Never Forget

[Neon_Chaos]

September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks)

[DeToxRox]

Crazy that I was in 10th grade when this happened. Feels like it was just yesterday still.

[Groundhog]

They happened late at night my time, and I somehow managed to travel all the way to work for my early morning shift without knowing anything about it. At like 7.30am someone comes up to me and says "how about those planes hitting the buildings in the US?" and I had no idea what he was talking about. I was probably one of the last people to know about it.

[SirFozzie]

Man, such a horrible day of memories, of driving home from my job wondering what the hell was going on, if this was going to be a regular occurence. Who. Why? How had the world changed?

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Woke up at 9:03am that awful day with my downstairs neighbor yelling to someone outside that the Empire State Building was on fire. (He was a little off.)

One day earlier I had eaten breakfast at City Hall Park at around 8:30a before heading to class in a building that would be irreparably damaged by World Trade 7. It was a perfect morning... I remember actually thinking how peaceful everything was. The world seemed beautiful.

24 hours later it would never be the same.

[Schmidty]

It was sad and really frightening. RIP to the victims.

I have more to say, but I don't want to get ripped.

[SackAttack]

Ran into a high school buddy and former cross country teammate of mine - Joshua Carbajal - on the evening of September 10th, 2001. Told me he had joined the Marines and was leaving the next day for basic. I remember thinking a couple of days later that the timing was less than ideal.

Saw him again a year or so later. He came into Best Buy in uniform, and I got the chance to speak with him for a few minutes.

Haven't seen him since, although my Google-fu has turned up a few mentions of him. He apparently served in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the 2003-2005 period, and made it at least as high as sergeant in the Corps. Google turned up a mention of him in a book about another Marine.

That said, 2005 seems to be where he disappears in terms of any definitive mention. I think he's still around, as all of the definitive mentions refer to him as a lance corporal, and a military mothers' website from the town we attended high school refers to him as sergeant, but...can't be sure.

Hope he's doing well, wherever he is.

[Karlifornia]

Crazy day. I had dropped out of high school, and was in the throes of my insomnia. I hadn't slept at all that night, and suddenly something was on the TV about how a second plane had the World Trade Center. I was like "When did the first one happen?"

The rest of that day, and many of the days that proceeded it, were just surreal. It was like the conflict in your favorite comic book had actually happened, but the lives lost were real.

Two memories which I find especially indelible are 1) The still images of people who had leapt out of the towers, and 2) The walls of "Missing Person" posters with people clinging to the slightest shred of hope that their loved ones were still somehow alive.

It was a harrowing time.

[Lorena]

I cried, I cried a lot and no, didn't know anyone that died, but felt horrible for everyone who lost a sister/brother, daughter/son, friend, mother, father. I'm actually getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

I get teary eyed too. And frankly, I don't want there to be a September 11 where I don't get teary eyed thinking about it.

I've been to the memorial inside the Pentagon. Standing inside the room where the plane hit the building, knowing people died a horrible death where I was standing yet.... feeling the almost otherworldly calm and peace of that place, was a surreal experience.

May their souls find peace.

[RainMaker]

One of the most surreal days of my life. Got a call before I was heading to class from my Mom in Chicago telling me that we were under attack. Turned on the TV and was floored. Woke up my roommates and we sat and watched the news all day.

[JediKooter]

Definitely won't forget that day for sure. Being on the west coast, I was just waking up and the news saying a small plane crashed into one of the twin towers. Saw the 'live' shot and the out line where the plane hit and thought, "that's no small plane".

Then when the plane hit the Pentagon, I remembered my dad was supposed to be in DC at the Pentagon. So I freaked out because I couldn't get a hold of him. Finally got a hold of him and he said he had actually left the day before or a couple of days before (can't remember exactly now), but, he said 5 people from his company were on the plane that hit the north tower.

[JAG]

A close family friend was married in NYC last weekend. The hotel where they had blocked off rooms was adjacent to where the WTC was, so I had a view from the 42nd floor to 'Ground Zero'. Apparently the new buildings are scheduled to open on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

[miked]

Quite a few people from my hometown (Montclair) died and I knew a few of them. One of my friends worked there and was late, coming up from the subway just saw people running in the other direction. Another friend was booked on the BOS-LA flight and had to change it a few days earlier because of a conflict...was on the same exact flight 2 days later. Sad for a lot of people. I was in Atlanta at the time, but my mom was working in the city and my stepmom for Moodys, right nearby. Pretty scary.

[Butter]

Found out my wife was pregnant with our second child the night of the attacks. Wasn't much to celebrate after all this. I still feel for the victims.

[Kodos]

That was such a surreal morning. I woke up and walked out of my bedroom, and my roommate had the news on. Said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Figured it was a small one flown by some idiot. Then the second plane hit.


It's odd to think how much my life has changed since then. I've gotten married, had kids, and now live in a house in Connecticut. Back then I was a single guy living in an apartment in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

[Dr. Sak]

They happened late at night my time, and I somehow managed to travel all the way to work for my early morning shift without knowing anything about it. At like 7.30am someone comes up to me and says "how about those planes hitting the buildings in the US?" and I had no idea what he was talking about. I was probably one of the last people to know about it.

I took a day off from work and drove to Penn State to play a round of golf on Sept 11. I teed off at 845am and didn't get done till almost 2pm. Honestly I remember playing and thinking what a peaceful and beautiful day, and had no idea what happened till i got back to my car and had 15 voicemails.

