where were you at on 9-11 ?

I was 18 and living with my sister, who is in the Army and was stationed at Fort Carson, CO at the time. She came in from PT running and yelling like a mad woman and I had no idea what she was saying. She turned on the TV and turned it up so loud, I was SO annoyed because it was only 7am and I had no clue why she was waking me up and why I should care that some damn plane crashed into WTC. It only took a few seconds of actually watching the news for it to all sink in. We watched the 2nd plane hit and we were both just so stunned. I realized right about that time what this had to be. Only terrorists would do this. We lived at the base of Cheyenne Mountain Airforce Station, right outside Colorado Springs... most people know it as NORAD. I worried that NORAD would be a target as well, I ran out the back door, still in my pajamas and just stared at the mountain, there were planes nad helicopters EVERYWHERE, the thing looked like a beehive. So much happened all at once. But it felt like it went on for hours. My sisters husband's unit was put on lockdown immediately, he didn't even come home from PT that morning.

I remember eveyr detail of that morning, the whole day really. How I felt when I saw the 2nd plane hit, when I heard about the Pentagon, and Flight 93. I have never cried so much in one day, not before that, and not since then. It's a wound that never healed, I hope it never does. Not only for me, but for the whole country. Healing is forgetting, and forgetting is accepting. And what happened is not acceptable. What happened that day did not only happen in NYC, DC, and an open field in PA. It happened to every person, in every home, in every town across this country. It still happens... every time a soldier deploys (my husband and sister included), everytime a flag draped coffin comes home, every time a soldier misses a birth or a Christmas, or any other important life event. 9/11/01 wasn't just one day. It was a lifetime. I know what my husband is fighting for. I will never forget.

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I am on the west coast and woke up late that morning (8:15am PST) so everything happened already. Turned on the news and was floored by what I was seeing. I called my mom asking her what the heck was going on, then I watched all the replays of everything that went on, cried like a baby............so sad. I still get teary eyed when watching the replays around this time of year.

It was my senior year. We had a two hour delay for a teacher in service. I was watching Jerry Springer when they cut in to say a plane hit the tower. I kept thinking "What idiot doesn't see that tower!!??!!" Then as I was watching Dan Rather I saw live as the second plane hit. I was instantly sick to my stomach. I remember Dan Rather saying right after it happened that we were under terrorist attack. It was something you just didn't fathom at my age. You never thought something like that would happen. I just remember hurrying up and getting ready and getting to school. When I got there I hear the Pentagon had been hit. The school was just so quiet and in horror. Students were crowding around tv's. We spent the whole day watching the horror unfold. I remember sitting in my first period class right before it started when the first tower fell. The horrified gasp from a friend of mine is seared into my memory.

Last November I was lucky enough to visit the site of Ground Zero. It is humbling. To stand in a spot where THOUSANDS of people died from such a senseless horrific act shakes you to your core.

9/11/01 changed so much of what the world and my future would be like. I teach kids now that were 4-6 when it happened and its sad how much of an impact this day has on them than me. They barely remember and they just don't get it. They know its a sad important day in history but because they didn't see it happen, they didn't watch the events unfold, the magnitude is really lost on them. When visiting Ground Zero with these kids you can just see the difference in the years. All the people my age and older just stood there in silent aww. We were moved to tears. The kids came, saw, took a pic or two, then walked away loud and laughing. In a way they are almost lucky they didn't experience it. They can watch the footage without crying. As for the rest of us, its burned into our memories and hearts forever.

I was working as a receiving clerk when the news came out on the radio. I couldn't believe it. My prayers are with victims families and friends.

I was 18 and living with my sister, who is in the Army and was stationed at Fort Carson, CO at the time. She came in from PT running and yelling like a mad woman and I had no idea what she was saying. She turned on the TV and turned it up so loud, I was SO annoyed because it was only 7am and I had no clue why she was waking me up and why I should care that some damn plane crashed into WTC. It only took a few seconds of actually watching the news for it to all sink in. We watched the 2nd plane hit and we were both just so stunned. I realized right about that time what this had to be. Only terrorists would do this. We lived at the base of Cheyenne Mountain Airforce Station, right outside Colorado Springs... most people know it as NORAD. I worried that NORAD would be a target as well, I ran out the back door, still in my pajamas and just stared at the mountain, there were planes nad helicopters EVERYWHERE, the thing looked like a beehive. So much happened all at once. But it felt like it went on for hours. My sisters husband's unit was put on lockdown immediately, he didn't even come home from PT that morning.

