9-11-01: where we're you and what we're you doing?

[NJmike PE]

I was in the early part of my college years. I had chemistry lab that morning at 0800. I remember listening to a sports talk radio show in the car on my way to lab. We finished early, around 0915 or around then, so I was able to get to work early that day. Unaware of anything taking place a short distance from me I got back into my car and couldn't believe what I was hearing on that same radio program that was talking about the Monday night football game from the night before. What tragic day. I will never forget it.

EDIT: To echo what Matt said below, I vividly recall the horrific images of those trapped on the top floors jumping because they thought it was their only way out. Living so close to NYC and at such a great elevation difference, On a normal day traveling down I-80 I could see the NY skyline. From that day forth it became empty. I remember the smoke for many weeks.

 

[Supe]

I was in high-school. I heard about it in English class from a girl who was a total space cadet, so we didn't believe her. They called us to the library to watch the TV news feed, and we watched the second plane hit. I remember quite a few students crying before being called down to the office. I grew up in CT, and several students had parents who rode the commuter train into NYC, including a few that worked in the WTC buildings.

 

[Ble_PE]

I was in college and was driving to campus listening to John Boy and Billy (a comedy show) and couldn't figure out why they were being so serious and talking about a plane hitting the tower in NYC. After listening for a few minutes they finally said what exactly had happened and that there was also an explosion at the Pentagon. I remember sitting in the car just listening to them and right before I had to leave in order to get to class on time they said that it had been confirmed that a plane had hit the Pentagon. I went to class (Calc 2, pain in my ***) and then went to my then-girlfriend's place and just watched the news for the next several hours. It's one of those things you can never forget (I've got goosebumps right now).

 

[kevo_55]

Working at my first engineering job out of college.

We had the radio on and listened to everything unfold.

It's still surreal.

 

[Ship Wreck PE]

I was in college studying for a Calculus exam.

 

[matt267 PE]

It was my second year of college. I was in dinning services (with no TV's) around 7AM before my 0830AM Human Behavior class. When in class, there were a few people talking about something going on. I wasn't paying any attention to them. My next class was Chem Lab at 10AM. One of my lab partners was from the NY area and she was crying and upset but I couldn't understand what she was crying about. Partway through the lab, someone came in telling us that all classes had been canceled for the day.

I spent the rest of the day watching the news in my dorm room with my now wife.

One of the most chilling images from that day is of the people on the top floor jumping to escape the fire.

I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. The sadness and anger are still there with me.

 

[Wolverine]

In the office, TV in the hallway, everybody gathered around, watched it live just after the first plane, saw it all unfold with disbelief.

Funny thing is, I remember reading about "The Taliban" a few years earlier as they were obliterating some ancient Buddhist statues in Alfuggedupistan, and I thought to myself at the time, that's a shame, too bad we can't go in there and take care of that problem - but you can't go rushing to war every time some ******* creates a conflict in a remote, stone-age corner of the globe where you don't really have any skin in the game. That can't hurt us.

In every engineering-econ solution, there is a do-nothing option. But the do-nothing option has a cost to it as well.

 

[roadwreck]

I was a working as an intern. At first we were checking news reports online, but the traffic to the websites made them slow to load, so I went down to the gym on the ground floor of the office to watch events unfold on the TV in the gym.

 

[MetsFan]

It was a couple of weeks before I would go back to college for my last year. I was actually getting ready to take my driver's license exam when I heard a plane hit the tower on the radio. I shut it off because I was already nervous about the exam and I just figured it was a small, light plane that hit. After my test, I got back in the car with my mom to go back home and heard the horror on the radio. We lived on the 11th floor in an apartment building in the Bronx and I had a clear view of the black smoke in the NYC skyline. I turned on the TV just in time to see the first tower fall...

 

[ventilator]

World history class in 10th grade. Teacher was a goofball and never very serious. He got a phone call and all of a sudden was completely out of character, told everyone to quite down and turned on the news. This was just after the first plane hit. I remember seeing 2nd plane hit and the buildings going down. My best friend had family who worked in the trade center, luckily they were on the ground floor of the second and were able to make it out.

 

[snickerd3]

getting ready for THE job fair my senior year college. my mom called and told me to turn the tv on. Lots of people were stranded in town and couldn't leave and lots of people couldn't get there with air travel suspended for several days.