On my way home I got detoured because I drove close to the crash in Somerset.

[Tasan]

Looking back at the timeline, it just doesn't seem like it happened as fast as it did:

Timeline for the day of the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks)

It felt like an eternity watching those buildings burn. I'll never forget.

I remember that evening coming home and just being so depressed by it all. I couldn't see it anymore. I think we watched black and white sitcom reruns on some independent station to get away from it.

[Logan]

Second week of my freshman year at Rutgers, had my first recitation (shorter than a lecture) for microecon at 8am that morning. Walked into my dorm lounge afterwards when the second plane hit, and still the remember the ridiculous confusion that went on in my brain during that split second where you saw something happening with the buildings before realizing they were crumbling down.

We went up to the roof of the dorm and could easily see the smoke from about 25 miles away.

[RomaGoth]

I was working 3rd shift at the time and going to school at night. I remember waking up in the early afternoon, and thinking it was just another day. Until I turned on the tv and saw the WTC footage.

A horrible day in our history and RIP to the victims.

[molson]

The Howard Stern Show broke the news to me on the way to work outside Boston. I just moved from the NYC area a couple of weeks before, but didn't know anyone who died (though most of my co-workers in NYC lost family members or friends). Most of that morning at work was just spent gathering around TVs - once the first tower came down, people started just kind filtering out, and home. I think I drove 90 mph+ on Route 2 on the way home, I was just so amped up.

I remember my former neighbor in Jersey City described the scene and just the struggle to get home from Manhattan.

I remember finding Three's Company on TV somewhere the evening of 9/12, and just losing myself in it, just escaping.

Then that weekend a few friends and I spent the weekend at a friend's cabin on cape cod - a place with no TV, radio - just beer and a lake. We were all just trying to get away and find a little escape.

Everyone expected more attacks in the weeks and months to come.

[flere-imsaho]

Ran into a high school buddy and former cross country teammate of mine - Joshua Carbajal - on the evening of September 10th, 2001. Told me he had joined the Marines and was leaving the next day for basic. I remember thinking a couple of days later that the timing was less than ideal.

Heh, coincidence. My brother entered Basic (for the Army), also on September 10th.

My cousin, who worked as an aide to Rumsfeld and was in the Pentagon's parking lot at the time (having come out of the building with a co-worker to get something from a car), has never really been the same. Like so many people, I suppose.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Timeline for the day of the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_the_day_of_the_September_11_attacks)

That's some chilling stuff as I started reading through it and slowly got pulled back to that morning.

[RomaGoth]

I also remember thinking very hard about going back into the military after it happened, I wanted to kick some terrorist ass in the worst way.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

That's some chilling stuff as I started reading through it and slowly got pulled back to that morning.

Sadness and anger. More of the latter for me, unfortunately.

[Subby]

I was at a meeting in the Hay-Adams across the street from the White House. The internet connection they were using for a demo was realllly slow. They went to check on it and came back and said that there had been coordinated terrorist attacks on the WTC and Pentagon and that the meeting was over.

My office was about four blocks from the meeting - I had to walk by the White House to get back. I just remember everyone (there were a ton of people on the street) looking up at the sky as the police were ushering them along. There were mutterings of a plane headed toward the White House. I got back to an empty office.

My (at the time) 3 year old and 1 year old were in day care northwest of my office about a mile away. Normally a 10 minute drive at worst, it took 45 minutes to get there. On the radio Dan Rather talked of bombs going off in parked cars at the State Department, then he described the scene as the towers came down.

I finally made it to their daycare/pre-school where my wife (who worked two blocks away) was waiting. We had tried to call each other probably 50 times.

We immediately got in the car and drove home. It took us 3 hours to get out of DC. Fortunately it wasn't a biological attack.

We had three folks traveling to NY that day for meetings at the WTC. One made it and was coming out of the train station when it happened. The two others were in a plane that eventually turned around and came back.

Several of our member companies were in those towers (SCOR, AXA, others) and we lost friends who we worked with at Windows on the World (where we frequently hosted business lunches.)

There's my brain dump on it. I will never forget that day.

I drove by the Pentagon the next day so I could see the impact point. Never seen anything like it.

[samifan24]

I remember it was something like the second week of my freshman year of college. It was a Tuesday morning so I slept in before my first class at 11 I think. I woke up and the kid across the hall in my dorm yelled over "someone flew a plane into the WTC, I think we're under attack" and I distinctly remember yelling at him "don't joke about that." I walked into his room and watched the coverage until it was time to go to class.

I remember the professor walked in and the room was completely quiet. He said something about trying to go about our day (this was before we really knew what had happened) and we tried to have class but it was just impossible to concentrate. I don't remember anything else about the day but I'll always remember waking up and being shocked at the news.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

The only day I've ever seen/heard my father cry.

My university didn't cancel classes, and I had to go to a 3 hour lab at 1 after watching everything all morning. It was so quiet outside. No planes flying overhead. Just an eerie, eerie day. No one knew if there was more to come, and Boston was certainly on edge.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I was in Washington, DC. I had come into the office early that morning, before 8:45 or so, because I had been on vacation the last few days. I had actually flown into National Airport that evening around 10:00 pm (returning from watching a NHL prospects camp in Michigan).

