5 years ago today...

[Steff]

No offense...

 

But I had hoped politics would stay absent from this thread.

[Yoda]

I was in my Social Studies class (1st hour) back in 6th grade and I remember seeing the teacher real upset before turning the TV on and the whole class started watching what was occurring at that time. We were shocked to see what was going on. IIRC, my teacher had a close relative that worked in one of the towers.

[AbeFroman]

I was in bed in my fraternity house. A couple of guys who saw the intial coverage went room-to-room and woke everybody up.

 

I turned it on shortly after the second plane hit. After I was woken up, i spent the first 30 seconds of the day thinking it was a couple cessena's and there must have been some major air traffic control glitch. I never imagined the magnitude of the actual attack.

 

30 second later I found my remote and flipped on my TV. Once I saw the TV coverage, it was obvious that it was a terrorist attack. In a strage way, the scariest part of the day was when they began reporting that the Pentagon was hit.... then a report (which was false) that a car bomb blew up the state department), then a report of at least one other hi-jacked plane. I remember thinking "What's next?"... "How many more attacks are coming today?" For the first time in my life, our country was under attack.

 

I was the student senate president at Illinois Wesleyan. After the towers fell, I got a call that classes were canceled for the day. I'll never forget that day...

[Mplssoxfan]

I work nights, and I had gotten to sleep about 4AM. I don't own a TV and didn't turn on the radio when I awoke, so I may have one of the last people to find out what was going on -- when I went online at about 1PM.

 

Even then, the full impact didn't sink in until about 2:30 or so. I worked that night and of course all the TVs in the place were on, even though nobody knew exactly what happened. A customer asked me what there was to do in town -- I asked him why, and he said he was flying from Chicago to Vancouver when they were forced to land.

 

A friend who lived outside of Omaha at the time (a prof at Creighton) was horrified since her husband is a pilot. She got in touch with him, and she assured her that she shouldn't worry and that he would drive home soon, since all the planes were grounded.

 

She exclaimed "But there's a big plane right in front of me!"

 

It was, of course, Air Force One, landing at Offutt AFB.

[Texsox]

No offense...

 

But I had hoped politics would stay absent from this thread.

 

No offense taken, and I re-read the letter a couple times before posting it here. I agree that politics should not be a part of today, something we share with Dr. Dean, as he wrote

Today we face many challenges at home and abroad. And too often it's too easy to be distracted by the politics, the pundits, and the posturing.

 

We must always remember that the dangers we face know no political party, and the solutions and leadership we need now go beyond ideology.

 

We must meet these challenges head-on -- remembering to stand together in action as we live together under threat. We are all Americans.

 

We do have to remember we elect Republicans and Democrats, but we need them to govern like Americans.

[Steff]

Maybe he could have remembered that all walks of life vote and perhaps should have addressed all Americans and not just his political party.

 

No matter. This aint my party I'm just a visitor.

[juddling]

My wife and i slept in that morning. When we got up, i turned on the TV(which was last on CMT-Country Music Television) and i saw a picture of the first tower with the smoke coming out. The sound was up but noone was saying anything for about a minute. Considering what station it was on i turned to my wife and said "Who's video is this and why are they using this shot" thinking it's some long intro to a music video. Just as i turned back to the tv..that's when we saw the second plane go in.

 

We both looked at each other and forwhat ever reason i threw a tape in the VCR and hit record. I watched that tape a couple of times since then but not in the last couple of years.

[NorthSideSox72]

Our office evacuated shortly after the 2nd tower was hit. Partially for safety reasons (we are right by Sears Tower), partially out of respect and general welfare. We also put our DR plans into play for the 2nd time that I could remember (the other was the Loop blackout in I think 1999 or 2000), so a lot of people began working from home or our DR site. The next few days my team and I spent feverishly putting plans into place to get the NY exchanges back up and running. This was a work-related event for us. People who died were people we were in regular contact with, particularly at Cantor Fitz (the company that lost a third of its workforce that day). There was a conference going on in Cantor's tower that I almost attended myself. Turned out 3 people from my company were in fact in the Towers, and died that day.

