What's new

20 Years ago today 9/11 where I was and what I vividly remember

D. Gray, my service was an absolute privilege. I was able to provide some comfort to those who lost loved ones in NYC. I deployed to an area that was an easy deployment, although my wife may disagree. I had the privilege of being an Army Warrant Officer, the greatest privilege, outside of my relationship with Jesus and my family, that I have ever known.I honestly can't compare my experiences to those who went before me. I had amazing NCOs who served in Vietnam and taught me well. 9/11 does bring a lot to mind, but I am so grateful to have been there. If you are ever in the Albany, NY area, or in Georgia, where we intend to move in a few short years, I would love to have that cup of coffee. It might be at my home, as I roast my own beans. But, you will always be welcome. We give our fellow service members a hard time for choosing 'lesser branches,' but when rubber hits the road, all joking goes to the side and we support each other. I don't care if someone served for four years or fourty, they are welcome at my home.
As one of my Army brothers says (and I am Navy and Navy Reserve, and an Army Civilian) we may fight amongst ourselves, but if you fight one of us you fight all of us.

I too am blessed to be able to serve (I served active duty in VA-145 from 1988-1992, and was in Desert shield and Desert Storm).

Now I am glad you aren't a Marine because then I would have to buy you a pack of bubblegum Crayons as we all know Marines are Crayon eaters :) :) :)

Oh and home roasted whole bean coffee sounds delightful as I drink fresh ground coffee using Costco's Kirkland brand beans.
 
Funny comments about those Marines. One of my close neighbors was / is a Marine. I encourage him to be proud of his service (I have over 20, yet some don't realize that every year counts). If you send me your address, via PM, I'd be honored to send you a bag of beans, or ground beans if you don't have a grinder.
 

Lefonque

Even more clueless than you
In Melbourne early breakfast watched the news as it was unfolding. Little did I know my step brother was in one of the buildings.

it all seemed unreal as it unfolded.
People seemed stunned during the day. The local fire brigade called me later in the day and asked me if I would do a special service to show solidarity with those who were injured or died. With another faith leader we conducted multi faith and community services over the next week.
My father rang me a few days later to say about his stepson. He was one of the fortunate ones. Still made the whole thing very real.
 
I was doing work at a Shriners hospital in Chicago and some guy had a radio that was talking about the attack. Needless to say not much work going on since everyone was listening to the radio.
A week prior to that I was building a service garage for Uniteds ground service vehicles at Ohare. The guys there were told to grab their tools and leave. I heard some were called later for questions but it could of been a rumor.
 
I was working at a hotel/conference center setting up some booths for some random trade show and they happened to have a tv playing cable news in the area. We worked very slowly, distracted by the news.

We kept updating people in the office over our Nextel push-to-talk phones. Having no TV at the office, as we were updating from CNN, I can still hear our manager exclaiming, "You mean to tell me someone just bombed the Pentagon?!" (Didn't know it was a plane quite yet)

I'm curious, a couple Aussies here have stated they saw it during an early breakfast...Isn't NYC 09/11/2001 08:46 akin to East coast AUS 09/12/2001 22:46?
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I was working at a hotel/conference center setting up some booths for some random trade show and they happened to have a tv playing cable news in the area. We worked very slowly, distracted by the news.

We kept updating people in the office over our Nextel push-to-talk phones. Having no TV at the office, as we were updating from CNN, I can still hear our manager exclaiming, "You mean to tell me someone just bombed the Pentagon?!" (Didn't know it was a plane quite yet)

I'm curious, a couple Aussies here have stated they saw it during an early breakfast...Isn't NYC 09/11/2001 08:46 akin to East coast AUS 09/12/2001 22:46?

I was living in Toowoomba, Queensland and working in Millmerran when the attack occurred. I got up and arrived at work at 7 am and heard the news from the guys there. I went back to where I was staying and watched the TV.
Yes, the actual event happened at about 11 pm there, and by the time folks got up to see the telly, the networks had time to put together sequential shots of everything that had happened, so it was even more devastating to watch.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I was living in Toowoomba, Queensland and working in Millmerran when the attack occurred. I got up and arrived at work at 7 am and heard the news from the guys there. I went back to where I was staying and watched the TV.
Yes, the actual event happened at about 11 pm there, and by the time folks got up to see the telly, the networks had time to put together sequential shots of everything that had happened, so it was even more devastating to watch.
Thank you. That explains it. I would have been asleep when it actually happened.
 
Yeah I get it now. Reading this really late last night, it just wasn't registering and seemed weird to me. I saw it all in real time so it my brain wasn't putting together that you were seeing it after the fact.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Yeah I get it now. Reading this really late last night, it just wasn't registering and seemed weird to me. I saw it all in real time so it my brain wasn't putting together that you were seeing it after the fact.

Yeah, it was surreal because you didn't really have time to absorb it, I mean the complete extent of it as it unfolded. The news played it all sequentially, and it had happened hours and hours earlier - so you got everything slam bang all at once.
 
I was stationed outside Tokyo 1999-2002, so 12 Sep 2001 was when time stood still for me. 11 Sep 2001 as a day and date in time was fairly uneventful for us. We were woken after midnight by a call from our niece stationed on the Northern Island of Japan telling us to turn the Today Show on (it was the only live tv program at that time). We watched helplessly for about two hours when I realized that I needed to get some sleep; knowing the next day was going to be a long one. I was called in to the Command Center before 6 and as I dressed, my 11 year old son woke up and I told him to go back to bed because "there wouldn't be any school today." He responded with a quick "Cool" and headed back to bed. "No, not cool," was all I could mumble as he closed the door. Everything was "Ops Normal" on the base--no sirens, no special prep, no barricades, I even stopped for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee at the Burger King just inside the gate and was greeted by the usual cheery Japanese ladies that worked the morning shift. It was like living in a Twilight Zone episode where I was the only one aware and everyone around me was living a "Stepford Wife" existence and I couldn't bring myself to burst their last vestige of normal by telling my secret. As we tried to keep up with events and get the base on a war footing, I distinctly remember a young Airman asking me if there was going to be a war. "Yes, Airman Bailey, there's going to be a war, but it's going to be hard, and it's not going to be quick because how do you fight a ghost?" Near tears, she looked at me and asked "how long?" "If I were a guessing person, I'd say that my kids (9 & 11) might be in on this one (man, I hate being right)." When I left late that night, there were barricades everywhere, and I wasn't able to leave the confines of the base for three months. Because all of our television from the states was time delayed by three weeks, in early October we began receiving all of the "Breaking News" and updates in real time from that day and over the next several days/weeks. Living that allowed us to view the coverage objectively (almost clinically) and see what the news got right, and what they got wrong as well as knowing “what happens next.” Being an American living overseas at the time, our experience was so much different than our “American family” in the states, and we have a hard time understanding at times, and feel left out at others when the “where were you” conversations start. So much so, that ever since moving back to the states in August 2002, every anniversary often leaves us feeling more distant and disconnected from those around us because we didn’t have that shared experience of 9-11; and that makes me sad.
 
Top Bottom