I was sitting at my desk, drinking coffee, and surfing the net. You know, getting warmed up for the long day. I think I was reading some ign.com review of Transformer toys or something intellectual. A co-worker walked by my office and said "Some just flew a plane into the WTC." My first thought was "What kind of jack-ass flies a plane into a giant, fucking building? It's pretty hard to miss. Maybe he passed out or something." I was thinking a small plane. One with propellers and such.

Co-Worker walks by again and says "A second plane just hit." At that point I thought "One, maybe a mistake. Two. No fucking way." I walked over to a conference room where a TV had been set up. I stood there stunned, watching the smoke and flames billow-up from the towers. We stood there watching for a moment and I looked out of the window in the room. One side of the conference room was all windows and it looked out over the Potomac.

That's when I saw the smoke.

It took me a second to realize and then I said, at work, "Holy shit. They bombed the Pentagon." Everyone looked over and saw the thick, dark cloud of smoke scarring the clear sky. Some people said that it wasn't the Pentagon, but I had lived in that area for a summer and was positive it was. This was all before anything was reported about the Pentagon.

I stood there for another few minutes and decided: "Fuck it. I am going home." I grabbed my laptop and walked home. As I left I kept hearing reports of another plane coming towards DC (the one that crashed in Pennsylvania) and a car bomb near the State Building.

I walked home and it took about an hour. It was incredibly surreal. People wandering around the streets, trying to use cell-phones, the streets grid-locked with cars trying to get out. My walk home took me through the National Mall, past the White House, the Capitol, Supreme Court, various Federal buildings. The roads were all blocked off, so I had to walk way out of my way to get home.

I finally got home at sat in front of the TV all day, stunned. It was hot. I was exhausted. I fell asleep every few hours for about 15-30 minutes at a time. Not sure why. Just overwhelmed I guess.

My wife had it much worse. She was in the subway going from Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan for work. Her office was directly across the street from the WTC, One Liberty Plaza. (There were a few post 9-11 reports that the building was on the verge of collapse, though it never did). Her mother worked in the WTC (but was late to work that day) and her brother was on a flight from Newark to San Francisco. (His plane landed in Indianaoplis.) The subway stopped a few times and they reported there was some problem with the tracks. After a long delay the subway finally made it to the station. My wife came out of the subway and saw the smoking, flaming towers. She tried to make it to work and was turned back by the cops. She was one of the people running down the street away from the debris and rubble. She collapsed out of fear and exhaustion, thinking her mom had died, and had to be picked up off the street by some woman. She couldn't get a hold of her mom until around 2 PM that afternoon.

She went back to work at One Liberty Plaza in December. About two years after 9/11, she developed severe asthma. She is one of many who had to live/work around the site who now suffer from lung damage.

[molson]

The message in the title of this thread is important, I think, especially for those with kids. It's hard to believe that a lot of teenagers have no memory of that day.

This is kind of an interesting, though cringe-worthy article about how its tought in history classes:

Schools grapple with how to teach 9/11 - The Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/11/schools_grapple_with_how_to_teach_911/)

"Monica Castro of Roxbury, a 14-year-old freshman at the South Boston Education Complex, is among the ranks with little recall. She was 6 at the time of the attacks and has learned about them since from teachers; however, yesterday she was not sure who committed them.

“I forgot - the Muslims or someone,’’ she said.

[JonInMiddleGA]

And just to show how much smarter we've become since then (or something)

Sept. 11 training exercise sparks confusion in DC
Email this Story

Sep 11, 10:56 AM (ET)

By EILEEN SULLIVAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Coast Guard conducted a training exercise in the Potomac River near the Pentagon amid Sept. 11 commemorations Friday, sparking confusion that scrambled FBI agents and led the nearest airport to briefly ground flights.

Coast Guard Chief Keith Moore said Friday no shots were fired as part of the exercise in the river. Media reports suggested shots had been fired in the river and showed vessels circling in the water, near the bridge where President Barack Obama's motorcade passed as he traveled to a Sept. 11 memorial at the Pentagon Friday morning.

Departures from Reagan National Airport were halted as a precaution at 10:08 a.m., then resumed at 10:30 a.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said. The airport borders the Potomac.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said federal agents scrambled to the river scene after the initial reports, because the local FBI office had not been told ahead of time about the exercise. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the incident.

Coast Guard spokesman John Edwards said references to shots fired were picked up in radio chatter. As part of its exercise Friday, the Coast Guard aired simulated instructions to participants to fire 10 rounds. But Edwards said there were no shots actually fired and there were no suspicious boats.


Did they just reassign the guy who arranged the Air Force One photo op?

[Neon_Chaos]

It is a great injustice to those that lost their lives that day that Osama bin Laden still remains at large eight years after the fact.
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[RomaGoth]

It is a great injustice to those that lost their lives that day that Osama bin Laden still remains at large eight years after the fact.
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This. I will add to this the fact that it is so easy for people to go on with their lives and forget about this, because either it didn't affect them (although in reality it affected everyone in some fashion), or because it was "so long ago" that it doesn't matter anymore. I am really hoping it doesn't become just a footnote in history. Sadly, I will probably be disappointed.

[Lathum]

Chalk me up as one that will never forget.

I was at Saldana's having spent the night. Me and my girlfriend at the time woke up and Saldana and his wife had just gotten up and put the TV on. I remember at that time we still thought it was just a small plane.

When the second one hit that was when it became real.

