Five Years Ago Today

[dajarrel]

Still makes my blood boil.

Do You Remember?

[Liota]

Had to go around thanking every Air Force Cop I saw today. Five years ago today, I got to be a cop for two months. It, quite frankly, sucked. I appreciate the hell out of what those guys do.

The whole thing still pisses me off. It's solidified into solid resolve now. I've been lucky. I haven't lost any close friends yet. Nearly lost one. Quite a few in harm's way.

Liota

Edited September 11, 2006 by Liota

[Nemo]

NEVER FORGET!

[tightloop]

Yes, I have not yet gotten over being mad about it...

[ima45dv8]

Damn right, I remember.

But where did all the flags go?

[Gameplayer]

I remember. I'll never forget.

[Ferrell Spicer]

My 9 year old made me very proud this morning. He was getting dressed for school and came down stairs with a plain white tee shirt and asked his mother to please write "I remember 9/11!" on the front and "Do you?" on the back.

Damn right I remember!!!

PS - brand new flag went up this morning.

[XRe]

I was in the air, flying between Austin and Atlanta (where were supposed to connect Orlando, to go on vacation...). It happened 2 days before my 30th birthday. We were encouraged to get out of the airport and stay w/ family in Atlanta - instead, we managed to rent a car and drove into Orlando from there. There was no way I was going to let some pissant terrorist ruin my damn vacation - that's exactly the sort of thing they wanted in the first place. We were headed to Disney for the week. I can tell you for certain that that was the most surreal vacation experience I've ever been on....

[Nik Habicht]

I woke up to my work pager going off with multiple text messages, exhorting us to check in with the office regularly, as phones and cell service were erratic at best. I got sent to the local train station in Princeton Junction, N.J., about sixty miles south of NYC, to photograph people returning from the city and the people waiting for them.

I remember stunned people in dust covered clothes and shoes getting off the train, the strained looks on the faces of the people waiting for them, the exhileration of the reunions, and the frustration of watching another train pull out after not discharging a loved one.......

I remember assembling the database of pictures of the missing, and later the dead, during the months that followed, processing the images of the funerals, and the memorial services.

I remember consoling friends and colleagues who'd lost loved ones --- and thanking God that my family and friends were safe.

I will always remember these things.....

[SiG Lady]

Now, even though it's a small town (sorta) up here, we do have an airport capable of accommodating Air Force One, so we have national commercial flights, military training exercises, local flights, regional commerical flights and lots of local people with their small aircraft and their corporate jets. So it's busy all the time. When they shut down the airport for the week of 9/11 you could hear a pin drop here locally it was so quiet. Only the occasional pair of military jets about once or twice a day passed over us. It was eerie to say the least. Deathly quiet. We often become numb to noise pollution... including small-to-medium sized airport traffic.

[warpspeed]

I know I'll never forget.

I was in Tucson, AZ on business and woke up to find out.

flight home was cancelled so I told the rent-a-car company their car was going back to Los Angels International Airport.

A very sureal experience returning it to an empty airport.

[Trisha Lowry]

I was in Ft Lauderdale, FL at a business conference with another gentleman from our office. Both of us are single parents and when we saw what was happening and realized they had already shut down the airports in FL we rented a car and drove straight through back to Phx......I just wanted my arms around my boys at that point.

[iainmcphersn]

My little boy turned 5 yesterday.

I heard about it on the radio. I was headed back to the hospital after getting a few things from the house. My wife had already seen it on the news and we spent the day watching the news. Me worrying that a newborn section of a hospital might be a target but not wanting my wife to think this and worry more.

[JFlowers]

I was in Atlanta, GA at a client. The client happened to be one of the larger corporate travel agencies. The day was chaotic as they tried to determine how many employees they had in offices in the towers and what tickets they had booked onto the flights. I had a rental car and since no cars were available in Atlanta, the client wanted to appropriate mine to get their HR people back to Falls Church and NYC. I was willing, but suprisingly Enterprise wasn't.

[txaggie]

I had slept in that day and was running late for work. Listening to the radio while getting ready, they talked about a plane hitting the tower. Turned on CNN to get the live feed, of course had the mispleasure of seeing the other plane hit as well. Went on to work, but all we did was watch the internet for news.

Interesting note today though, I am just about the only one wearing any type of remembrance, I even had to show our facilities department President Bush's proclamation of Patriot Day to get them to lower the flags to half staff.

[iainmcphersn]

but all we did was watch the internet for news.

I remember that you could not get onto a mainstream news site due to number of page requests. I ended up reading slashdot.org for updates.

