September 11, 2001

[Jdark34]

i was here at home when the twins towers got hit that day on my mom and my dad annsiverary

[oper190]

I was at work, but was allowed to respond to my FD as all Departments on Long Island were on stand-by, as well as many in New Jersy and Westchester County. The worst was after, all the funerals, did two in one night bringing our Engine and manpower to them. Then all the Arches set for the processions, sometimes several a day. Still hard for me to go to FD Funerals.

[eric]

I'll keep my version short.

I worked for American Airlines, and was part of the security team thrown together to try and piece together our company's new future. I'm still under a non-disclosure for what we did.

My wife worked there as well, and that evening, was on a plane to New York as part of our crisis assistance & response team. It was one of four flights allowed -- two by American and two by United bringing people into NYC and DC.

[Jdark34]

how long have you worked for the airlines eric?

[CSXT Q-317]

I was on active duty in the United States Navy. We were actually in the middle of a routine drill that morning. Then it happened.

CO came over the 1MC and said a plane had hit the world trade center. He came back on shortly after and said a second plane hit the world trade center, at that point we knew. We were ordered t secure from the drill and an order for combat personnel to report to CIC. I take a moment to look around the locker, stunned silence and most were in tears. When we got word that there were more planes in the air, I can tell you we were angry, and if I recall correctly any unresponsive aircraft was deemed hijacked and was to be shot down. Bases were locked down and every ship that could was emergency sortied out to sea.

Pretty serious business followed all of that. The operational tempo accelerated tenfold.

[Jdark34]

that was a sad day m.payne

[CSXT Q-317]

that was a sad day m.payne

Indeed it was. I think everyone I was with who was 18-19 years old grew up tremendously fast from that day on. Every year it doesn't get easier.

[oper190]

Pretty serious business followed all of that.

For us in the Fire Service, even as Volunteers, things changed that day and right after. For days we stood stand-bys in quarters waiting for the phone call to head into New York City. In many ways it was a royal cluster, but we learned and hopefully the next time it will be better organized Also many may not realize this, but a lot of FDNY personnel are also Volunteers in the suburban Fire Departments where they live, so we felt the losses personally too. My own Department lost two members that day.
We will Never Forget! - We can't!

[yellowdog]

I was at work in Tennessee as a new mental health clinician. A railfan friend in Baltimore sent me a message to check out the news. At the time, our medical records system was all terminal-based. But I happened to be in an office with a desktop computer, and so was able to pull up a news website. Saw what was going on, and alerted others in the facility. Then the TVs in the lobby went on and everyone, staff and patients, sat and watched.

I wanted to go and volunteer with clean up efforts, but wasn't able to do so at the time. But I vowed that if anything like that happened again, I would. So after Hurricane Katrina hit a few years later, I went down and helped with recovery and clean up. A few years later I was trained in community emergency management and response, and remain active in that field to this day.

[charland]

I was a member of a group called "The Haggis", a few hundred model railroaders. I was at home with the TV on and as things unfolded I started posting the events to the group. No replies but I kept posting for a few hours. One of the members was a professor at the University of Rochester and the next day I found out that he was reading every post to the students and when it was time for them to leave the class and new students come in, nobody left, by the end of the day there was hundreds of students standing around quietly listening to him read my posts/

Paul

[amtrak115]

At that time, I was a principle in a Defense Contractor who had developed software to assist Military Intelligence Analyst in selecting the best targets that met the objectives of any conflict. Within two weeks I was regularly visiting CENTCOM Hq in Tampa, Fl monitoring the utilization of the software, ensuring that it was working as specified by the DOD. One issue then was that the intelligence on targets in the Afghanistan region was so "old" that most had been discarded as irrelevant however, on the ground intelligence was reporting them as valid. Overnight, after a telecon with home office in Dallas, TX, we were able to "fix" the software enabling the analyst to correctly select appropriate targets.

[l.k.]

The shock, horror and sorrow of this day reached far beyond the United States. I was ten years old at the time here in Germany and still remember exactly where I was, when it happened.

It's a privilege to live in peace in a free and democratic society and we should never take it for granted.

[SD40-2]

I was 5 at the time, I can't really remember what I was doing or where I was on that date, probably sent home early after the attacks happened. Somehow that date is a hole in my memory desite knowing about many things in the early to mid-2000s, which is odd and furstrating, because in hindsight, it was one of the most important dates in modern history.

[opskeeper]

What a horrible Day.. I was working for Alaska / Horizon and flying to Chicago to hook-up with My late Brother, to go deer hunting in the UP. I was flying down from Anchorage to O'Hare on the "Red Eye" and we landed just minutes after the first plane hit the Towers. My Brother met me at the gate, and said people were rushing around but he had now clue why. We found-out when we got to his truck and the radio was on. I had to go back home to Portland, VIA the Amtrak "Empire Builder". In fact I caught-up with 2 Co-Workers on the train, coming back from DC. As Eric will tell You, it changed the Airline Industry forever. God Bless America!

[Jdark34]

it was 23rd annisvery when the twin towers got hit by hijackers.