My cousin worked in the WTC but he made it out and went across the Brooklyn Bridge. I remember trying to call my mom for about an hour. It was the only time in my life I got the all circuts ate busy message. I think everyone who lived in that area at the time at least knew someone who knew someone that was killed or there.

I remember when I got home that night I went to my church, the doors were locked so I sat on the steps outside, thanked God that my cousin lived and just wondered how someone could have so much hate in them.

[DaddyTorgo]

*bites tongue* not the right thread to make the usual joke based on lathum's post

[Subby]

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There are a million of these on YouTube, but I found this one pretty moving.

[RomaGoth]

...just wondered how someone could have so much hate in them.

I still wonder this as well.

[Young Drachma]

I remember not believing it was real. Like it was just so hard to watch. I was taking the AFOQT actually, still on active duty in the Air Force. They interrupted us and said that planes hit the WTC and that "this isn't a drill." We sat outside for about 45 minutes, maybe longer. Someone said, "We're going to war."

And from there, we went back inside, took the test and I got back to my office at 2pm to go online to CNN.com and to see the images for the first time of what had happened.

Having grown up in New Jersey, whenever I go home and drive over the river, I never really have gotten used to NOT seeing them there.

[Lathum]

Seeing the people jump is what gets me the most.

You obviosly feel terrible for everyone, but imagine having to make that final decision ans last act of desperation. It chills me everytime.

[Lathum]

Having grown up in New Jersey, whenever I go home and drive over the river, I never really have gotten used to NOT seeing them there.

+1

[Sun Tzu]

Eh, I prefer not to live in the past.

[Young Drachma]

Seeing the people jump is what gets me the most.

You obviously feel terrible for everyone, but imagine having to make that final decision ans last act of desperation. It chills me everytime.

Same. I mean, I guess it's all about taking a chance voluntarily. And for some of them, I bet they thought they'd have a better chance of survival than to try to make the trek down the stairs. I dunno. It's just such a scary prospect, but so would be the prospect of imminent death.

[Lathum]

Eh, I prefer not to live in the past.

I'm not trying to start an argument but there is a difference between living in the past and remembering a defining moment in out countries history.

To not recognize the day for what it is, what happened, and how it changed us is an insult to everyone who lost their lives.

[RomaGoth]

I'm not trying to start an argument but there is a difference between living in the past and remembering a defining moment in out countries history.

To not recognize the day for what it is, what happened, and how it changed us is an insult to everyone who lost their lives.

++1

[M GO BLUE!!!]

There were only two times I broke down, both coming weeks after the attacks.

The first was during a program on the WTC, where they talked with a K9 Cop who followed standard procedure, locking his partner in a cage in their WTC basement office. He never got back to save the dog. When he described the guilt he had of not giving his partner a chance to live, then showed a picture begging if anyone had seen him on the off chance he had got out...

The second... I was walking by Bryant Park and noticed a lot of papers attached to the fence. I wondered who posted whatever crap it was. I stopped and read one. It was from a 5th grade student somewhere outside the city who wrote to New York "I am sorry the building fell down." I lost it right there.

I didn't allow it to get to me otherwise, as I was too busy working and volunteering. At the Javits Center I was unloading and loading trucks and was told "No more donations. We have too much." A truck pulled up with Illinois plates and the guy says "We just got here from Chicago with some supplies." I told the guys to unload it. This man then grabs me & hugs me, weeping openly. I comforted him the best I could & thanked him. I then found out from someone who talked to the man's wife that his brother was missing.

[Super Ugly]

[QUOTE=Kodos;2114546]Said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Figured it was a small one flown by some idiot.QUOTE]

I had the same reaction. I was on the train from New Brunswick, and was passing Elizabeth or Newark (I forget) just after the first plane had hit. It was far enough away to not really get a real sense of what had happened, and nobody else on the train reacted much. I thought at the worst, it was a bomb, and having grown up in the UK during the time of the IRA, it wasn't enough to make me turn around and go back. By the time I got to New York, the second one had hit and things on the ground were very weird - I still didn't know exactly what had happened, though. Nobody seemed to be able to say exactly what had happened. I found the idea of the towers falling to be so ludicrous, I wouldn't believe it. It wasn't until I got back to New Brunswick that I saw the TV and understood just what had happened that morning.

"Today, we are all Americans" - I think that was Le Monde's headline the day after. That's always stuck with me. All these years later, and thousands of miles away, I don't think you'll find many people over here who weren't deeply affected by September 11. It still upsets me greatly to think about it.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Seeing the people jump is what gets me the most.

You obviosly feel terrible for everyone, but imagine having to make that final decision ans last act of desperation. It chills me everytime.

This hits my guy hard too...but over the last eight years my reactions to those people jumping have changed.

Right after, looking at the pictures of The Falling Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Man), I imagined the despair and helplessness this man must have felt to make that decision to jump. As a mother I couldn't help but imagine my son in that picture, agonizing over the last decision that would truly be his own. My throat would close up and the tears would come hard and fast.

Eight years later....I see something else. Defiance. By choosing to jump, and end his life on his own terms he took the power away from those scumbags who tried to murder him. He denied them the pleasure of making him their sacrifice to their god. He took his life, and death back for himself. I still bawl like a baby, but there's something else in there now too. Something like pride? Maybe approval? I don't know really...but it makes me say "F*uck yeah".

[path12]

Carpool buddy called me early and said "turn on CNN". I did and about 45 seconds later watched the second plane hit. As we drove to work we heard about the first tower collapsing. Nobody could work, all the rumors about other planes in the air. Shut down before noon.