 

[engineergurl]

I worked for JPMorgan Chase in the facilities department. We were in a meeting and all of our phones and beepers started going off with the code to scatter and open up contingency locations and implement emergency plans. My task was at our north building (north side of the airport) and the meeting I was in at the south building (south side of the airport) and I will never forget driving the detour all the way around the airport and watching the Air Force escorting all the diverted planes from downstate into the Syracuse airport fly over my head.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I was in college and driving to campus listening to the radio right after the first plane hit. I thought it was satire (a la War of the Worlds). When I got to campus and went to the commons, I knew it wasn't a joke. Everybody was gathered around the TVs, and that's where I saw the second plane hit. They cancelled classes for the day, and I spent most of the day watching the coverage in the commons and student union buildings.

 

[Dark Knight]

I was working for TVA at the time. Was in the cafeteria buying an orange juice when saw a large group watching a TV in the hallway. The TVA security was running up and down and installing barricades outside. I asked what was happening and someone told me a plane had hit WTC and another one the Pentagon. "We are under attack" he said.

When made it to my desk had a voice mail from my wife so called her back. We were on the phone when the second plane hit. She almost lost it. I had to calm her down. She said she was going to pick up the kids at the schools.

My oldest was in a middle school in 2001. For some time he and some other students from other countries had to be escorted from classroom to classroom because other kids threatened them for being foreigners.

 

[goodal]

I was at work. I took that year off from school. We had the TV tuned to Fox most of the time and we were watching the first tower when the second plane hit. They didn't show the impact, so I just thought it was another plan in the background. I remember saying out loud "wouldn't that be weird for another plane to hit". Then it did. Kind of shows what my mindset was back then. It didn't occur to me until after that second plane that it was done on purpose. We had to step out of the office for the rest of the day, so I didn't see the people jumping. I'm glad i didn't. I got goose bumps this morning listening to a montage of news reports. I have no connection to New York or anyone that died, but its still just as real today as that day.

 

[goodal]

My oldest asked what all the fuss was about for 9/11. I tried to explain the terribleness of what happened and what has resulted from it. It was really weird trying to explain that to him. He wasn't even alive on that day that had such an impact on so many lives. Try explaining all that to a 10 yr old.

 

[solomonb]

I was at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio teaching at the Air Force Institute of Technology where I was the Dean of the School of Systems and Logistics. I had just arrived, having spent 22 months in Washington as the Logistics Group Commander at Bolling AFB. A staff member came into class, told me to report to the conference room, that we were in Threatcon DELTA, that the Pentagon had been struck as well as the World Trade Center.

The base immediately went into force condition Delta-- the highest level of security. The base was closed for the next few days, then we were allowed back. When I was in Washington, practiced for various scenarios, however, practice is much different than real. I had wished that I was still in Washington, however, we had plenty of challenges in Ohio.

I too will never forget where I was!!

 

[knight1fox3]

I was in college and it was my day to sleep in. Didn't work until the afternoon and had a later class. My roommate came banging on my door to come out and see the TV. I remember telling him to go pound sand that it was my day off. Finally I gave in and went to see what he wanted. The 1st plane had just hit and we were watching live when the 2nd one hit. To echo what goodal said, it was in the background and at a weird angle. So it almost seemed like a replay of the 1st one. Didn't go to any classes that day and I think I just called in for work. We just sat and watched the footage in awe. Trying to determine what had happened and why. The next couple weeks around campus was pretty interesting as all the details unfolded.

I also had no direct ties to anyone affected in NY but I did for the friends and family that were deployed overseas as a result. Thanks to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces that continue to protect this country day in and day out.

I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. The sadness and anger are still there with me.

+100

 

[FLBuff PE]

I sat down to breakfast before my 1st engineering job out of college. Turned on the Today Show right as the second plane hit. Drove into work in a gaze, and got nothing done that day. Not many at my office did. We were sent home at 2.

 

[blybrook PE]

I was in college using on a recumbent bike in the exercise room (weightlifting class) watching the news. Saw the footage of the first plane hit, then the second along with coverage of the pentagon. I'll never forget.

Classes were immediately cancelled for the remainder of the day (not that I was going to go anyway). Pager went off shortly after the second plane strike and all volunteer firefighters were to report immediately to their stations for further information. We were on high alert for the rest of the week.

As an amateur radio operator in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), I was put on standby to actually go out to New York and DC to provide communication support. I know a few guys who were called, but they never made it to my name; although I had to be ready to go at a moments notice.