I'm going to say something that is probably going to be unpopular. Keep in mind that I am not insensitive to the loss, ignorant of its significance, nor unpatriotic.

9/11 happened 17 years ago. 17 years. And, for every one of those 17 years on this day everyone goes through the same old "where were yous", and the readings of every name at ground zero, official ceremonies at the Pentagon, etc..., etc....

At what point does this fade and we move on? Were they still reading the names of every single person killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1958? I doubt it.

I think that it's time the nation grew up some. Bad shit happened, a lot of folks died, we paid back those responsible (and continue to). Let's move on.

I'm not suggesting that anyone forget this event or the victims as I don't know how one could, but I don't believe that it is healthy to continue to dwell on it like we do with all of this ceremony. I turned on my TV this morning expecting to hear updates on the hurricane, and Trump, and other important things that effect the here and now. Instead I see a three way split screen of ceremonies in NY/PA/DC and nothing but for the past hour or so unless you count an interview with Karl Rove describing once again what happened with Bush at that school in Florida that morning.

Not unlike losing a loved one or a cherished pet, you grieve, you mourn, and you move on. It's what people do. It's what people did after Pearl Harbor. We paid back the bastards responsible and we, as a country, got on with our lives. I'd only suggest that we do that again.

9/11 is a part our history, and as history I think it's time that we remember it but leave it in the past. I'd encourage everyone to take a moment of quiet reflection...and then get on with the business of today.

Just my $.02.

I was working on the White River NF in Rifle, CO. That morning I had a training session on computer software for Range Management. The session was at the district office in Steamboat Springs, and I set out well before sunup to make the drive.

I had a music station of some sort on when the first report of an airplane striking the N Tower came over the radio; it may have even been news at the top of the hour, rather than a news flash. Speculation was that it may have been a light plane, as others have stated.

At some point I switched to NPR and listened as the story of the 9/11 attacks unfolded. What is still surreal to me is the memory of sitting in a pickup truck, driving north, alone, at sunrise, in rural western Colorado, and the experience of listening as our world changed forever.

Later, I arrived in Steamboat. We sat in that stupid training session and no one in the training cadre said a fukkin’ word about what had happened. I sat and stewed about it for a short while, not hearing a word they were saying. I couldn’t take it anymore. I raised my hand. Stood up. Said something about the events of the morning, and asked for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives. I added something about those who would lose their lives in the months to follow.

Every 9/11 for the last 17 years in my part of flyover country has been the exact same cloudless sky as that day. Same again this year, I don't know it is a natural weather pattern for this time of year or something else. I remember in the days/weeks afterwards everyone instinctively looking up when you heard a jet airplane. I always did, still do, because I'm an airplane nerd. It's weird when everyone did it though.

It was a beautiful morning in central PA. I was no longer with the Indiana State Police department. My wife and I, along with our six children, settled down on a nice little farm in the Poconos. I was out in the barn doing chores when I heard the dinner bell ring at the house. I knew something was wrong because I had already had my breakfast and it was way too early for lunch. Two of my sons were with me. We jumped on the Gator and raced to the house. My wife had the TV on in the kitchen and as we walked in the house, my eyes fixed on the TV as I tried to collect all the information that was being discussed. Within just a couple minutes, the second plane hit and I knew then, we would soon be at war. But against whom? Our whole family was changed that day and many hearts in my home were turned toward service. I will never forget.

I am so thankful for our first responders, military and emergency.
I am proud of all those who sacrifice to take care of us here, and those who fight over seas to keep the damage off our shores.

My son Ronald, Sergeant, PA State police
My son, Kyle, Maryland State Police
My daughter Shellie, USMC
My son in law, Tyler, USMC
My son in law, Joe, Municipal Fire Department chief and rescue EMT

Thank you all for your service. And God Bless The USA