6 Years ago

[paolabob]

[Blackdog]

Had just returned from a visit to California (lived in MA at the time) my Dad had just come out of recovery from quad bypass in CA. Back to work a coupla days. Worked for Fidelity Investments at their Merrimack, NH facility. The whole building started sprinting for the cafateria where they had TV's mounted on walls everywhere - stood for hours gawking in amazement with my coworkers. I went to the beach with my dog the next morning I cried and watched a spectacular sunrise - I was told later on TV was caused by the smoke and ash out of New York.

 

This is one of a series of photos I took that AM that are special to me:

 

 

It was a special moment for me on the backdrop of the attacks - it screamed that "Life goes on". I ran the beach for exercise with my dog - as was my normal routine before work - and stopped frequently to talk to familiar faces - glad they were there. I watched the rugged northeast fishing fleet take to the sea to make a living.

 

Life would never be the same - in a good way. My company had a 30% layoff caused by the economic fallout of 9/11 and offered packages - I took it. I had "things to do". My 1st wife and I separated the following February and I rode Cross country that October through January - meeting Iron Indians all over the southland and west. I passed through DC on my way south when the snipers were shooting from the trunk of a car - was told they had hit the gas station I was filling up at the day before.

 

Lots to think about with all that as a backdrop.

 

I had been a "new rider" again 30 years after my youth - now I have about 150,000 miles on my 3 bikes - about 125,000 of it on my Chief. Chief is ready to be ridden again after a long visit with Joe Malfa. He tells me it is the sweetest ride he has done to date - from him and his test rider. I know that'll last maybe a week - Joe keeps helping us improve - a wondeerful thing. Every mile has been a joy, every encounter a memory and the promise of a future full of them.

 

That winter was the hardest my part of the Northeast had seen for a looooong time. As I waited for my home to sell and to move to California - to a little paradise I had selected for myself on the Central California Coast.

 

I often think of 9/11. For me it was a new beginning - to the rest of my life.

[Scottdog]

I was getting ready to head to NYC to dig my little brother out of the rubble. He took the subway from the Bronx to the World Trade Center station every morning on his way to work a couple blocks away from there.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......Then the little fucker finally called and told us that for some reason he decided to ride his bicycle to work that day.

 

He moved out of NY shortly after that. Now he lives in San Francisco.

[Maldev]

Hugging my wife. She had been at the Morgan Stanley office in the WTC the week prior.

[Pop]

If I had a close call with rubble burial and it concerned me enough to pull up stakes I can't honestly say that SF woulda been my 1st relocation choice.

 

But, more power to him. The ill winds did not reach him.

 

I wuz sitting in a meeting in Andover Mass. The secretary came in after the first tower got hit and told us what little the radio knew. About a half hour later she came in again crying and told us that the second tower got hit.

 

I shut the site down and sent 200 people home to their families. I don't know why to this day. They never covered what to do when the bottom falls out of reality in my management training.

 

The sky was bluer that day than any I ever saw. I had stood on the landing in front of the office drinking coffee with a couple guys early in the morning before anything happened and we were dumfounded how blue the sky was.

[paolabob]

I was sleeping as I worked nights and for some reason I left the phone on the night before. A friend called and said I needed to get up and grab a slice of reality. Just as I turned the television on they showed the second plane hitting. Spent the whole day watching in disbelief. Listened to the radio this morning and was amazed at how many people though nothing about it. I didn't have anything traumatic happen like some of you but it did change how I look at things at times. I still remember where I was and the general mood when JFK was shot as well. Sad, just sad.

Edited September 11, 2007 by paolabob

[Dr. Mark]

I was asleep too. I had been in the ER the night before, 6p to 6a, and had been asleep a couple of hours. My little brother called and told me that we had a major problem, that our mother and our aunt were on a flight into JFK. I asked him what the hell he was talking about, and why would that be a problem. There was this long pause, and he said: "Turn on your TV", and I did...just in time to see the second plane hit. I dropped the phone and started crying.

 

My mother and aunt's plane had been diverted to St. Louis.

 

Have you noticed that they never show that video anymore? They say it's 'too traumatic' to air.

 

Funny...they seem to have no problem airing footage of our casualties, do they?

 

I guess it must be a different deal, somehow, huh?

 

-Doc

 

p.s. sorry. I apologize. I didn't mean to get political in this thread. Just for the record, I think George Bush is a complete fucking idiot. I think he has totally mismanaged the war, and our response to 9/11. I'd have nuked the motherfuckers till they glowed green, and then pissed on the ashes. But that's just me.

[Scottdog]

I was asleep too. I had been in the ER the night before, 6p to 6a, and had been asleep a couple of hours. My little brother called and told me that we had a major problem, that our mother and our aunt were on a flight into JFK. I asked him what the hell he was talking about, and why would that be a problem. There was this long pause, and he said: "Turn on your TV", and I did...just in time to see the second plane hit. I dropped the phone and started crying.