[BrianH]

I work with a kid that, I already knew went into the Navy out of high school, but today told me he was in the Persian Gulf on the USS John Paul Jones 5 years ago today. He had a very interesting story to tell.

[EricW]

I will never forget. I was in El Paso visiting a customer. One of my co-workers called me in my hotel room and told me to turn on the TV because a plane just hit the WTC. I immediately formed an image in my mind of a single-engine Cessna hitting the tower and thinking "ho-hum" another little airplane disassembles itself on a big building.

Then I saw the airliner. And thought...that SOB Bin Laden bought planes out of the boneyard and used them for missles. Then I found out they were carrying passengers.

Since the entire internet was down because of the high traffic, which mean we couldn't do our work, I cut the trip short and drove to PHX Wednesday and was on one the very first flights the FAA allowed to fly. I was never so happy to be home.

[kimel]

My clock radio was on NPR and when it went off at 0600 (pacific) the first news story was "a report of a plane hitting the WTC". We flipped the TV in the bedroom over to CNN. I was fully expecting, like EricW, to see a little Cessna 175 stuck into a window with a very upset student pilot.

Once I saw the damage I realized immediately what was happening...just in time to see the 2nd plane.

I had taken that week off from work and so was at home with nothing to do but stay transfixed on CNN. Finally that afternoon I could take it no longer and went out to my workshop and built a new flagpole. That flag flew every day for a long time.

Every time I run the flag up that pole I remember. I remember the perfect blue sky. I remember feeling totally helpless. I remember a week without the sound of airplanes or the sight of contrails.

Mostly though, I remember all those who died. The innocent I remember with sadness. The guilty I remember a whole other way.

The flags are up here in my town. We remember.

[Topmaul]

I was in the Atlanta Airport retuning from a business trip, we were about to board my conecting flight home when the first plane hit.

My partner and I left the air port and rented a U-Haul truck and drove home. At that time it was hard to find a rental car if you know what I mean?

Just so you guys know I took the opertunity of the DC sniper to take my family to the Smithsonian Air and Space muesum, it was diserted when we got there I all landed a room at the Embassy Suit for cheap too, pays to have a pair.

Edited September 12, 2006 by Topmaul

[ParaJoe]

I was sitting in my shop aboard the USS Enterprise in the gulf. On our way home heading to Cape Town South Africa. On my first anniversery away from home. We turned around.

Joe

[Hank Ellis]

I was off work and slept in that morning. Wife went off to her job. I heard the cell phone go off but ignored it as the sleep was too good. I was awakened by her shaking me and telling me that "We're at war!". She had drove home to tell me the news. I stumbled to the tube and turned to CNN. Before she went back to work an hour or so later I told her, "Our lives have just changed."

The next morning I woke up to an empty sky. (Enter Bruce Springsteen song) Sat in the front yard and marveled at how quiet it was. Wondered how it was going to affect my career in aviation. Just wondered in general.

Getting to work that Thursday it was a madhouse. A few flights were authorized but the hoops to get it done and the hours to get authorization were nuts. A month or so later much was back to normal flight time wise but we and our customers screened the passengers and cargo much more closely.

Several of my co-workers have served and all have returned safely.

Slow day at work today. There was a choice of two conversations around the coffee pot. 9/11 or Katrina/Rita. Or both.

Remember 9/11? How can you forget.

Edited September 12, 2006 by Hank Ellis

[smokshwn]

I remember checking email and seeing the headline about a plane and the WTC. I was thinking "dumbshit private pilots" when my pager went off. Out department has one of the 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams, we had just been rung up to "alert status". We were in a group of four teams that were first up in rotation for the third quarter of 01.

I remember checking my bag making sure I was packed and had my gear in order.

I remember getting the next page and seeing that we were being deployed.

I remember heading to our logistics center and working our asses off with 4 Air Force guys (they were absolute studs) to get our 80k pounds of equipment loaded on pallets that would roll into a C 141. Those four young men did the impossible: direct 54 rowdy ass firemen to load $2 million dollars worth of gear the right way. We made our 4 hour deployment window.

I remember having only the time to give loved ones a hug and kiss before we headed out to Hill Air Force Base to get loaded up and fly to NY.

I remember arriving at the Javitz Center in NY and being overwhelmed at the sight of literally thousands of sheets of paper attached to every available surface with descriptions and pictures of loved ones who were missing.

I remember twelve days which contained some of the hardest work and the most incredible experiences of my life.

I will remember these things everyday.

Edited September 12, 2006 by smokshwn