I remember eveyr detail of that morning, the whole day really. How I felt when I saw the 2nd plane hit, when I heard about the Pentagon, and Flight 93. I have never cried so much in one day, not before that, and not since then. It's a wound that never healed, I hope it never does. Not only for me, but for the whole country. Healing is forgetting, and forgetting is accepting. And what happened is not acceptable. What happened that day did not only happen in NYC, DC, and an open field in PA. It happened to every person, in every home, in every town across this country. It still happens... every time a soldier deploys (my husband and sister included), everytime a flag draped coffin comes home, every time a soldier misses a birth or a Christmas, or any other important life event. 9/11/01 wasn't just one day. It was a lifetime. I know what my husband is fighting for. I will never forget.

Amen

I had just picked my daughter and friend up from school. When we dropped her classmate off, her mother told me that a plane had flown into the trade building in New York. I came home & put the TV on straight away.I couldn't believe what was happening but thought it was just an accident. It was while watching the live news report that I watched the second plane hit the other tower. I then knew this was an act of terrorism. I can't tell you the feeling of horror and despair I experienced as I watched the news coverage for the rest of the evening, as the towers fell- how did we know this would happen like this- as people could not possibly be rescued. Being a nurse, I felt I needed to be there to help out in these circumstances but living in the UK this was obviously impossible. God Bless all those brave men & women who worked relentlessly to save others without thinking of themselves.And God Bless and comfort those who lost their lives and their families in this appalling act of hate. I hope our children will live in a safer and more loving world in the future.

I was in 6th grade in my math class, my teacher was checking her email and I guess saw it on a news site... She ran off to tell everyone else and then they brought a TV in so we could watch the news. I'm glad they didn't try to cover it up, I guess they realized how important it'd be for us to know what was going on. The town I was living in had an airport less than a mile away from the school and I remember it being so quiet when all of the airplanes stopped flying.

I was a senior in high school....we watched the second plan hit live on a TV in the teachers lounge. Our school was closed a couple hours later and we were all sent home....

Well ---- I was living in Hawaii. It was about 4 or 5am in the morning. I was laying in bed getting high off of meth. This is back when I was heavily addicted I'm 9 years clean today I was watching the Today show and saw the 2nd plane crash into the tower. It was incredibly insane!

I was a senior in high school sitting in advanced algebra class..... left school after first period, went to my boyfriends house and we watched TV all day! such a sad sad day!

I was getting an MRI done on my knee. I came out and the nurse at the desk told me that some pilot accidently flew in the trade center. As i went down to my car it was thinking that can't be right and i was thinking it was a little plane. I turned the radio on and knew what had happened and drove like a bat out of hell back to base. I knew we were going into to lock down.

I read everyones post and well it looks like in this thread i was the youngest i was ten years old and in 4th grade i specifically remember that day it was pajama day at school so i had worn my favorite pjs and slippers and as i was walking into school i looked at the big screen television that was in the lobby and it had a picture of a waving US flag and two towers i went to class and my teacher had the televisoin turned on and i didnt really understand why a plane would hit it i thought well its pretty big how could he not see it then we watched the second plane hit and immediatley i knew that it wasnt an accident all i could think was about all those people in the towers after that we went out to the lobby and watched the towers collapse on the big screen tv by that time the whole school was gathered in the lobby (small school in a small town we only had third and fourth graders in the whole school so about 100 students) as we watched i remember them showing footage of people falling to their deaths at that point they turned the tv off and had everyone go outside around the flag pole and we all had a moment of silence and a few of the teachers started praying with us

till this day seeing footage makes me so sad and cry i had some friends who lost family in those towers

I was working in Queens, NY when someone came in my office and said, there has been an accident, a plane hit one of the towers. At least that is what we thought at first. I was looking out my office window and could see the smoke fill the air.. Then the 2nd plane hit and we knew it was no accident. I remember it like it was yesterday. When the towers fell you could barely see the city. Every day for the next 7 years or so I would cross the Whitestone bridge and look at MAnhattan and the skyline was never the same... I will never forget that day and the lives that were taken... My thoughts and prayers go out to all the Friends and Families that lost loved ones that day... God Bless..

I was in my first semester of college. I had an 8 AM economics lecture that was actually in a huge auditorium on the ground floor of my dorm. I was walking back to my room after class, and I noticed a bunch of students gathered around a TV in a sitting area in the lobby, so I knew something was up, but I didn't stop. I got back to my room, and my mom called shortly thereafter and started talking about planes flying into buildings, and I didn't have a clue what was going on. She told me to turn on the news, so I did, and I was stunned. I couldn't even wrap my mind around what had happened.

For me, it really sort of encapsulated how naive Americans were at that time because I remember asking myself over and over again, why? What did we do to provoke an attack on civilians who were just going about their lives? I don't think we're any less naive now. Just desensitized.