I lived under the flight path at SeaTac. The silence of that afternoon and the next couple days struck me like nothing else did. And the compassion strangers had for one another was something I've never seen before or since.

People always talk about knowing where they were such-and-such day. I cannot imagine another day like that one.

[Antmeister]

That was an eerie day.

This was just 3 days after my daughter's first birthday. I remember getting ready for work in the morning turning on the TV to watch when reports of the first plane hitting the building. I just assumed it was a horrible accident. I remember I let Lorena know and then shortly afterwards I hit the shower. Shortly after I just finished, I remember my wife calling out my name repeatedly intertwined with words like "Oh my gosh!" and "What the hell?". The second plane had hit and at that moment, I knew it wasn't an accident, but I still couldn't comprehend what it actually was.

Because of the horrible traffic, it took me about an hour to get to work and the rest of the day people were panicking because there were multiple rumors of all the major cities that were going to be next. Since I was in San Diego, people feared that bombs were going to be set off and planes were going to just fall out of the sky. No one did any work, but huddled around the cubicles with people who had radios. And there just seemed to be too much misinformation out there. Definitely an eerie day.

[RomaGoth]

So I sent out an email to friends and family and such to remember the victims of the 9/11 tragedy. One of them sends me back an email that simply states "9/11 was an INSIDE JOB, read the truth HERE" (a link to 911truth.org).

WTF. This is a person my wife worked with last year and I never would have guessed she felt this way. More importantly, though, is the disrespect shown to my email for remembering the victims. I don't really care what people believe or don't believe, but I don't feel that was the time/place for it.

Some people just feel the need to shove their views in your face no matter what. :(

[gstelmack]

So I sent out an email to friends and family and such to remember the victims of the 9/11 tragedy. One of them sends me back an email that simply states "9/11 was an INSIDE JOB, read the truth HERE" (a link to 911truth.org).

WTF. This is a person my wife worked with last year and I never would have guessed she felt this way. More importantly, though, is the disrespect shown to my email for remembering the victims. I don't really care what people believe or don't believe, but I don't feel that was the time/place for it.

Some people just feel the need to shove their views in your face no matter what. :(

National Geographic HD has a special running where they look at some of the stuff from the "Truthers" and put it to the test with one of the big explosive labs out in New Mexico. These folks won't except anyone else's evidence because they "know" what happened. Sigh.

[RomaGoth]

National Geographic HD has a special running where they look at some of the stuff from the "Truthers" and put it to the test with one of the big explosive labs out in New Mexico. These folks won't except anyone else's evidence because they "know" what happened. Sigh.

Which folks are you referring to? The government, or the conspiracy theorists? (a reasonable case can be made for both I suppose).

[gstelmack]

Which folks are you referring to? The government, or the conspiracy theorists? (a reasonable case can be made for both I suppose).

(Rewriting this). NG HD tested a lot of the things the "Truthers" (the 911Truth folks) were claiming and found that the current explanations fit the data MUCH better than anything the Truthers have proposed. And then they asked the Truthers about it and they'd blow it off, or nitpick some aspect of the test, without having reasoned arguments about it. They've decided the government did this, that none of this could have been caused by planes crashing into the buildings (they claim thermite in taking down the Twin Towers, and an explosive in the Pentagon), and they won't listen to physical evidence / testing to the contrary.

[RomaGoth]

Well, the government was not involved in the conversation, so I'm obviously talking about the conspiracy theorists. Exactly what evidence about 9/11 did the government ignore / make up?

To be clear, I'm talking about the group you referred to that the person forwarded you info on.

Oh, ok. Just making sure. According to these people, the government ignored/made up all kinds of shit so they could secretly stage a terrorist attack and kill its own innocent civilians. I guess this was to make sure the stock market plummeted? *sigh*

[RomaGoth]

(Rewriting this). NG HD tested a lot of the things the "Truthers" (the 911Truth folks) were claiming and found that the current explanations fit the data MUCH better than anything the Truthers have proposed. And then they asked the Truthers about it and they'd blow it off, or nitpick some aspect of the test, without having reasoned arguments about it. They've decided the government did this, that none of this could have been caused by planes crashing into the buildings (they claim thermite in taking down the Twin Towers, and an explosive in the Pentagon), and they won't listen to physical evidence / testing to the contrary.

Yeah, I am pretty sure an airplane flying into a building is going to cause it to, ummm....collapse.

[gstelmack]

To add to it, it's like moon landing hoax folks, who claim things based on gut feeling without actually testing it. One of my favorite Mythbusters episodes was on this...

[molson]

Oh, ok. Just making sure. According to these people, the government ignored/made up all kinds of shit so they could secretly stage a terrorist attack and kill its own innocent civilians. I guess this was to make sure the stock market plummeted? *sigh*

No wait, I think it was so they'd have an "excuse" to invade Iraq, and so that war could then be waged smoothly and completely unopposed by all U.S. citizens and the world. Which is of course, exactly what happened. I mean really, it kind of seems like a lot of work and trouble just increase support for a war from people whose support you don't need at all. I can think of a few easier ways - why not just plant a fictional link between Iraq and terrorism, or just plant WMDs in Iraq. Nice and easy.

