Let's Remember 9/11

[TGS]

I think an interesting way to remember 9/11 would be to share a history on the events or those involved that we felt was powerful, touching, or important. Documentary, photo-essay, whatever.

To start, here's a tidbit about the last living SAR K9 to work ground zero:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezcHy8DkrmE

And here is the largely unknown story about the evacuation of Manhattan, even larger than Dunkirk:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg

[Peally]

Never forget, never forgive.

Seems like a long time ago now.

[JHC]

With both sons being inspired by it to become Soldiers it's been center stage in our families life for years and no end in sight. It's like it was one world before that day and a very different one since. A good one. A better one; highly focused on what are the most important things in our family's ethos.

[Jeep]

I had a very good friend in the South Tower. We used to stand in his office and look at the planes coming in from the west flying just over the building. It worried them that one would accidently crash. They also were worried that the terrorists would pack explosives in a small plane to try to re-attack the towers, but none of us thought about using passenger jets.

His daughter, who never knew him, turns 14 in two weeks.

The terrorists and their past and present supporters have a lot to answer for, we should never allow them to do it again, and we always should remember to take the fight to the enemy and not let him come here.

[texasaggie2005]

Red, White & Blue out game of September 22, 2001.

Organized in 9 days by students; the sale of red, white and blue t-shirts raised over $180k to be donated to the NYPD & FDNY relief funds. (http://www.12thman.com/news/2015/9/11/FB_0911155501.aspx)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Red_white_and_blue_out.jpg

[LSP552]

Never forget, never forgive!

[SeriousStudent]

Red, White & Blue out game of September 22, 2001.

Organized in 9 days by students; the sale of red, white and blue t-shirts raised over $180k to be donated to the NYPD & FDNY relief funds. (http://www.12thman.com/news/2015/9/11/FB_0911155501.aspx)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Red_white_and_blue_out.jpg

Well done, Aggies.

[45dotACP]

My brother was born on 9-11, so in a way, I never do forget. Only one day of the year I don't think of it actually...and that's when everybody in my family gathers around to celebrate his birthday and push away all thought of that day. On 9-10.

While I do believe in the power of forgiveness, I can't forget. May the tip of our spear stay sharp and the blood of our enemies run in rivers ever hereafter.

Sent from my VS876 using Tapatalk

[Drang]

My brother was born on 9-11, so in a way, I never do forget.
Today is Mrs. Drang's birthday. Planning gets...awkward.

[JHC]

Today is Mrs. Drang's birthday. Planning gets...awkward.

Dayim

[RJ]

I was working in Warminster in the UK on a large British Army training contract. Somebody came into the Observer/Controller area of the site, and said something about planes flying into buildings. We went to the rental cars and heard the news on the BBC in the parking lot.

As I recall, we quit early, and left for our hotel. We passed by a lot of very serious looking guys mounted up on Warrior IFVs, toting SA80s. They were oriented outward.

We ate dinner in the attached pub as we watched the news feed. It was very quiet.

Most every one came up and shook our hands in shocked disbelief. Later we heard Tony Blair's reaction. Brits can be cold fish sometimes but I tell ya, they are good people when the chips are down.

I'm not a violent person, but if I'da had a chance to shoot those f'ers that did this, I would not have hesitated.

[Drang]

I'd been retired from the army for just over a year. She took her birthday off, we went for birthday dinner at our favorite restaurant in Seattle, Palisades.
I was getting ready for work -- I was working as an office temp at Boeing -- and watched the footage of the first tower falling. I decided to let her sleep in...
On the 12th during my first coffee break I called USAREC and volunteered to unretire, but for some reason Big Army didn't feel Korean linguists would be much help, so I got another piece of paper to throw in the box of stuff some guys would be displaying on their wall. <shrug>

[JM Campbell]

As well as my sisters.

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[Drang]

She gets about as mad who make a big deal about "How horrible!" it is as she does thinking about the shitbags who did it.