 

My mother and aunt's plane had been diverted to St. Louis.

Have you noticed that they never show that video anymore? They say it's 'too traumatic' to air.

Funny...they seem to have no problem airing footage of our casualties, do they?

I guess it must be a different deal, somehow, huh?

-Doc

 

p.s. sorry. I apologize. I didn't mean to get political in this thread. Just for the record, I think George Bush is a complete fucking idiot. I think he has totally mismanaged the war, and our response to 9/11. I'd have nuked the motherfuckers till they glowed green, and then pissed on the ashes. But that's just me.

[Last Resort]

Have you noticed that they never show that video anymore? They say it's 'too traumatic' to air.

 

Funny...they seem to have no problem airing footage of our casualties, do they?

 

I guess it must be a different deal, somehow, huh?

That is not being political that is stating fact.

Much of "our media" wants to show how unbiased they are that they overcompensate to the point of being not only non American but anti American.

[Pop]

Dr. Mark, I hate to take exception to your rant, but speaking for the complete fucking idiots of this old world I just wanta say we take umbrage to that unfair comparison. In the future before you lump us in with GW try and think about our feelings.

[Last Resort]

Click Here

 

[AbnMatt]

I was depolyed to Kosovo. My team had just finished a patrol and were taking a lunch break at a castle from the Ottoman Empire era when non-specific RTB call came in. We made it back to the team room to see the North tower fall. After the Pentagon was hit and Flight 93 crashes in Pennsylvania I spent 6 hours trying to get in touch with my family in PA, my wife's family in NY and my friends in DC. That day changed my life so much that I can barely remember how I felt before.

[01CHIEF]

I remember the day well.

 

It was one of the rare times I had the TV on in the morning. I was watching some local channel and enjoying my morning brew. Then the show was interrrupted with a special bulletin. I tuned in just in time to see thw plane crash into the tower; my mouth hung open in disbelief... What just happened? I tried to comprehend how an airliner could fly so close to the city's dwellings. Then along with the newsman I started to suspect something more dire was developing. A few minutes later the other plan came into view. At that point I felt nauseous. I now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the first crash was not an accident. And I knew too well that this second plane had similar intentions. Then there were the followup stories with the pentagon and the plane in Pennslyvania. As I drove to work that day it seemed like the California freeways were a little less congested; people drove a little slower and people a liitle more concerned about one another. To say the mood that day and that week was somber is an understatement.

 

I have never witnessed the kind of patriotism that occurred after that horribly long painful day. The U.S. stood united amongst it's people. With the passing of time it is true that level of patriotism has dwindled. I do not think it is a conscious effort. I think people get wrapped up in their lives. Out here in CA there are many 9/11 events on the actual day and the preceding weekend. I typically attend one or two of these events. You'd be surprised at the turnout. Everyone looks at each other with a knowing glance. It's like we're all related.....and we are. We're all Americans. We're all still angry. We're all still upset, confused about how such a tragedy could take place here in our homeland. We all still yearn for vindication...

 

 

~Will

USMC

86-91

[Micmac]

I was at work, one of the guys that work for me told me to turn on the tv, I did and saw the tower burning. Funny thing is I remember thinking "I bet that fucking rag head had something to do with this", I'm not sure what made ,me think that. Right about that time the second tower was hit. I. like Pop told everyone to go home and be with their people. I went and gathered up my young-uns and went home. My wife is a manager for a major airline, we didn't see her for two days, she worked 48 hours in a row getting people situated. I went out in the park that following weekend with the kids and looked to the sky and noticed no airplanes. It was strange. I flew to Seattle the first day you could fly again, it was on a huge Airbus out of Charlotte. It was empty except for a Green Beret and I, very strange.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have hated some sons a bitches in my life. I cannot fathom what kind of hate could motivate murder on such a scale. I have studied the Koran ( as well as most other religeous texts) and missed the mass murder section in it. I still cuss those bastards every time I board an aircraft and have to get the short arm inspection. What a sad day for humanity.

[Lecky8386]

A sad day for humanity says it perfect.

I was in Manhattan and that is all I wish to say

[Brock]

 

 

I was at work...in a vault....briefing my boss on my intelligence estimate I was about to give to the Commander and how a week earlier I stated that something was brewing and I would not be surprised if it was not a problem in Pacific but rather closer to home. Then one of my troops came in and told me something was going on in NY...I went out and the youngsters were saying some drunk pilot hit the WTC.

I told them they were in NFZ and that I did not think it was an accident....as I was watching the television over my desk...the second plane hit and my stomach twisted and I said OH FUCK under my breath.

 

I then told one of my troops to start recalling everyone to the office and then asked boss if he would cancel all leaves and ask for our reserve troops to be activated....29 hours later I was on a plane flying overseas to an undisclosed location to plan and execute classified missions the first night of the war in Afghanistan.