My favorite theory is that it wasn't a plane that hit the pentagon, and I guess, that plane never really existed. The people on that plane were perhaps genetically engenered by the government to live their lives on Earth for years before, to trick everyone into thinking they were really people, only to be decativated at that moment and put back into the underground robot factory. Something like that.

Oh wait, and there's the one (which at least a few members of this board believe), that since one news reporter reported an "explosion" that sounded like a "bomb", that the WTC was actually destroyed with bombs for some reason. Of course, if every news report was actually true that day, then there were a huge amount of attacks that were actually secretly and mysteriously thwarted (hijacked planes from London, bombs going off in parked cars, etc).

[RomaGoth]

No wait, I think it was so they'd have an "excuse" to invade Iraq, and so that war could then be waged smoothly and completely unopposed by all U.S. citizens and the world. Which is of course, exactly what happened. I mean really, it kind of seems like a lot of work and trouble just increase support for a war from people whose support you don't need at all. I can think of a few easier ways - why not just plant a fictional link between Iraq and terrorism, or just plant WMDs in Iraq. Nice and easy.

My favorite theory is that it wasn't a plane that hit the pentagon, and I guess, that plane never really existed. The people on that plane were perhaps genetically engenered by the government to live their lives on Earth for years before, to trick everyone into thinking they were really people, only to be decativated at that moment and put back into the underground robot factory. Something like that.

Oh wait, and there's the one (which at least a few members of this board believe), that since one news reporter reported an "explosion" that sounded like a "bomb", that the WTC was actually destroyed with bombs for some reason. Of course, if every news report was actually true that day, then there were a huge amount of attacks that were actually secretly and mysteriously thwarted (hijacked planes from London, bombs going off in parked cars, etc).

Nicely done. You did forget something though. If you look very carefully at the airplane footage before it hits the WTC, you will see a hand holding it from the rear. Obviously, this means that it was really just a miniature WTC, NYC, toy airplanes, and thousands of puppets.

[saldana]

I live about 80 miles as the crow flies from NYC...i was a county 911 dispatcher and at the time, and worked 6pm to 6am the following night...of all the calls i took in 8 years of doing that job, one of the ones i will never forget was the little old lady that called 3 times in tears because she was afraid that we were be bombed again....nothing i could say could convince her that all she was hearing was a thunderstorm

[Autumn]

The thing that I think will be forgotten over the years go on, by those who don't remember that day, was how unsure we were about what was happening. I think we all spent that day and maybe the whole week after wondering what was next. When we realized it was three and then four planes, I remember just wondering what else had been orchestrated, waiting for a news flash any moment of some new tragedy somewhere else. Looking back it's hard to remember how little idea we had of what was going on.

[MizzouRah]

Sad day.. brought back all of those memories this morning when I looked at the date on my blackberry. :(

[MrBug708]

Watching Flight 93 is a very hard thing to do without feeling a wave of emotions

[RainMaker]

The thing that I think will be forgotten over the years go on, by those who don't remember that day, was how unsure we were about what was happening. I think we all spent that day and maybe the whole week after wondering what was next. When we realized it was three and then four planes, I remember just wondering what else had been orchestrated, waiting for a news flash any moment of some new tragedy somewhere else. Looking back it's hard to remember how little idea we had of what was going on.

Yeah, it happened so fast that I forgot how frightened I was. My parents were both working in Chicago (Mom near O'Hare) and I was really worried about something happening in the city.

There were reports of other planes that they couldn't find on TV and of random explosions. You really didn't know who was doing it or how long it would last for. There was a stretch of about an hour where you really just waited to hear about a plane striking something else.

[JS19]

Ran into a high school buddy and former cross country teammate of mine - Joshua Carbajal - on the evening of September 10th, 2001. Told me he had joined the Marines and was leaving the next day for basic. I remember thinking a couple of days later that the timing was less than ideal.

Saw him again a year or so later. He came into Best Buy in uniform, and I got the chance to speak with him for a few minutes.

Haven't seen him since, although my Google-fu has turned up a few mentions of him. He apparently served in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the 2003-2005 period, and made it at least as high as sergeant in the Corps. Google turned up a mention of him in a book about another Marine.

That said, 2005 seems to be where he disappears in terms of any definitive mention. I think he's still around, as all of the definitive mentions refer to him as a lance corporal, and a military mothers' website from the town we attended high school refers to him as sergeant, but...can't be sure.

Hope he's doing well, wherever he is.

SGT Joshua P. Carbajal? If so, the best I can offer is that he is no longer in the Corps, he was a marksmanship coach, and if you are interested, I can PM you his last known phone number, according to the Marine Corps, anyhow.

[JAG]

The thing that I think will be forgotten over the years go on, by those who don't remember that day, was how unsure we were about what was happening. I think we all spent that day and maybe the whole week after wondering what was next. When we realized it was three and then four planes, I remember just wondering what else had been orchestrated, waiting for a news flash any moment of some new tragedy somewhere else. Looking back it's hard to remember how little idea we had of what was going on.

Good call. I remember my then-GF calling from Notre Dame and asking if we were going to bomb Israel as a result of the attacks. I was flabbergasted at why we would come to that conclusion, but I guess there were a lot of confused people giving her bad information. I remember coming home on the Metra that evening and hearing about the rocket fire in Afghanistan (the Northern Alliance attacking the Taliban) and people wondering if we had launched an attack there.

[Raiders Army]

I remember when I got home that night I went to my church, the doors were locked so I sat on the steps outside, thanked God that my cousin lived and just wondered how someone could have so much hate in them.

