9/11 7th Anniversary !

[dcfish]

God Bless America, Need I say more ?

[Blayd]

God Bless America

[SW03ES]

Its hard to believe its been 7 years...

My fiance and I were down at GW 7 years ago in downtown Washington DC. I remember driving in from Suburban MD that morning listening to Howard Stern on the radio. Just as I got there they were talking about some zainy pilot that apparently had flown a small personal plane into the World Trade Center. I shut the car off and left.

We were in a class when all of a sudden people's cell phones started going off. One guy walked out of the class and took his call and came back in to tell us that planes had been flown into both towers of the WTC and the Pentagon, that a plane was headed for the White House and we were under attack.

Now anyone who is familiar with Washington, DC knows that GWU is about 4 blocks from the White House and it is imbedded within the city, meaning that the only way you know that you are on campus are the GW flags. I remember the pandemonium, everyone running for the garages to get out of the city. We thought the White House was going to be hit, and if that happened we knew we were in danger or in the very least we would be sealed off and unable to get out of the city. So we made our way to the garage where I was parked (Carla still lived downtown at that point and I lived in Bethesda) and started making our way out of the city.

It took us about two hours. Traffic was complete gridlock, people were driving over curbs, they had stopped traffic into the city at many points and had turned both lanes of traffic outbound. Cell phones wouldn't work, all the lines were jammed and we had people all over the place worried about us. It was like one of those movies when whole cities are being evacuated.

Rumors were rampent, people were reporting several planes unaccounted for, carbombs at the state department, all kinds of things. I'll never forget it. Carla's dad routinely flew on that flight out of Newark for work so she was terrified about that, and her uncle routinely flew out of Boston's Logan on that flight for work. No cell phones...no way to get ahold of them. We later learned that her uncle had a ticket on that fateful flight that day but wound up not going...

I'm watching MSNBC's "living history" replaying the news feed in real time...

[smooth1]

I never really understood what my dad meant when he would refer to the Cuban Missle Crisis until 9/11 happened. Now I know what he means when he said I remember that day so clearly.

I had just opened the doors for business. Because I would often work late, I had a TV in my office so I could watch the news and sports in the evenings. I was on the phone with one of my vendors and the radio was playing in my office in the background. Dave Mathews was on. What caught my attention was the radio personality cut in half way thru the song and announced a plane had just hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. My first thought was how in the heck could some idiot pilot run into a building that size? So my mind started playing different sceniarios like the plane must have mechanically failed, could fog get that bad in NY to where he wasn't able to see? I wondered if it was a small plane if it was a Piper or a more like a Leer Jet. The phone conversation ended. So I was able to devote more attention to the report on the radio when I heard commercial airliner.........my mind froze........how could this have happened? I reached for the remote, clicked the power button, and as the screen went from graphite black to an image of the tower with a plume of smoke and fire casting a shadow on the city below, I was dazed and speechless. As the reporter reviewed the facts on hand, I could easily hear the shock I was feeling in his voice. All I could think about were the people on board, and the people in the building. How do you fight a fire like that so high up in a building? And as I was watching, the second plane came into the screen and struck the other tower. My heart dropped, I was completely stunned. I gathered up my other employees, informed them of what was happening and we watched together........absolutely silent. the only sound I remember hearing for the next couple of hours was the reporters on the TV. As we learned about the possiblity of other planes being hijacked and the the attack on the Pentagon, I closed the shop up, sent everyone home, and watched hopelessly glued to the TV in utter shock as the towers collapsed. I could only think of the lives that had just been lost. I have never had such a heavy heart as that moment brought. To this day I still can't understand why they did what they did. Maybe I refuse to. Maybe I don't understand why 7 years later we are still not able to close the door on this chapter. Why we haven't been served the justice it so deserves. In my mind, it is truly one of the most darkest days in human history.

[nc211]

SWO: As you know, I am familiar with DC, and can only imagine what that was like! It's tough enough to get around at 2:00pm on any given Tuesday down there.

At the end of this day, I am always exhausted due to the adrenaline fueled moments of utter rage I still feel pumping through my veins. But, as many of you old-timers have witness with me over the years, I've calmed down a lot. But on this day, it pumps through me like a freight train. I'll refrain from a rant though. I think I've posted enough of them on here over the years.