[Lyonsgrid]

I'd been a Marine for only 4 months and was was awaiting my AMC flight to Okinawa. We gathered around the news in silence. The moment the 2nd plane hit WTC 2, we all looked at each other and instantly knew our world was forever changed.

It still stings...worse this year for some reason. I've felt a lot of anger today, and I'm damn fine with it.
NFNF

[Andy in NH]

I was relaxing on the couch at home with my feet propped up watching the History Channel.

It was the last day of my two-week leave period.

My MIL called to let us know about the first plane hit.

After the second plane hit, I went to school to bring my son home. I was not sure what was up, but I knew it was not good and I wanted everyone to be together.

Nine days later I was aboard the USS Shreveport (LPD-12) sailing east across the Atlantic Ocean.

Just after Thanksgiving, I landed in a C-17 at FOB Rhino in Afghanistan.

Sept 11th is also my mom's birthday.

[SLG]

I was off duty that morning and my girlfriend called to wake me up and tell me to turn the news on, in time to see the second plane hit. I raced down to the Trade Center just in time to run away from the 1st building falling down. Worked 7 days a week, 20 hours a day for the next 6 months.

3 tours in Afghanistan and 1 in Iraq and I still get violently mad whenever I see or hear anything about that day.

[KeeFus]

Working dayshift. Went to 911 center to watch the buildings fall. Shortly thereafter we began to receive calls about local stores being vandalized by folks who were pissed off with the owners who were of Arab middle eastern descent. That went on for sporadically for a few days then dwindled down.

I still feel a lot of hate.

[breakingtime91]

I was in fourth grade when the towers fell. I remember my grandmother picking me up from school and us walking back to my mothers house. When we got there she sat me on the couch and asked me if I wanted to see what was happening to our great country. I said yes and I sat for the next twelve hours watching the news with my family. I remember feeling such grief and hatred towards the people that did it to us that I decided that day I would serve in the military. I joined the USMC as a infantryman when I was 17 (graduated early from highschool) and was in Afghanistan by the time I was 19 (2010 "the surge"). I spent the majority of 2011 and 2012 in Afghanistan also. As I type this, I still feel like I haven't done enough to defend our country but I guess that is the struggle.

To the lost and the First Marine Division.

[SeriousStudent]

Thank you for your service.

"Make peace or die" is not just a battalion motto.

[Kyle Reese]

Had just gotten off of mids at Ft.Hood and had gotten back to my unit. We heard in the duty van on the way back that one plane had hit the WTC. Initially, we thought it might have been an accident, but when we got word that the second plane hit, it became clear that this was an orchestrated terrorist attack. In the next 36 hours Ft.Hood would transition from an open to a closed post, and many of us would be deployed quickly in support of the GWOT.

As the years passed, I've lost friends in the GWOT and myself spent 4.5 years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a nation, it felt like we were united, and I think we've lost that unity as time passed.

It seems like yesterday, and I can tell you that no matter how much time passes, I'll never forget how I felt that day, and in the weeks afterwards.

[SGT_Calle]

I was a young Soldier in the Army Band in Japan (Camp Zama) when the attacks happened. It was evening there. We got calls that night to bring everything (TA-50) to work in the AM. The next morning we had half of our folks on Blackhawks headed south to guard ammunition depots while the rest figured out how to supplement the small MP company guarding our installation and housing areas.
Five years later I was in Afghanistan, then Iraq with 10th MTN supporting the war fighters with music, trying to bring some normality to those crappy places.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/12/eb3354fd7cab4a3a3fa07065c694edb8.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/12/681e21940438802c45fcbd43387222cd.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/12/4fec13fb15e3f97f260762f8de21b3b6.jpg


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[will_1400]

I was in my 8th grade English class. Like most, I thought the whole thing was an accident until I watched on TV as the second plane hit. Thinking about it even now still causes my anger to boil. That day, I swore I'd serve at least one term of service in the military so I could not only protect the country, but also help hunt down those who would dare commit such vile acts. I'll be 5 years in the Air Force as of 23 Nov and I'm already a sergeant so I figure I'll serve my twenty years and see where it leads me.