 

For me at least, the eeriest part was that for 3 days there were no jet planes (except for the CAPS). I distinctly remember stopping as I walked the next day, and realizing that was missing. No sound of aircraft.

[Soxy]

I had an 8am class on the other side of campus from my room. I remember what I was wearing and a bit of the class. It's an old building, my class was on the third floor, and as I was coming down the stairs to ground level there was just a crush of people watching the television. I was really confused about what was going on and why everyone was watching tv instead of going to class. It was really surreal, basically I just couldn't understand what the big deal was. I went pushed through the crowd to get to my second class of the morning and I think there was maybe 2-3 other people that were in class. The professor came in (I remember what she was wearing) and she was crying, on the screen was either a live news feed or just a still picture of the plane in the tower. So, she was really upset and said that she wouldn't be teaching that day, and that we could all stay together and watch together or we could leave. When I saw how upset she was, I think that was the first inkling I got that this was a very big deal. So, I walked back to my res hall, I remember the weather being very nice and crisp. I saw my friend Matt who was the leader of the college dems and he looked really just lost. I remember just sort of hugging him and feeling so confused. There were just masses of people around every television set on campus. I finally got back to my room and (it was less than a week after school started) and I didn't have a tv in my room. But I saw a girl down the hall watching her tv. I asked if I could watch with her, and we just sort of sat there on her futon just shocked watching the towers fall. I don't think I knew her name at that point. We didn't say anything to each other, just sat and watched. I don't remember any of the commentary, I just remember the color of Alex's hair, the blue sky outside, and the color of the smoke on the tv.

 

After the second tower (I think) fell I called my dad. He was speechless and he said he had stopped work and was watching the tv along with the homeowners of the house he was watching. When he said he wasn't working, I think the enormity of what happened actually hit me. I started to cry, and I vividly remember saying, "We're going to war aren't we daddy?"

 

After that I went to chapel (St. Olaf has daily chapel), it was packed, there was no room on any of pews and there were people sitting in the aisles and outside in the narthex of the church. The president of the college (who is from out east) talked and said we should pray and be in community with each other. I think he cried.

[Rex Kickass]

I remember the next day, my German teacher stopped during class and said in German.

 

"There is so much bad in the world." (He said it in German)

 

I don't think any comment related to 9/11 hit me harder.

[Whitewashed in '05]

I was attending my first week or so in high school. The teacher said "a plane just hit a building in New York." I just kept doing my work since it didn't seem too bad. Then I went to my next class where the teacher had the TV on and I saw everything unfold.

 

Prayers to all of those who lost loved ones.

[kapkomet]

I've told this before, but working for an airline that day was quite weird in and of itself. The flight ops phone center was going nuts, all the people wanting to know about their loved ones who were flying.

 

Our government ATC rep was there that morning for another meeting. I remember him getting the phone call and he immediately screamed over everyone else "get ALL of your planes on the ground RIGHT NOW"!!

 

Of course, from there, chaos ensued, and I'll never forget watching the flight operations screen, with all the little dots of the planes disappearing by the hundreds within minutes as they landed, save for one... Air Force One. So, because it wasn't restricted info at the time, and they didn't turn off the transponder, we could see where the president was until someone figured out they better turn the transponder off, but that was AFTER he left Louisiana and was heading for Nebraska.

 

The media was going nuts wondering where Bush was, and we all knew exactly where they were. It was strange.

 

And then, for three days, D/FW airport was a twisted mess of airplanes parked all over the place, and the SILENCE was weird.

 

There's more stories from some of the crews heading out east... but that's all I have time for now.

[Texsox]

Maybe he could have remembered that all walks of life vote and perhaps should have addressed all Americans and not just his political party.

 

No matter. This aint my party I'm just a visitor.