My dad was running down the runway at KC on a flight to NYC, when the pilot abrubtly pulled the throttles and stood on the brakes. He came over the radio and said "something has happened in NYC and the FAA has ordered a nationwide airspace closure". He's a former Air Force pilot and new whatever it was, was something beyond our history, if the FAA took measures like that.

I, was working in B'ham Alabama at a commercial real estate shop. I remember walking out of my apartment and turning off the TV as Katie Curic was just comming on with news of a small plane hitting the WTC. I had just got my 01' Maxima and was looking forward to a nice, cool, clear morning drive in it. Had the windows down, roof open, and enjoying the 1st new car I had bought on my own. I sat in our conference room on the 25th floor of the SouthTrust Tower "main tower of downtown Birmingham", watching 9/11 unfold. As our fellow Alabama members will confirm, that tower use to have a big "S" on the top, that looked like a "$". We evacuated faster than rabbits. I, and a real estate saleman buddy of mine were at the Oak Hill Bar in Homewood Village by 2:00 pm, having a beer and in shock.

What a horrible day....just horrible.

Ok..one rant: We haven't "officailly" caught Osama Bin Buttchecked because we've pimped him out as the basis for our involvment in the middle east. I think if we had done a snatch-n-grab on him, then closed the book, we'd of had another just like him crop up, and another and another with no real military presence to combat it there. I also think Iraq was nothing more than a battle-ground for the fight. Afghanastan with it's mountainous terrain was too difficult. But in the open dessert...it was target practice. We showed up, and said "let's get it on". I think capturing him early, would of been sort of like when you capture a low-level drug dealer. Instead of arresting him, you use him as a plant to lead you all those who support him. Then you kill the *BLEEP*s Clint Eastwood style!

Ok, I'm done...sorry, couldn't help myself.

God bless this great country, and ALL of those wonderful men & women out there protecting not just this country, but this world, from those too cowardly to fight in the open w/o a scarf on their face!

[JENunnez]

God Bless America

And all of you.

[Alexander the o.k.]

I remember standing in the mezzanine, and on the roof of the south tower of the WTC in the 80's when I went up to help my cousin move in to her new apartment after she got a job w/ Metlife from college.

Not bad for a guy who's afraid of heights. I saw piper cubs flying around below my feet, and clouds, and Ellis island and the Statue of Liberty were far, far below me. Looked down at the Empire State building as well. The wind was terrific, and I could feel the whole building swaying under my feet... Unbelievable... It is still hard to believe those huge monuments to engineering now gone forever.

I was listening to Stern one calm clear day years later, and that's how I learned what happened, as it happened. I shut off the radio and ran to the closest TV, and in about 1/2 an hour starting watching some of the first reports as they came in. All morning shows were interrupted with scences of confused anchors, and video from eyewitnesses. At the time of the second tower attack, there were news cameras rolling live, and I taped it all. as I knew this was unprecedented in history. They actually showed on live Tv, those poor souls jumping from the roof, one thousand two hundred feet up. I couldn't take watching that.

I shut it off.

God Bless America, and especially those poor guys.

May they rest easy, and in peace.

[SW03ES]

They actually showed on live Tv, those poor souls jumping from the roof, one thousand two hundred feet up. I couldn't take watching that.

Thats something only those who were watching live saw, because that tape has never been re-run. I didn't get to a TV until both towers had collapsed...

[nc211]

On my home computer, I actually have several live video clips from that day. That was when Kazaa and Napster were still around, and I went on and downloaded all that I could, for my own personal history of that day. One day my son will come to me with questions about 9/11, and if he's old enough and mature enough to comprehend it, I will sit down with him and we'll watch them together. One of the most intense video clips I have, isn't actually of that day, but the monolog of David Letterman when he returned to the air afterwards in his NYC studio.

For as long as I live, I will never forget Bush's speech to the house on Sept. 20th. In my opinion, it was probably the best speech any politician has ever given, besides Roosevelt's "day of infamy" speech after Pearl Harbor. I'll also never forget how blood-thirsty this country was after the attacks. That was somewhat scary. Being in Alabama at the time, it was a parade of pistols.

