9/11 - Where were you, what were your initial thoughts ?

[crotchitymedic1986]

We all know that our parents/grandparents generation can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that JFK had been assasinated. There is no doubt that 9/11 was our generation's similar event. I am not raising this topic to bash Muslims, talk about the NY Mosque, or the Florida Bible-Thumper who wants to burn some books. I just wonder, where were you when you learned about 9/11, what were your initial thoughts, what are your thoughts in retrospect (if you care to share) ?

[mobey]

I was in my basement watching TV in small town Saskatchewan.

My initial thought was "I am glad to be in small town Sk"

My 2nd thought was "I wonder if this is the beginning of a war"

I was a little immature at the time to take it very seriously, but over the following weeks I wised up to the severity of the situation and how close to home it really was.

[HERBIE1]

My son was in 8th grade and I was taking him to school. I had 2 little ones at the time, who thankfully were blissfully ignorant of the day's events. It was a short drive to school- 10 minutes or so, and as usual had one of those happy talk morning radio shows on when suddenly their news guy broke in, very serious, saying there was a breaking story in NYC- unconfirmed report of a plane crash. At first I thought it was a silly radio bit, but quickly realized it was real- the normally goofy hosts were dead serious. I dropped my son off and quickly headed home. As I listened, they didn't have many details yet, and as soon as I walked in the door, I flipped on the TV and tuned to CNN. My wife was getting ready for work, and I told her something big was going on. Literally, as soon as I switched the channel I saw the plane hit the 2nd tower. My jaw dropped, I felt a chill(I'm getting chills just recalling this), and my first thought was oh my God, we are at war. I sat, transfixed all morning, and when the 1st tower collapsed, I lost my breath. My first thought was- I just witnessed the deaths of hundreds of rescue folks and probably thousands of civilians. I began to shake, and when the 2nd tower fell, my eyes filled with tears.

My wife reluctantly went to work.

I checked with the wife later, warned her that she may need to come back home because I would probably be called in to work. She said that because she was the only senior staff member around, she needed to stay- at least for awhile. I gave her a couple alternate routes home because they were evacuating the downtown area and the major roads and highways would be packed.

She did come home early, I never did get called in, but did not sleep well that night. Every time the phone rang, I assumed it would be an emergency recall because we were under attack. In the event things went south, we set up contingency plans for the kids, where the wife would go, where we would meet later, who would pick up our parents, etc. I told her if called, I had to go. She understood.

I returned to work the next day, and recall it was a surreal experience. I was working on a ghetto rig at the time, and was in awe that the vast majority of people we dealt with had no idea what had happened the day before, nor did they care when we told them about it. It was business as usual: drunks, ear aches, tummy aches, BS, drama, OD's GSW's, beatings, stabbings- as if time stood still for them. It was sickening to me and found myself getting very angry. It was then when I truly realized these areas were like the land that time forget- a society and existence independent of the rest of the world. As long as they were not affected, it was of no importance to them, and someone elses' problem.

Once I assumed our area was no longer in imminent danger, I knew I really wanted to go to NYC and help- in some way. I had it all arranged, I brought it up to the wife, and surprisingly she was supportive of the idea. I then took a step back and looked at my kids. I realized THEY needed me more than NYC did. I knew I could not leave them.

[TylerHastings]

I was in my 8th Grade and I had to get up early to be on the practice field for marching band and my father got me up early I went and just like I did every morning I started the coffee for him and I turned on the news on the tv by my bathroom and the tv in the family room and just as I turned it on they were showing a clip of the first plane hitting....my first reaction was a pilot made an error and boom... I went and I took a shower and when I got out of the shower I was wandering around with my tooth brush in my mouth I saw the second plane hit and I ran to my parents bedroom and said....some one is attacking us....and turned their tv on.

Edited September 11, 2010 by TylerHastings

[emtannie]

I used to always have the news on TV when I got ready for work, and at the time, I was a branch manager at a local bank. The first plane hit when I was still at home, and as I watched the footage, I had the same thought as mobey "I wonder if this is the start of a war.." and then "I better get to work - the markets are going to crash."

I grabbed a small TV I had at home, and took it to work so I could set it up in my office... I hurried to work, and began to go through some of the major US investments that my clients had, to see if any were at risk, and if I could liquidate them to cash before the markets completely crashed (which is common in wartime). I had clients who were frantic about their foreign (US) investments, and it was a crazy first couple hours of work - phone lines to our major brokers were jammed, and even email connections were hit and miss, due to the volume of information people were trying to convey. Since my time zone is 2 hours behind NY, there wasn't much I could do once all the markets were frozen... I had visions of clients of mine who had millions in investments suddenly having nothing if the markets completely crashed.

I had clients coming in all day, and I had one in my office who was also a dear friend, and we were just watching TV when the first tower collapsed. At that moment, all I could think of was how many thousands of people had just potentially died, and we were all sitting and watching... it was a terrible thought.

It seemed surreal, watching it on TV all day, and wondering if things would or could get worse. Would there be further attacks? Was this the start of WWIII? What about nuclear weapons? That bank that I was working for had a branch in the towers, and we spent the day waiting for updates, hoping that our fellow staff members would survive. At the time, I was also an EMT with a local ambulance service, and my husband a firefighter, and we couldn't help but worry for all those who responded to the scene.

I know it was a weird feeling - an incident that was so far away geographically from me, but having such an immediate effect on my workplace, and such an emotional effect on both me and my friends who work in EMS and FD. Like Herbie, a part of me felt like I should go and help, but it was a helpless feeling too - how could I, when I was so far away, and how would I get there, and who would I report to, and what could I do?