[Chance]

I was a junior in high school, and was walking towards my computer technology class when I heard a student giddily explain a plane had hit the World Trade Center. A few years earlier, a smaller plane, like a Cessna 150, had intentionally crashed into the Empire State Building, killing no one other than the suicidal pilot, so I shrugged it off and thought nothing of it. When I got to class, our old TV had a fuzzy reception of ABC news, which had live coverage with Peter Jennings, and the entire class sat there and watched them fall.

Tried four times to join the service. First the Air Force out of high school, and a medical condition washed me out after MEPS, but before I shipped. Then again twice with the Navy nuclear program while I was an undergrad, and the same problem. Then again with the Air Force after I finished my Masters, same problem. It's my greatest regret.

The documentary 9/11 (http://www.amazon.com/9-11-Filmmakers-Commemorative-DVD/dp/B00I55B5RO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442163755&sr=8-1&keywords=9%2F11), which was made by the two French film makers following an FDNY rookie around that day, is available on Amazon Instant, and on DVD. If you've never seen it, it is utterly stunning, and brings me to tears just thinking about it.

Ari Fleischer was with Bush that entire day. Beginning last year, he goes to Twitter and tweets (https://twitter.com/AriFleischer)about the events that happened, in real time to the actual day. It's a fascinating glimpse into history, and highly recommended reading.

In the confusion and shock after what happened, pretty much the entire country shut down for a while. I'm not a huge fan of The Onion, but to this day, I remember the first thing they published about the attacks (http://www.theonion.com/article/us-vows-to-defeat-whoever-it-is-were-at-war-with-219):


Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the war against terrorism will be different from any previous model of modern warfare.

"We were lucky enough at Pearl Harbor to be the victim of a craven sneak attack from an aggressor with the decency to attack military targets, use their own damn planes, and clearly mark those planes with their national insignia so that we knew who they were," Rumsfeld said. "Since the 21st-century breed of coward is not affording us any such luxury, we are forced to fritter away time searching hither and yon for him in the manner of a global easter-egg hunt."

"America is up to that challenge," Rumsfeld added.

Still makes me laugh.


Today is Mrs. Drang's birthday. Planning gets...awkward.

Yeah, mine's September 13th, so I can relate.

[StraitR]

I had just recently gotten out of the reserves four months earlier, six years total active (Navy) and reserve (Army), and moved back home after divorcing my military standard issue wife. I was living with some childhood friends and sleeping off a bender when my grandmother called and told me to get up and turn on the TV. It was minutes after the first plane hit. I was glued to the TV for weeks, much like Desert Storm as a kid.

In November I started the process to re-enlist. I had an RE-1 and got a prior service waiver from the Marines and in December made the trip to Indianapolis MEPS. Being the honest guy I am, when questioned about any medical issues, I told them I had an upper respiratory infection and went to the doc earlier in the year. It's like red lights and sirens went off and I was dropped through a hatch in the floor. I had to request the paperwork from the Doc, send it in, and start over. I had the paperwork faxed before I even go home. Submitted the next day, and three weeks later received a letter from a Navy Captain in Louisville (I think), saying that I was permanently disqualified from service due to asthma. Whiskey Tango Fox. My recruiter was a total blue falcon and had no desire to help me fight it.

NFNF

[Chance]

19866

I have students in college right now who have no first-hand recollection of 11-Sep, and the attacks are just an entry in a history book. That is somehow deeply troubling.

[Lon]

This week I'm taking the FEMA ICS (Incident Command System) 300 and 400 classes. We had a moment of silence this morning to remember those that died that fateful day. Not surprising that a lot of examples today referenced NYPD/FDNY and their response.

[CS Tactical]

I was off duty that morning and my girlfriend called to wake me up and tell me to turn the news on, in time to see the second plane hit. I raced down to the Trade Center just in time to run away from the 1st building falling down. Worked 7 days a week, 20 hours a day for the next 6 months.

3 tours in Afghanistan and 1 in Iraq and I still get violently mad whenever I see or hear anything about that day.


Thank you and those who served for your service.