I must commend this great country for not running into a corner and hiding. I don't mean in a military way, I mean in a normal way of life. It's pretty amazing to me, that after such shocking attacks and all the threats against NYC and Washington, DC over the years following, that both cities have been in the top 4 fastest growing cities in America. To me, that really says something about this great country. Even though we're paying for it a little in the economy right now, it too shall pass. When the vast majority of communities are slowing down in growth, if not reversing a bit, NYC and DC continue to climb. One look across the DC skyline will confirm it, with their near 20 construction cranes high in the air, with more to come! Some may say the economic model of the past 5 years "cheap money and relaxed lending regulations" was nothing more then a ploy to divert American focus away from the war, and I don't necessarily disagree with that, we have really created a lot of wonderful things since 9/11. When some would of been paralyzed by such an event as 9/11, we weren't. I think those who lost their lives on that day, and those who've given their lives since then, would be quite proud of their countrymen to march on in their memory! I know I am!

[RX in NC]

On the morning of 9/11/01 I was upstairs in my home office on a conference call with some of my Nortel colleagues in Australia. It was actually one of those blokes who interrupted our call with the news of a small plane apparently crashing into one of the WTC towers in NYC. Everyone on the call expressed the typical reaction of "how in the hell could some idiot not be paying attention while flying a small plane around NYC and then be stupid enough to slam into a skyscraper?" We quickly went back to business on the conference call. Within just a couple of minutes my wife (who had been watching one of the morning news shows) came running upstairs to tell me that another plane had crashed into the other tower. I immediately broke into the call with the fact that this is terrorism, guys, not a stupid accident and everyone on the call quickly agreed that we needed to end it and individually find out what the hell was going on so we could each take our own measures of safety and protection. Like most Americans, I spent the rest of the day and all night watching the networks, shaking my head in disbelief, and wondering how a coordinated effort like this could have been pulled off by what were obviously insane fanatics of some type. I've only experienced one other similar event in my life before this one - I was barely 10 years old on the day that JFK was assassinated (11/22/63) and was home from school that day to watch it all unfold on television. I'll never forget the intensity of either of those days....

[ArmyofOne]

SWO: As you know, I am familiar with DC, and can only imagine what that was like! It's tough enough to get around at 2:00pm on any given Tuesday down there.

At the end of this day, I am always exhausted due to the adrenaline fueled moments of utter rage I still feel pumping through my veins. But, as many of you old-timers have witness with me over the years, I've calmed down a lot. But on this day, it pumps through me like a freight train. I'll refrain from a rant though. I think I've posted enough of them on here over the years.

My dad was running down the runway at KC on a flight to NYC, when the pilot abrubtly pulled the throttles and stood on the brakes. He came over the radio and said "something has happened in NYC and the FAA has ordered a nationwide airspace closure". He's a former Air Force pilot and new whatever it was, was something beyond our history, if the FAA took measures like that.

I, was working in B'ham Alabama at a commercial real estate shop. I remember walking out of my apartment and turning off the TV as Katie Curic was just comming on with news of a small plane hitting the WTC. I had just got my 01' Maxima and was looking forward to a nice, cool, clear morning drive in it. Had the windows down, roof open, and enjoying the 1st new car I had bought on my own. I sat in our conference room on the 25th floor of the SouthTrust Tower "main tower of downtown Birmingham", watching 9/11 unfold. As our fellow Alabama members will confirm, that tower use to have a big "S" on the top, that looked like a "$". We evacuated faster than rabbits. I, and a real estate saleman buddy of mine were at the Oak Hill Bar in Homewood Village by 2:00 pm, having a beer and in shock.

What a horrible day....just horrible.

Ok..one rant: We haven't "officailly" caught Osama Bin Buttchecked because we've pimped him out as the basis for our involvment in the middle east. I think if we had done a snatch-n-grab on him, then closed the book, we'd of had another just like him crop up, and another and another with no real military presence to combat it there. I also think Iraq was nothing more than a battle-ground for the fight. Afghanastan with it's mountainous terrain was too difficult. But in the open dessert...it was target practice. We showed up, and said "let's get it on". I think capturing him early, would of been sort of like when you capture a low-level drug dealer. Instead of arresting him, you use him as a plant to lead you all those who support him. Then you kill the *BLEEP*s Clint Eastwood style!

Ok, I'm done...sorry, couldn't help myself.

God bless this great country, and ALL of those wonderful men & women out there protecting not just this country, but this world, from those too cowardly to fight in the open w/o a scarf on their face!