I still wonder this as well.

I don't think it's hate at all. It's the same reason why other people do things for their religion.

[Schmidty]

I don't think it's hate at all. It's the same reason why other people do things for their religion.

That's stupid.

There's a big difference between handing out a bunch of tracts and bringing your religion into government, and having an entire sect of a religion that supports things like 9/11 and suicide-bombing and carries it out regularly.

(Maybe I misread you, but it got my blood boiling)

[Lathum]

I don't think it's hate at all. It's the same reason why other people do things for their religion.

Call me crazy but I consider murdering thousands of innocent people hate, regardless of what it is in the name of.

These people use their religion as an excuse in there war against America.

[RainMaker]

That's stupid.

There's a big difference between handing out a bunch of tracts and bringing your religion into government, and having an entire sect of a religion that supports things like 9/11 and suicide-bombing and carries it out regularly.

(Maybe I misread you, but it got my blood boiling)
What about bombing the shit out of a country and killing hundreds of thousands of people because God told you to?

[Wolfpack]

I was living in Ann Arbor and working at the University at the time. My work hours went roughly between 8:45 and 5:45, so I was getting on my computer maybe about fifteen minutes after things started happening in New York. I logged on to my Yahoo mail and then to the news page and noticed a blurb headline mentioning that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I click on it and all that there is was basically what the headline said and that the story was developing still. I was thinking, much as others had, that some drunk in a Cessna or something had plowed into the WTC by accident. I momentarily put it aside until I checked in on the ACC sports board and noticed that the thread talking about the crash was huge. I clicked on the link and that's when I saw a picture of one of the WTC towers with a nice crosshair scar and flames shooting out of it. Definitely not a Cessna in the wrong place. I then tried the major news sites and discovered I could not log on to any of them. They were absolutely getting slammed at that point, I'm sure. I go across the hall to my co-worker's office and tell him that something serious is happening in New York. It was about this time I think that everyone else in the office started scraping together how serious it was. We went to another co-worker's office and listened to some of the PBS broadcast. Ultimately, without much detail and no TV available, we kind of wander back to our offices to attempt to try to get work done. However, I'm continually checking in on the ACC board and that's where I found out about the false attack at the State Department, that another plane had hit the Pentagon, that a fourth plane may have crashed in Pennsylvania, and ultimately learned of the final collapse of the WTC. One of the IT guys runs out to I guess Best Buy and comes back with a TV and people come and sit in the lunchroom to watch the TV. Very surreal, even somewhat anticlimatic since we didn't have a TV on until about noon so I didn't see the horror live as many did. Yet because of experiencing it through the internet, I was already "over" what had happened and was wondering what would happen next. We were given the option of going home early and most of us did so. Traffic was an absolute mess and my normally five minute commute probably took 30. A large number of people were lining up to go into the Red Cross that was on Packard, but as is typical of a college town and its political persuasions, there was already a peace demonstration going on across the street. The rest of the day is a bit hazy, but I'm sure my wife and I spent a fair amount of time watching the coverage.

The next day was when things really settled in on me. I leave for lunch and hear a roaring jet overhead. I look up and see it's an F-16 and I can see the missiles on the wingtips. I realize then that those missiles are live and the pilot's not on training, but is racetracking on patrol and not being subtle about it. The cause was a Civil Air Patrol plane that took off from the Ann Arbor airport, only it didn't tell anyone, causing some consternation since all air traffic is supposed to be grounded, no exceptions. Thus the combat jet with live missiles and a pilot ready to use them at the drop of a hat. The fact that an F-16 was now in the position of having to patrol the skies in defense of American territory and over my own head no less was a very chilling moment.

I had a couple of other weird moments sort of connected to 9/11. My wedding day was exactly one month before, which I guess is one of those numerology things people like to talk about like 9/9/09 or whatever. Moreover, our honeymoon was to Nova Scotia and PEI. On our way back to Detroit, we were scheduled to connect in Newark. I still remember being able to see the New York skyline and the WTC from the terminal as we killed time waiting for our connecting flight. It's weird to look back now and realize that the scene I was witnessing would be irrevocably changed less than three weeks later and that Newark was the takeoff point for a couple of those flights.

It's early fall
There's a cloud in the New York skyline
Innocence dragged across a yellow line

[Schmidty]

Forget it. I don't want to distract from the meaning of the thread anymore.

[Schmidty]

Same thing as the last post.

[molson]

What about bombing the shit out of a country and killing hundreds of thousands of people because God told you to?

I thought it was for oil?

[JediKooter]

Another thing that really sticks out is, how quiet it was for the next few days after because of all flights being cancelled. I lived in the landing path for San Diego's airport and it was so freaking quiet, it just didn't seem right.

[Schmidty]

Yeah, I lived less than a quarter of a mile from the Gerald R. Ford airport, and now that you mention it, it did seem weird.

[Greyroofoo]

Well I'm gonna be in Afghanistan in a few months so all this better be worth it.

[Chief Rum]

I heard on the radio today about some Hollywood and music stars who swear up and down how they believe the conspiracy theories. It reminds me that having the talent to do stuff people enjoy doesn't necessarily mean you also have a brain.

That day still gets to me today. Like Farrah said, I hope it always does, and I don't think I need to be too concerned that it will start to fade.