 

The rest is history....God Bless the USA and those that gave it all.

[MOE]

I was at work...in a vault....briefing my boss on my intelligence estimate I was about to give to the Commander and how a week earlier I stated that something was brewing and I would not be surprised if it was not a problem in Pacific but rather closer to home. Then one of my troops came in and told me something was going on in NY...I went out and the youngsters were saying some drunk pilot hit the WTC.

I told them they were in NFZ and that I did not think it was an accident....as I was watching the television over my desk...the second plane hit and my stomach twisted and I said OH FUCK under my breath.

 

I then told one of my troops to start recalling everyone to the office and then asked boss if he would cancel all leaves and ask for our reserve troops to be activated....29 hours later I was on a plane flying overseas to an undisclosed location to plan and execute classified missions the first night of the war in Afghanistan.

 

The rest is history....God Bless the USA and those that gave it all.

THANKS

[Wheatmonger]

It was my second day of work at the Capitol. I had started a job with The House of Representatives Resources Committee subcomitte on Water and power. I was at work early the clerk came in the office and asked us why we weren't watching the news. We turned the tube on to complete horror just before the second plane went in. Soon there after we heard something about the pentagon or state dept was hit. After a lot of confusion the Capitol Police evacuated the Capitol Complex. I remember walking out the front door to the Longworth Building looking at the south side of the capitol and turning west looking off capitol hill and seeing the smoke rising off the pentagon. Very sureal. The secretary for the resources comittee lost her husband in the pentagon that morning. She was the first person I had met when I started and the sweetest person you could meet.

[Last Resort]

I was at work...in a vault....briefing my boss on my intelligence estimate I was about to give to the Commander and how a week earlier I stated that something was brewing and I would not be surprised if it was not a problem in Pacific but rather closer to home. Then one of my troops came in and told me something was going on in NY...I went out and the youngsters were saying some drunk pilot hit the WTC.

I told them they were in NFZ and that I did not think it was an accident....as I was watching the television over my desk...the second plane hit and my stomach twisted and I said OH FUCK under my breath.

 

I then told one of my troops to start recalling everyone to the office and then asked boss if he would cancel all leaves and ask for our reserve troops to be activated....29 hours later I was on a plane flying overseas to an undisclosed location to plan and execute classified missions the first night of the war in Afghanistan.

 

The rest is history....God Bless the USA and those that gave it all.

And I am PROUD and HONORED to know you!

[hasbin]

And I am PROUD and HONORED to know you!

 

I am standing in that same line Brock, Thanks Brother

[Tahoe Chief]

God save the country from the bastards that want to pretend this was a hoax or perpetrated by wya. I served 8 yrs U.S.M.C. and would go back in to kill the fucks that put this shit together. Just my calm remembrance.

[Blackdog]

I am standing in that same line Brock, Thanks Brother

 

 

Same here Brock - thanks.

[DienCaiDau]

I was at work at Logan International Airport in Boston. Worked there for 28 years as an air craft re-fuel mechanic. We shared part of a hanger with Continental. One of their mechanics called me over and said an aircraft just hit the WTC. As I watched the TV, a second aircraft hit it. A feeling I hadn't felt in many years came over me. Airport was locked down. MassPort Authority announced that every fuel truck was to be taken off the airport. (That was a crazy thing to demand as none of them are registered to go on public roads, especially the 10,000 gallon tankers that are driven as a straight job (two fifth wheels). A few minutes later, we were told to move them to (what we called) the dump site. That was right at the edge of Boston Harbor. The next few weeks at that airport was insane with do this... no wait, don't do that, do this instead. Then as weeks turned into months, it seemed the security became weak again, as if nothing had happened.... wasn't long after that, that I retired.

[paolabob]

As I read through this thread it both saddens me and gives me strength. Sad for the topic of this thread and the personal loss of so many, but also strengh from the stories of so many Americans who unselfishly stepped up. Thank you Brock for being part of our protection and all the Fire fighters and law enforcement for their support. As sad as the event was/is stoies like these and others reinforce my opinion that we live in the greatest country in the world. Afterall who is swimming the river towards Mexico? Good posts everyone

[firebird77clone]

i was in bed, working second or third shift ya know. Got a call from the in - laws, saying the trade center had been bombed. I didn't see the big deal, after all 'they' had done it before, and I was certain this effort was no more competently executed.

 

God was I wrong. When I woke up, both towers had been hit and were burning. I felt a rage and dispair that my poor vocabulary can not express.

 

All I wanted was to see a mushroom cloud over the country of those responsible.

 

perhaps it would have been the better response.. perhaps not.

 

When Mr Bush stood before us and declared we would do whatever it took... the words sounded good, but I knew then and there the American people's attention spans were insufficient to accomplish this task.

 

Let's tap the oil shale reserves of Colorado and say goodbye to foreign oil.