I was goig to deliver my papers...i was in HS at the time. it was a balmy 22 degrees in anchorage alaska. I flipped on the news at 5am and thats what i saw. then it dawned on me...my own mom was supposed to be in a meeting with the bigwigs at Raytheon in tower #1. My heart sank. I called my moms cell phone (no answer...circuts busy) and woke up my dad (who ended up going in as soon as i woke him, he was in the USAF at the time)...

just a horrible horrible day. the only thing that made it good was that my mother was 10 blocks away in a cab running late for her meeting...but we didnt find that out until later that day...so for a good part of the day we thought we had lost her.

It was that day that sealed the deal on my joining the army.

[eatingupblacktop]

SWO: As you know, I am familiar with DC, and can only imagine what that was like! It's tough enough to get around at 2:00pm on any given Tuesday down there.

At the end of this day, I am always exhausted due to the adrenaline fueled moments of utter rage I still feel pumping through my veins. But, as many of you old-timers have witness with me over the years, I've calmed down a lot. But on this day, it pumps through me like a freight train. I'll refrain from a rant though. I think I've posted enough of them on here over the years.

My dad was running down the runway at KC on a flight to NYC, when the pilot abrubtly pulled the throttles and stood on the brakes. He came over the radio and said "something has happened in NYC and the FAA has ordered a nationwide airspace closure". He's a former Air Force pilot and new whatever it was, was something beyond our history, if the FAA took measures like that.

I, was working in B'ham Alabama at a commercial real estate shop. I remember walking out of my apartment and turning off the TV as Katie Curic was just comming on with news of a small plane hitting the WTC. I had just got my 01' Maxima and was looking forward to a nice, cool, clear morning drive in it. Had the windows down, roof open, and enjoying the 1st new car I had bought on my own. I sat in our conference room on the 25th floor of the SouthTrust Tower "main tower of downtown Birmingham", watching 9/11 unfold. As our fellow Alabama members will confirm, that tower use to have a big "S" on the top, that looked like a "{:content:}quot;. We evacuated faster than rabbits. I, and a real estate saleman buddy of mine were at the Oak Hill Bar in Homewood Village by 2:00 pm, having a beer and in shock.

What a horrible day....just horrible.

Ok..one rant: We haven't "officailly" caught Osama Bin Buttchecked because we've pimped him out as the basis for our involvment in the middle east. I think if we had done a snatch-n-grab on him, then closed the book, we'd of had another just like him crop up, and another and another with no real military presence to combat it there. I also think Iraq was nothing more than a battle-ground for the fight. Afghanastan with it's mountainous terrain was too difficult. But in the open dessert...it was target practice. We showed up, and said "let's get it on". I think capturing him early, would of been sort of like when you capture a low-level drug dealer. Instead of arresting him, you use him as a plant to lead you all those who support him. Then you kill the *BLEEP*s Clint Eastwood style!

Ok, I'm done...sorry, couldn't help myself.

God bless this great country, and ALL of those wonderful men & women out there protecting not just this country, but this world, from those too cowardly to fight in the open w/o a scarf on their face!

I was goig to deliver my papers...i was in HS at the time. it was a balmy 22 degrees in anchorage alaska. I flipped on the news at 5am and thats what i saw. then it dawned on me...my own mom was supposed to be in a meeting with the bigwigs at Raytheon in tower #1. My heart sank. I called my moms cell phone (no answer...circuts busy) and woke up my dad (who ended up going in as soon as i woke him, he was in the USAF at the time)...

just a horrible horrible day. the only thing that made it good was that my mother was 10 blocks away in a cab running late for her meeting...but we didnt find that out until later that day...so for a good part of the day we thought we had lost her.

It was that day that sealed the deal on my joining the army.

Man, what a story! Army, I can only imagine how you felt that day. I'm sure enlistment grew exponentially in the period following. It wasn't a picnic up here during that time either. As you know, all air traffic at the time was barred from landing at any US airports. Our PM at the time, offered Canadian aiports for all the flights that were still in the air and could reach them. Of course, we had no knowledge or gurantees that none of the flights had more terrorists aboard. So, until the skies were empty, there was plenty of tension in the air.

NC, I agree with you that as contradictory as it sounds, Bin Ladin is worth more alive then dead. I would surmise that the plan now would be to embolden Al Quaida with confidence that they can't be found, in order to track as many associates as they can. As with the Hydra, cutting off one head doesn't end the threat. All heads have to roll! What Americans have to incorporate into their lives for the foreseable future is patience and resolve. Patience to get it right, and resolve to get it done!