It's sad to see the kids who already view it as past history, and don't understand at all what it was like, or even care, really. I think this is just a sad fact of history and time.

Think about the 40s and Pearl Harbor. That kind of moment had immense impact, and not just because it brought the US into World War II. It was a defining moment for an entire generation.

9/11 is our "defining moment". 9/11 impacted everyone, young and old, but in the end, when people talk about 9/11 and the "9/11 Generation", it's going to be about us, the people on this board and those like us, the ones in our 20s and 30s when it happened, because we're going to be the last vestige of carrying that memory, that torch of what happened that day, for decades into the future.

I went to the WTC tribute outside of Ground Zero last year on my trip to NYC, and it was very moving. It was hard to get through that tour without crying. I didn't, but I remember how emotional I was, and how it took a while to get out of the mood it put me in, even while on vacation. But I don't have a second's regret for having done that, and even knowing what was coming, would choose to do it again.

I was 28 (almost 29) at the time, and I think if I had thought they would accept me, I would have joined up, in some way, one of the services (probably the Army or the Marines). Man, how my life would be different know had I done that.

[JediKooter]

Yeah, I lived less than a quarter of a mile from the Gerald R. Ford airport, and now that you mention it, it did seem weird.

It is odd that when things that are normally there are absent. You relgate things like airplanes as just white noise in the background and when it stops, it sticks out very obviously.

I'm a little bit drunk, so I don't know if that made any sense...

[Schmidty]

It is odd that when things that are normally there are absent. You relgate things like airplanes as just white noise in the background and when it stops, it sticks out very obviously.

I'm a little bit drunk, so I don't know if that made any sense...

So am I, and yes it did. :)

[EagleFan]

I still cannot fathom the insane, murderous lunatics that were behind this. Not sure why I am watching this on the History Channel right now but it brins everything back.

What gets my blood boiling even more are the idiotic conspiracy theories that some morons try to pass off as truth. I saw a really good show on National Geographic earlier in the week where they brought a group of these idiots in and showed them scientific proof yet they still dismissed it. I am willing to bet that one idiot who made the film (forget what it is called at the moment) is just doing that to cash in on a fringe but the others seem to really believe what they are saying.

I knew someone that was killed in the WTC. I went up there a few days after the attack to volunteer and even though I saw the images on television it really sank in when I saw it first hand.

[SackAttack]

SGT Joshua P. Carbajal? If so, the best I can offer is that he is no longer in the Corps, he was a marksmanship coach, and if you are interested, I can PM you his last known phone number, according to the Marine Corps, anyhow.

I don't know his middle initial.

Probably the same guy, though; the Joshua Carbajal I went to high school with is supposed to have reached the rank of SGT, so unless there are/were multiple Sergeant Joshua Carbajal's in the Marine Corps, that's probably him.

I appreciate the offer on the phone number, but that gets a little too stalky for me, I think. We were buds, but it was largely in the context of pushing one another in cross country. Didn't hang out much outside of that, so I'm not sure how welcome a phone call would be.

But from context it sounds as though he wasn't one of those who gave their lives in service in either of the current combat theaters, so that's welcome news.

[JediKooter]

So am I, and yes it did. :)

Cool. :) Have a couple more on me!

[sterlingice]

I still cannot fathom the insane, murderous lunatics that were behind this. Not sure why I am watching this on the History Channel right now but it brins everything back.

What gets my blood boiling even more are the idiotic conspiracy theories that some morons try to pass off as truth.

Even more? Really? They're idiots, plain and simple and easily ignored. No need to get all frothy at the poor saps. I'm going to go with "more ticked" at the people who actually did it.

SI

[fantom1979]

It is odd that when things that are normally there are absent. You relgate things like airplanes as just white noise in the background and when it stops, it sticks out very obviously.

I'm a little bit drunk, so I don't know if that made any sense...

I had to work the night of Sept 11 and I remember going outside for a smoke at around 7pm and thinking about how quiet it was and how strange it was that there were no planes overhead. One of those things I never thought about until it is gone.

I can honestly say that I was a bit nervous the first day I saw a plane in the sky again. It was a completely irrational fear, even if they were going to hit us again, chance were good that it wouldn't be a suburb 20 miles north of Detroit, but that feeling was just in my gut.

[Schmidty]

Cool. :) Have a couple more on me!

My wife thanks you!!!!

[JediKooter]

I had to work the night of Sept 11 and I remember going outside for a smoke at around 7pm and thinking about how quiet it was and how strange it was that there were no planes overhead. One of those things I never thought about until it is gone.

I can honestly say that I was a bit nervous the first day I saw a plane in the sky again. It was a completely irrational fear, even if they were going to hit us again, chance were good that it wouldn't be a suburb 20 miles north of Detroit, but that feeling was just in my gut.

Yes, I think no matter where anyone was, they more than likely had that feeling for sure. I hope no one has to go through it again.



My wife thanks you!!!!

Anytime! Doing whatever I can to help. :)

[EagleFan]

Even more? Really? They're idiots, plain and simple and easily ignored. No need to get all frothy at the poor saps. I'm going to go with "more ticked" at the people who actually did it.

SI

Probably not the right choice of words. Was thinking of that along the lines as already being pissed and that just pushing it a little extra (I have a very low tolerance for idiots).

If the two groups are standing in front of me it is those responsible that I want to see killed. If in that process something happened to the conspiracy nuts, that would just be like getting coke glasses at McDonalds (a little something extra).