Remembering 9/11, 17 years later

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

Wow, 17 years has gone by so fast. I was in 7th grade, watched it on TV, but understood none of what was happening. How could a child grasp the magnitude of how the world was going to forever change?

[AKDoug]

I remember scraping the frost off my truck in the dark and warming it up. I pulled out of the driveway and heard the news. My business didn't open for two hours, so I whipped around and went back in the house. I watched the second plane hit and stayed glued to the T.V. until the collapse. At the time I was a volunteer F.F. and EMT. It really hit home that people just like me willingly went in to do what they could and never returned.

The second thing that I really remember is that it was the height of hunting season in Alaska and I had multiple friends that were in remote areas dropped off by bush planes. With the several day ban on flights, many of them were trapped and had no idea what was going on.

[flenna]

I was working second shift at the time and woke up late. I had a missed page that said call the PD when you get this. Since I was, and still am, boycotting the cable company at the time I didn't have television. I turned on the radio on the way to the kitchen and noticed it wasn't the usual talk show- what is going on? I called the PD and was told to be on standby until further notice. My family is originally from NY with several still there and working in the city. A close cousin actually worked in one of the towers. I called my parents, who live in SC, and my Mom was crying. My Dad filled me in and said they have been unable to get through on the phone to family members still in NY. I remember how somber everyone was sitting in the squadroom before the shift that day. Everyone knew that our country had changed forever.

[SteyrAUG]

I remember watching TV and loading mags because I wasn't sure what else I should be doing.

The week after was surreal, guys with M16s and dogs at Ft. Lauderdale airport and an actual Abrams tank parked on the airport perimeter road very visible from I-95.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Wow, 17 years has gone by so fast. I was in 7th grade, watched it on TV, but understood none of what was happening. How could a child grasp the magnitude of how the world was going to forever change?

You are either a lot younger than I thought, or failed even more grades than I thought anyone could...

People have forgotten. Heck 25% of the US population probably wasn't born or has no direct memory of it.

[Wildcat]

A transcript of Tom Burnett's final calls to his wife:

http://www.tomburnettfoundation.org/transcript.html



Tom (on board United 93): "....Good. (a long quiet pause) We’re waiting until we’re over a rural area. We’re going to take back the airplane....."

[dwhitehorne]

I got called in off leave to work midnights. Patrolled the DC side of the Potomac river on foot for 3 nights watching the Pentagon smoldering while all lit up with lights. A few days later I was assigned to Arlington cemetery along the fence line to keep the media out of the debris field in the cemetery. Hard to believe that was 17 years ago. My blood still boils when the history channel plays the footage. David

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

You are either a lot younger than I thought, or failed even more grades than I thought anyone could...

People have forgotten. Heck 25% of the US population probably wasn't born or has no direct memory of it.

29, but I did do an extra year of High School because I liked it so much HA!

[Vandal]

I remember first hearing about it as I was getting ready for school on the radio and thinking it was an accident and turned on the TV at home. When the second plane hit I knew it wasn't an accident. We did nothing all day at school, I was a high school sophomore, but watch CNN, Fox News, CBC, etc. Football practice that day was completely half-assed and we were just going through the motions. Really that whole week was useless.

The military recruiters used to come by twice a month, usually in a Class B type uniform talking about money for college, travel and that stuff. The next time they came by, each was in cammies, talking about how their branch was going to be killing terrorists.

It absolutely had an impact on my career plans and course of study in college. To say otherwise would be lying to myself.

[MegademiC]

8th grade- civics class- started watching just before the second plane hit. I didnt know what the big deal was until I realized it was in our country... then it hit home.