What were you doing 17 yrs ago today?

[ndskeeter]

I was already a member of the Air Force and was finishing my technical training in Texas. I remember watching the news of the 2nd plane and the base going into lockdown mode. It was a scary time for this country and really set the tone for a lot of the things I've seen or done so far in my over 17 years of active duty service.

 

[Rowdie]

What's really crazy is how people remember the towers...It's the 1st thing that comes to mind every time you hear 9/11. I think the news and gov't almost want you to forget that THE PENTAGON was hit too!! I'm not saying they didn't cover it, but not like the towers. Too me hitting the PENTAGON is more of a direct hit the the HEART of our country than the towers.

 

[Duckslayer100]

What's really crazy is how people remember the towers...It's the 1st thing that comes to mind every time you hear 9/11. I think the news and gov't almost want you to forget that THE PENTAGON was hit too!! I'm not saying they didn't cover it, but not like the towers. Too me hitting the PENTAGON is more of a direct hit the the HEART of our country than the towers.

I think it's the order of things. The towers were first. It was where ALL EYES were at the time. Remember this is just as technology was getting going. Facebook wasn't a thing. We had cell phones and text messaging, but it was still on my old Nokia. Not even a flip phone! It was a different time. The Pentagon was almost an afterthought at that point. I remember there was some confusion because a plan had crashed in a field. And then they said they thought the Pentagon was hit, but couldn't be confirmed. There was so much unconfirmed information that the only thing that was real -- what stuck -- were the Twin Towers. The plans hitting. Bodies falling. Burning. Crumbling. Dust. Smoke. Tears. It happened. Right. There.

Nobody saw the Pentagon get hit. We saw the crater. It was a blow, sure. But we'd already seen the sucker punch. At that point, it felt like another kick to the ribs after we were down.

But we weren't down. Far from it. They just really pissed off a lot of people. For the first time in a long time, we were united against a common enemy.

What a surreal thing to happen. The worst attack by an enemy on our soil, and we rally. We don't cower.

It's what we do. It's what America stands for. As divided as we may be. As many opinions as they are. As ugly as it can get among our own people, you DO NOT. FUCK. WITH. US.

 

[Allen]

Roofing the 91st space wing on Minot air Force Base. Armed guards came up and escorted us off the roof. What's strange is the night before they made us move all our equipment away from the building, and they were putting black garbage bags over the named parking spots, and lots of other prep and such. They knew something was going to happen.

Are you saying that some peon friggin airman at Minot AFB knew there was going to be an attack on the U.S. the next day and that we as a nation did nothing to prevent it?

 

[( deleted account )]

I had the afternoon off and was picking up my hunting buddy to chase sharp tails south of Mandan. Called that off, went home and watched news coverage.

 

[Fish whisperer]

Wife and I were at Minneapolis airport about to board a plane for San Diego for our honeymoon. Needless to say honeymoon never happened...drove back to Fargo and watched coverage for next few days. I actually have a college buddy that was in the second tower and made it out. Still remember sitting at the Oasis restaurant in Bismarck as he told us about his ordeal.

 

[Paddledogger]

I had just gotten to the office when my boss asked if I heard about some kind of airplane that struck one of the World Trade Center buildings. We continued to discuss about the about the same previous underground bombings of the building and thought it was something like a little piper. So he rolled out the TV out of the conference room and turned it on to find out it was much larger. Then reports came in of other planes hijacked and saw the 2nd plane hit. That was the real “shock and aw” for me. TV stayed on all day as we all tried to work. Had a little talk with our kids over supper. One tough day!

 

[huntinforfish]

7th Grade history class when it all started. Our teacher told us what was happening and said I quote "You may not understand all of this now, but you will never forget being in this class on this day and listening to me tell you this." I had no idea what the World Trade Center was...

 

[Lungdeflator]

6th grade for me. Shop class pretty much just got started and teacher told us to shut up and turned on the TV. I was honestly to young to really grasp what was happening, kinda weird details and stuff I remember for not really understanding the situation.