[Rex G]

My wife and I were in the front yard, topping-up the solid waste containers, as we were prepping for a move, when my neighbor stepped outside and asked me if I had heard about airplanes hitting two buildings in NYC. Instantly, without a second's denial, I knew it was terrorists. (There was a discussion, in my high school history class, in the Seventies, about terrorists doing this very thing.) I called the day shift sergeant (Houston PD Central Patrol) to see if we were being called-in. We were not called-in that day, but by the next day, the Twelfth, I worked a double shift, and was posted outside the Israeli Consulate, which I remember vividly.

No time to type more; I may re-visit this topic and post more.

[RJ]

No words. Geez this day chokes me up.

I was on an assignment in Warminster UK with my company.

We went out, dumbfounded, to our rental cars to listen to the news unfold. As our facility was near the base gate, we saw a number of very serious guys packing SA80s and mounted up on Warrior IFVs. I'm sure the RARDEN cannons were loaded with hot 30mm rounds. They certainly were pointed out.

We drove slowly back to the Pub and ate in silence watching the BBC news feed as the towers fell.

Never forget.

Never forgive.

[Joe in PNG]

I was in Madang, PNG. That morning we were supposed to get together for an orientation. When I got there, they were playing footage of the second plane hitting on the TV.
Agreed- it was shocking and sobering.

[Cory]

I was in 4th grade. They told us something bad had happened and that they thought we we're old enough to understand. I watched the 2nd tower fall live. As the news continued to play we talked about how we as a nation should respond. I heard the word retaliation for the first time. Even in my child's mind it was simple: when someone hits you, you hit them back harder and don't stop until the fight is over. My Dad taught me that if i dealt with a school bully. We as America needed to hit back, and teach people not to mess with us. Looking back, i lost alot of innocents that day.

I joined the National Guard at 17, turned 18 in basic training, 19 in Kuwait on my way to Iraq. I spent about a year deployed to Ramadi from 2010-2011 as an MP. I got home and went to college while serving in the Guard. I got out after my 6 years ao I can focus on family. I frequently feel like I didnt do enough, with only 1 tour and national guard service.

At the same time, the world changed on 9/11/01. The war will always be there, the anger will always be there, and to an extent the soldier in me will always be there. Getting out of the service really showed me how much 9/11 changed me at a young age. Because we've been at war ever since, i had to step back and realize that to really get past it means to not get consumed by the hate and let that be my life. Keep that hate, but dont be defined by it. As much as it effected some 4th grade kid from Upstate NY my heart goes out to the FDNY and NYPD responders. Thank you for helping my countrymen. For picking up the peices when it had to be done, and i was to young to do it. You must have known the world was changed that day. I only knew something bad had happened and that we we're in a fight together. You held that burden the heaviest, and I hope that living my life to the fullest helps us as a country bounce back.

I will never forget. And if you remember at all you could never forgive. I know I never will.

-Cory

[Bobcat]

I took my wife and daughter to visit Ground Zero about six weeks after the attacks.
We were able to get to the sidewalk next to the fence that was built around the site; there were still many many pictures posted on that fence.
They were still spraying water on the pile.
The one thing I will never forget was the smell.

[SeriousStudent]

"Never forget those who died. Never forgive those who killed them."

- Pat Rogers Retired NYPD Detective, Retired Marine Chief Warrant Officer.

[AMC]

I woke up to my neighbor banging on my front door. A former Marine, he stood there in his boxers and told me what had happened in New York and DC. I looked at him and said, "Mike....my wife is in DC." She was working for the Federal Government at the time and was there for a conference. Turns out they were a mile from the Pentagon and heard the blast. But I couldn't get ahold of her until late that night. And I had to go into work to do a patrol shift 1600-0200. Long day til I heard from her, with the crazy stories about additional explosions in DC on the news.
At work, I was surprised that they had not called in extra cops, and had in fact sent home those who had come in on days off out of a sense of duty, with a stern warning not to do that again. Of course, all the public believed we were all working extra shifts with no days off. When I tried to tell them the truth, they wouldn't believe it. But the public we're grateful and supportive of us then. One of my academy classmates was saying that she thought the public finally understood our job, and would forever support us. I said " No. They're just afraid now. When they stop being afraid, they'll be back to resenting us." It took six months, maybe a year.