 

Great point. He sent this to a Democrat mailing list, hence the salutation. I am also on the GOP list and will post whatever they send as well. I think it should be a non partisan day, but even dedicated politicians should be allowed to speak, no? I didn't find anything in his letter that I thought would offend anyone, if it did, I would have posted it in the 'buster's dem thread.

[RockRaines]

Air Force One. So, because it wasn't restricted info at the time, and they didn't turn off the transponder, we could see where the president was until someone figured out they better turn the transponder off, but that was AFTER he left Louisiana and was heading for Nebraska.

 

The media was going nuts wondering where Bush was, and we all knew exactly where they were. It was strange.

 

And then, for three days, D/FW airport was a twisted mess of airplanes parked all over the place, and the SILENCE was weird.

 

There's more stories from some of the crews heading out east... but that's all I have time for now.

Amazing info right there.

[Texsox]

Amazing info right there.

 

If that was the "real" plane. I've read accounts that the transponder was a red herring. But my guess is, it was a mistake and they have since corrected it.

[RockRaines]

If that was the "real" plane. I've read accounts that the transponder was a red herring. But my guess is, it was a mistake and they have since corrected it.

I've always thought, either the gov't is dumber than we think, or smarter. It could have been a decoy to fake out the terrorists, or it could have been some idiot who left it on. Who knows?

[Texsox]

I go for a lack of prior planning for the impossible to imagine or believe. The Secret Service has to kick in with a SOP. I am certain there wasn't something in there to turn off the transpoder. I'll bet it's there now and will be turned off quickly.

[WilliamTell]

I was a sophomore in high school when it happened. I didn't hear about it until like 10:00 CDT. I had 7 class periods that day, only 1 class would show it on TV, and that was only for like 10 minutes. Another reason why I hated my high school was because of that, they pulled the plug on all the TV's.

[Brian]

No offense...

 

But I had hoped politics would stay absent from this thread.

Took the words out of my mouth. Dems and Reps were effected.

[Texsox]

Took the words out of my mouth. Dems and Reps were effected.

 

I am confused by this. Are you saying that elected officials and party workers are automatically excluded from speaking as Americans? Rex worked for a Dem candidate, should he not speak? Did you read his letter? Did you object to anything in the letter or see anything that was partisan?

 

What is sad is Dean is calling for keeping politics out of this, something that it would seem you would agree with, but instead you would choose to silence him. Wouldn't that create more partisan frction?

[Steff]

What is so confusing? I made the thread for the site to remember. Not to be a platform for a politician to make a statement. Via you, it turned into the latter.

[Texsox]

What is so confusing? I made the thread for the site to remember. Not to be a platform for a politician to make a statement. Via you, it turned into the latter.

 

What is confusing is why some people label a non partisan call for non partisan actions as being political. A reminder that politics should not be a factor would seem like a good thing. I am sorry if I offended you. It was not my reason for posting. I thought it was a great message on a day that Americans should be reminded that we are all Americans, including those that chose to work as public servants. I read the letter very carefully before posting, and near as I can tell, besides the salutation, no one disagreed with his words, just the fact it was in this thread. I will be more careful in the future.

[Steff]

No matter. Like I said, this aint my party. Just my opinion.

[kapkomet]

If that was the "real" plane. I've read accounts that the transponder was a red herring. But my guess is, it was a mistake and they have since corrected it.

It was (the real plane), it had to be, because he went from Florida, to about over Dallas, then went back Louisana... 15 minutes later, he did his quick bit from Louisiana, then went back on the plane to what ended up Nebraska, but they turned off the transponder after they left Louisiana and was over West Texas, turned north, and poof, it was gone.

 

Now, none of that is available.

[Texsox]

It was (the real plane), it had to be, because he went from Florida, to about over Dallas, then went back Louisana... 15 minutes later, he did his quick bit from Louisiana, then went back on the plane to what ended up Nebraska, but they turned off the transponder after they left Louisiana and was over West Texas, turned north, and poof, it was gone.

 

Now, none of that is available.

Could have been an alien?