 

[dukgnfsn]

Working a additional duty day for the National Guard at RJB Armory and went into the theater and watched events for the day and talked about how our days as guardsmen were going to change drastically, and boy were we right. That was 17 years into guard service and the next 13 were very interesting. Life changing events for me in more ways than one.

 

[( deleted account )]

What's really crazy is how people remember the towers...It's the 1st thing that comes to mind every time you hear 9/11. I think the news and gov't almost want you to forget that THE PENTAGON was hit too!! I'm not saying they didn't cover it, but not like the towers. Too me hitting the PENTAGON is more of a direct hit the the HEART of our country than the towers.

Yes, I agree. It always seemed to me the pentagon story was a poor second to the towers, and it was only brought into focus for me when we visited the Pentagon and had a grand tour! Terrible but could have been much worse had the amateur pilot had better skills! I had never realized it was as bad as it was.

 

[MuleyMadness]

Senior year of high school in accounting class. Not much happened as far as school that day. Probably learned more in that one day then I did in 12 years put together.

 

[fj40]

Sitting in my office about 3 years into my first term as sheriff when the chief walked in and told me. Turned on the TV and watched with heavy hearts. Frustrated and a little pissed I was too old to re-up and have some small chance of smokin a camel.

 

[riverview]

working at a naturel gas compressor station, at lunch phone rang and we thought the guy was pulling our leg

 

[ShootnBlanks]

Was in tech school in Mhd. Teacher told us World Trade Center was hit. We went to commons area and watched the tv. Today show was on and watched a plane hit 2nd tower. It didnt seem real, and around that time got the word they were closing all the colleges.

 

[raider]

was a manager on the road in central mt that day with very little cell service... every time i got back into service my phone would blow up with calls and messages from family and employees wondering what to do... i remember driving from yellowstone park up to livingston, then on to billings watching the jets scream by... was reported on local radio that the 3 refineries in billings were a target - right where i was headed and my family was... awful day...

 

[Radar13]

I was working below the dam doing dirt work for a shop and parking lot, when a Highway Patrol come flying up, and jumped out of his car hand on side arm and wanting our ID's, thinking whoa what did we do, He told us what had happened, then left with our Id's, We went to the pickup and listened to the radio in disbelief, about a hour or so later the Patrolman came back with our Id's. for the rest of the week we had to check in with the National Guard where they had the roads blocked so we could get to work on the lot we were working on. They were definitely worried about a attack on the dam.

 

[2400]

I was rehabbing my house in Tucson some renters had torn up. We were listening to the radio while we were working, I still remember the rage I felt that some shitbags had attacked my country and killed our citizens.

My buddy and I locked the house up and drove straight to the Navy recruiting station and waited for it to open so we could reenlist. I still had both legs and I really wanted a piece of those that attacked us. Strangely enough the first 20 or so guys at the recriuting station were all "old" guys and everyone wanted to kick some ass.

In fact it's pissing me off all over again just thinking about it. Fuck those pieces of shit!

 

[Lou63]

I was stationed in Champlain, NY straight north of NYC for the USDA as an import inspector.

Needed some papers so I went out to the plants office and no one was there. Saw some heads through the window in the drivers lounge and went over to see what was up. Turned the corner in time to see the 2nd plane hit on the tv. Some of the people in the office knew people in the towers but everyone they knew made it out or were not at work yet.

Border was closed almost immediately and the schools were all put on lock down. My boss was out of Albany and he told me to go home and call in the morning before reporting.

was a very quiet few days at work after as they determined a couple of the hijackers had actually crossed in from Canada through that port.

on another occasion we were put on lock down and then sent home as the other side of the warehouse was a pick and pack operation and they opened some boxes of clothing that had a mysterious white powder on the plastic bags over the clothes. That turned out to be cornstarch to keep static electricity from building up.

 

[Reprobait]

I was in Duluth working a 3-11 shift. I really enjoyed working that shift. I was baiting bears about 2 miles from my house and heard the first reports on the radio then. A Cessna? I turned on the TV when I got home and it struck me. I watched the news coverage till I had to go to work. I remember how everything stopped at work when the President addressed the country. We were listening on the radio.

I never got a bear that year. Just enough activity to keep me baiting till the end of the season.