[psalms144.1]

I was at FLETC, going through Firearms Instructor Training Program. We were shooting revolver quals that day (yes, we still had to learn revolvers back in the day!). During our qual, the tower announced that a plane had hit the WTC. Being a native NYer, I assumed it was some jackass in a light plane trying a stunt who miscalculated. At the end of the qual, we were on break, and I went into the lobby to check the news. I saw the size of the flame and my heart sank. About 10 seconds later, the second plane augered in.

At the time I was assigned to a DOD deployable antiterrorism team. I walked outside, got to a patch of cell service, and called back to the base. All I asked my Boss when he answered was where are we going, and when do we leave. The FLETC staff were great. Everything was shut down for the day, but the next day myself and two other agents were pulled in and asked when we needed to leave. The staff then "streamlined" FITP to make sure we completed all the mandatory training before we had to head back to base for our deployment.

My wife was visiting family in Houston at the time, and was in a high hover over not being able to reach me. When I could finally get through to her, on the hotel land line, she was a basket case. But, she was there for me, like always, in the 72 hours I had at home before I went back out the door - with orders for OPERATION INFINITE JUSTICE. The first and only time I've received orders when the end date was listed as "Cessation of Hostilities..." About a week later I was at a forward base supporting a JSOTF deploying into Afghanistan.

To this day, I can't think about 9/11 without tearing up. I remember watching the opening of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, and when they brought in the flag from Ground Zero, everyone in the room was balling like school girls. Some things never leave you...

[ACP230]

I was on the computer on subguns.com.
Someone posted "Turn on the TV, a plane flew into the WTC."
The second plane hit a couple minutes after we turned the TV on.
It was on for most of the day. Next post on subguns, "We are at war!"

My plans that day included going to the range and then doing some
trout fishing on the way home. I didn't do either. Just watched the
coverage on the TV.

I was enraged for weeks, and that feeling is still under the ones that
have come along since. This year it has come back stronger than
usual. I saw more of the original footage of the attacks on FOX than
I remember from other years. VP Pence's speech at Shanksville
was also a factor.

[Totem Polar]

9/11 happened during my first full week ever of teaching at the university level, as the west coast was waking up to the news back east. I shephered a group of freshmen—and others—I hardly knew out of class and to the student union so they could follow the news with their peers.

Today, I still teach the same classes; hard to believe that the freshmen now were toddlers then. Except for one lady who did running start: she was either embryonic, or her little eyes had not yet gelled up enough to see the tv screens...

Either way, this is why reminders and monuments are so important. In a few short years, this will no longer be living history to the majority of the students in our higher ed system.

[ranger]

I was at work in Savannah at my engineering office - we watched the news at work. I had just come out of BN Command of a Mechanized Infantry BN (BFV) in the GAARNG to attend the Army War College and was cursing myself because I just knew my unit would mobilize without me. We did mobilize but in 2004 and I did go to OIF and get a chance to put many years of training to use. The ARNG was never the same as we mobilized units and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan constantly since 9/11. Anyone who volunteered to serve since 9/11 knew what they were getting into.

[texasaggie2005]

Never Forget.

I was getting ready for my morning class when an Senior called all of us freshman into his room "to watch history happen live on TV". I walked in just in time to see the 2nd plane hit live on TV. Freshmen weren't allowed a TV in our room, so I sat in his room all day silently watching the news with about 30 other freshmen. For the next few weeks, the Corps of Cadets was awash with rumors of forced enlistment, call ups, etc. Especially for those of us attending with a ROTC scholarship and signed commitments.

(Quoting my own picture, cuz it's awesome. And I'm still a little pissed I didn't buy a blue shirt, as I was wearing my khaki uniform on the 1st deck.)



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Red_white_and_blue_out.jpg