I also remember walking outside, and looking up, and thinking how weird it was that there were no trails from the planes that usually had their flightpaths overhead, since so many flights had been grounded. That seemed really eerie to me.

I have to admit, part of the terrorist intent was achieved. Initially, they were able to instill fear, not just in the USA, but throughout the world. They were also able to disrupt international markets considerably. I don't think they ever expected the people of the USA to fight their way back so quickly, and for such fast international support for the US, and that makes me very happy.

[aussiephil]

Being on the other side of the world, it was late night & I was watching the late news on TV. The newsreader, a consumate professional, I had never seen make a mistake prior, or since, when she stumbled over words & they went to a live feed.

Initial thoughts were that it was a freak accident & after watching for a short time, I went to bed. On waking, we put the TV on to come to the realisation that it was a terrorist attack, & that both towers had been attacked.

I went to work in a busy office & that day was quite eerie, the phone didnt ring, no one came through the door, we were fixated on the TV.

I hope never to be witness to anything like that again.

[Richard B the EMT]

I was out on a back injury, but still was authorized to take vacation for an EMS related educational seminar. I was on the computer looking for instructions to Lake George, NY, when my buddy "Flipper" sent me an "Instant Message" asking if I was going to my station, and told me that 2 planes had hit the WTC. I went to the next room and turned on the TV, to see the almost endless repeats of the second plane hitting the second tower. I watched in horror, until the second tower fell.

I then went to my EMS station, presuming, I couldn't lift, but I could use the "station van" to move personnel from where they might be, to where they could activate another station's spare vehicle. No joy! The tour 3 lieutenant had hijacked the van from the tour 2 Lieutenant, who had been operating on that idea, already.

We had about 20 personnel, some from the station, most from the area, who were looking for ambulances. We ran 3 BLS and 2 ALS then, with 6 spare trucks, and all were either in the field somewhere, at the curb with idling engines, or in the building with teams throwing stock aboard.

After an hour, I was sent "home" by the lieutenant, but went to both the area hospitals to donate blood. No joy! Both didn't have a dedicated Blood Donor Room. The ER crews directed me to go to a north Queens hospital to donate.

Rockaway is served by 2 bridges going across Jamaica Bay. Their operating authority had closed them both to traffic, so all traffic was on "Interstate 878", sometimes known as the Nassau Expressway, to leave the peninsula. After a half hour, and only going 35 or so feet forward, I gave up, and did a "U" turn, back to Rockaway.

When I got back into Rockaway, I saw the Far Rockaway High School kids in the streets, as they had been dismissed early. As Lady J, my girlfriend, worked for the NYC Department of Education, I figured her school had also been dismissed, so I floored it to her house. She was upset, but safe.

Then I went to the office of a local politician, who was running for City Council (most outside of New York State are unaware that this was also "Primary Day". He was in tears, as the Treasurer of his campaign was missing. The Treasurer worked in the Towers, in an office above the first plane's impact zone. He did find out that the man who had just been promoted from my Captain to the Deputy Chief of Queens had been taken to one of our local hospitals.

I arrived at the hospital just in time to see my Chief being escorted by his wife into the family car. I gave them "trailing escort" to their apartment building, where I met his son, then in the NYPD Academy. It was at this point we heard the sound of a Navy Hornet jet, which was being piloted by a Rockaway resident, "jazzing" his engine throttle to "tell the folks in Rockaway" that he was watching over them. He ended up scaring more than he calmed, as most thought the jet, invisible in the night sky, might be another hijacked jetliner looking for a target.

[mrsbull]

I was living in Ohio. Columbus to be exact. I was giving (my then 28 day old son a bath). Got a call (did not answer it) during the bath. I called back a few mins later on to "see" who called. It was my friend telling me to turn on the TV NOW!!! I asked what channel. She said ANY!! Turned it on and thought so many things. Too many to post. Mostly Who,What, Why, How and etc...

I was NOT about to leave my DS but I am/was more concerned about the fact that he needed me more. I also would have (maybe) been there had I been needed at that time and needed then.

[scubanurse]

I was living in a suburb of D.C. at the time and in 8th grade. I was home that morning and went to turn on the TV to watch a movie and the news channel was left on. At first I saw that the plane had hit the first tower and yelled to my mom...she kinda blew it off as an accident and thought it was a small plane, but as I continued to watch, we first realized it was a commercial plane and then the second tower got hit. Then the Pentagon got hit. My dad was doing work with the White House at the time and thankfully was not downtown when this all went down. It was just scary. That day was more a blur than anything, but the weeks that followed were even creepier in D.C. My parents house is on one of the flight lines for Regan National Airport and with all air traffic in and out of the airport stopped, I realized how quiet it could be. Going into D.C. was quieter, the gaping hole in the side of the Pentagon every week going to and from my cello lessons, to a 14 year old kid, it just all didn't seem real. It took my parents a while to let my brother and I go back out and into the city alone and we both got cell phones (as if they would work after a terrorist attack anyways).

It was definitely a time (more than just a day in history) that has changed my life and I will never forget.

[Mateo_1387]

I was in the 9th grade at the time, Algebra 1 class to be exact. My teacher, a very crass person, made a comment about the attacks that 'y'all do not need to worry about it, we're doing math, its not like they are gonna hit our mall'. I do not think she realized the severity of the attacks, but neither did I at the time. I went to my next class, band, and we just sat around watching the TV keeping up with what had happened. It honestly took me years to really appreciate the tragedy of the situation.

I do remember days and weeks following 9/11 the amount of people who were making the tear-jerker songs, and those writing on their back windows about being patriotic.

My initial thoughts were few. I had no clue what the trade towers were, I did not know how tall they were, nor how many were killed. Again, it was years before I truly understood the situation.