Where were you 9-11-2001

[fuzzy]

I was in the second day of a military simulation conference in Orlando. I was running one of the sessions that day with at least a hundred+ people in the audience when... well, if you've seen The Siege, you've seen what I experienced. In the middle of a talk, cell phones started ringing and vibrating throughout the room and people started whispering and leaving the room.

[Anita]

I was at home. The day started like any other day when I would wake up to the radio and listen for a few minutes before I'd actually get up. I immediately noticed that something was missing in the DJs' voices - The fun, rambunctious, and irreverant duo sounded different. Their voices were monotone in color but something more -the sound was lifeless, faltering.

As I slowly woke up I heard them talk about the towers, airplanes, fire. I realized something happened. Something horrible happened.

I turned on my tv and saw the horror of the first plane lodged in one tower. Then the gasp when the second hit. Then with horror I saw what we all saw. Tears were streaming down my face while I repeated over and over again.. Oh my God, Oh my God..... Such misery, such horror, such evil.

I wished I was there to help, I wanted to do something. I called all my friends who lived in the area, luckily all were safe. They were safe but in shock. I spent the rest of the day watching the disaster over and over again, trying to get my mind to take it in.

After that day, I couldnt look at the footage again.

Mercer (Bantan) was close to the towers. He took a pic. I dont think he meant to get such an ironic shot.

[tom4bren]

I was in my office at Ft. Belvoir (about 10 miles from the Pentagon). I never listen to the radio at work so I was clueless until my wife called me. We talked for about 30 seconds before we got disconnected & then she freaked out because she couldn't reach me for several hours. Phones, email, cell, internet all went down or were so slow they were useless. Traffic was gridlocked too so we couldn't even leave. Some of us were going to go to the Pentagon to see if we could help but couldn't get there by any means so we did what we could - we started putting together whatever equipment might be needed - ground penetrating radar, night vision equipment, geo-accoustic sensors, ...

We had a truck loaded within hours but it still took 3 days for it to reach ground zero. Over the first few days, we all experienced the full range of emotions: fear, disbelief, horror, pride, sadness ... No, that day will never be forgotten.

[etlsport]

was sitting in an architectural drafting class.. heard about the first hit over the radio. so we turned on the tv to see what was going on architecturally... still discussing frames and such when someone says hey whats that? then the second plane hit.. first thing the teacher said was "you guys are going to remember this moment the rest of your lives" how true

[VehiGAZ]

I was at work in CT, watching what I could on fuzzy antenna-signal TV, running back and forth to my computer to read the news updates, and wondering if my first cousin and best friend (and soon-to-be best man at my wedding 2.5 weeks later), who worked for Oppenhiemer Funds in Tower 2 was alive or not. As it happened, he left his cell phone on his desk on his way out of the building with a couple of preggo women from his office, not that having his phone would have done him any good anyway.

My wife's best friend worked for Amex at the time in the #7 building, but she fortunately called in sick that day (No conspiricists, she's not Jewish). We didn't know that either, though.

I left work and went home. A friend of ours who was freaked by the whole episode came over that evening and stayed the night with us just so he wouldn't be alone.

[nfpgasmask]

I was still living in Chicago at the time. I got to work late, as usual, around 8:20am. I took the elevator up to the 7th floor where I sat, got off the elevator and noticed that my floor was empty. There was no one around which was really weird. I started walking over to my desk, and then I saw a co-worker come out of the large conference room (there was a TV in there). My first thought was, "oh crap, I missed a meeting, I'm in trouble". So I walked over there and my coworker just looked at me and said, "WWIII just started". I was like, "wtf?". I walked the conference room and saw the first tower billowing smoke on the TV. About 2 seconds later, the fire alarms went off, and the entire building was evacuated. I worked in the Aon Center, which is the 2nd tallest building in Chicago, and I guess they weren't taking any chances since there were still several planes unaccounted for.

The streets of Chicago filled up with people fast as several other high-rise buildings were evaculated, and my wife and I tried calling some friends in NY with no luck. The rest of the day was spent at home, watching the news unfold.

Bart

[MSHardeman]

My story is much like everyone elses. I was going through my normal morning routine of eating breakfast with NPR on. It was just background noise, but something just didn't sound right, and when I really tuned in I heard "twin towers", "plane", "fire" and that got my attention. I ran over and turned the TV on to see the first tower billowing smoke. At that time everyone thought it was an accident, but as I sat there watching the talking head on TV give a live report from the roof of another building (with the towers in the background) the second plane hit and my jaw just about hit the floor.

As I kept watching more reports came in of other planes being hijacked. There where reports of planes going down on the Mall in Washington, D.C. (obviously false), one heading toward the White House, and phone calls from people on the plane that went down in Pennsylvania.

The reports of the plane that hit the Pentagon where overshadowed by the towers collapsing, but I later learned that a friend that I grew up with, who was in the Navy, was probably in the room that the plane hit as it plowed into the Pentagon. VERY sad as he had just gotten married. The story we all heard was that he was in his office (and probably would have been OK if he had stayed there), but moved to a conference room that had a TV where a few of his co-workers where watching what was happening to the Towers.

A lot of the stories of people calling in sick, getting stuck in traffic or on the subway, or just not going into work at the Towers for whatever reason are truely amazing.

It's an unbelievable tragedy, and everytime I see a documentary of that day I get angry and wonder why we haven't really done anything about finding the people who are responsible.