Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: MillCreek on September 11, 2020, 08:54:23 AM
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When some people did something.
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I'll begin with my experience.
I was at work in the DC area in a small business, working away until one of the neighbors poked his head in and said "They just hit the Pentagon."
My coworker (we were the only two in the office) and I had no idea what he was talking about. We found a radio and listened to the news. I sent a message to my parents to let them know (so they could also tell anyone else) that although I lived in DC area, I was nowhere near the Pentagon.
I watched the images later that night and later on found that people I knew who worked in the pentagon were alright, but were close enough see the fires from the inside as they evacuated.
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I remember driving into work this day 19 years ago. Before leaving I'd checked some news and saw something about a plane hitting the WTC. No details so I figured it was probably someone in a private plane that screwed up. I usually keep the car radio off, but for some reason turned it on that morning. First thing I heard was them talking about the FAA "sanitizing the air space" and wondering what the hell happened. Figured there must have been a hijacking or something. Got into work, and found out the full details of the 9/11 attacks.
Never forget. I certainly won't.
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I had just finished ASTC school at Lemoore NAS. After a long period of no downtime, I flew to Hawaii for a dive vacation on the 9th. On the 11th, my girlfriend at the time, who lived in DC, called me at zero dark thirty HI time and told me to turn on the TV.
It was surreal to me just because with Hawaii being so far from the mainland made it feel like I was watching something happening in another country. There really wasn't much change from business as usual in Hawaii. The dive outfit still went out that day, and everyone went on with their business. Almost like when you read about "3000 people die in an Indonesian earthquake". You recognize it, but it doesn't really affect you.
The one thing I will always remember is the quite from the flight restrictions. Hawaii has a constant background noise of aircraft flying into the various islands. You don't notice it until it's not there. The quite of no planes in the sky for the rest of my leave, other than a couple of military aircraft, was simply eerie.
Air travel opened up one day before my scheduled departure. The other thing I remember thinking about was what if I was stranded in Hawaii? The air restrictions could easily have gone on for longer, or the attacks could have been even worse or more widespread, and I would have been across an ocean from home (versus being stuck 1000 miles from home on the mainland, where alternate transport or even, worst case, walking might be options). It might have been something my credit card could have solved and just turned into a longer vacation, or infrastructure could have gone down and I would have been stuck with whatever I brought with me in my duffel bag. It definitely made me rethink my SHTF scenario for all future trips.
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I was a prosecutor. At court for the morning docket. Head of security told me that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. We both figured a sight seeing plane. Went back to the office and tried to get online for news. Couldn't get on CNN, NBC, ABC. Volume of traffic was too high. Finally got on NBC, and saw it was a jet liner. Went to the meeting room with some others, where there was a TV with cable. Got the TV on just in time to see the second plane hit. Emergency Management called a meeting. They announced the hit on the Pentagon. Said they had info that ground based attacks were likely to follow, with attacks on .gov buildings. Said if you carry a badge, arm up. Sheriff's Office put deputies with rifles in the lobby, sniper team on the roof.
19 years later, and I recall it like it was yesterday.
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I was just getting started at work. Another guy came in saying a plane hit the world trade center. We were also thinking a small plane. We tried to get news on my clock radio, but then went to the conference room. We had one of those TV/VCR's and were able to get the local news on the antenna. Right after we got it working the footage came up showing the 2nd plane hitting. More and more people came in to see what was happening. Then the towers started collapsing and we realized how many people were still in the buildings
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Was at work when someone came in and said a plane had hit a tower in NYC. We all went to the conference room and watched news coverage on TV - I remember saying a B-25 had hit the Empire State Building years ago, but that was under bad weather conditions.
Then we saw the second plane hit live and I said "Uh oh - we're at war. Wonder which Moslem country or group is behind that." Our resident liberal took issue with that, and even when I was proven right, she still thought it was wrong of me to be right so fast. :facepalm:
We all pretty much stayed by the TV the rest of the day as news of the Pentagon and the 4th plane trickled in.
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I was at work. No television in the building but someone got the word after the second tower was hit. I called home and told my then-wife to turn on the television and watch the news. She asked what station. I said, "It doesn't matter."
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I was at work, when my secretary called me and told me to come out to her desk to see what was happening on her little B&W TV.
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When they told us to go home, I didn't have far to go. My brother was in New Mexico and drove straight home from there in his rental car.
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I was getting the kids ready for school and we turned on the TV after the first plane strike. We were watching live coverage when the second plane hit. I turned to the kids and told them we were at war.
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I was off work that week with a banged up leg ( maybe a more common theme in my life than I care to acknowledge :) ). The wife was at work and the boy child was off to school, daughter was away at college (OSU). I was eating breakfast and watching Fox News when they broke in with coverage of the first plane. I was watching live when the second plane hit and there was good enough video to tell it was a large airliner. Obviously a SHTF situation.
I called the wife at work and made sure she knew what was going on.
Spent most of the day watching TV. I did function check and load a couple of firearms "just in case".
What has stuck with me most from the next couple of weeks was the incredibly stupid level of "security theater" that was put in place.
The following week I had a telephone system service call at the Federal Courthouse in Tulsa. I'd done enough work there to have a "hi, hows it going" relationship with the guards, they knew me well enough to know who I was and what business I had there. Of course they had put in metal detectors and bag checks. They wouldn't let me take any sharp tools or big screw drivers in.
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First period history class, Jr year. Then they just cancelled classes for the morning and wheeled in the TV carts. It was surreal.
*redacted* Changed my mind.
Memento Mori.
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I was running late for work (by arrangement) and had the TV on, but no sound. I noticed some images of a building burning out of the corner of my eye. I figured vaguely it was a commercial for a disaster movie. I put my pack on, ready to leave and when I bent to turn the TV off, I realized that image was still on the screen, and it must be one heck of a long commercial. I turned up the sound and heard the commentary and realized it was reality.
I watched as the second one was hit and until both buildings had collapsed.
Had the car radio on as I drove in and about halfway in I heard about the Pentagon and government closures, turned around and went home. Called the office and no answers from anyone. Even the pre-recorded office weather line said all employees are expected at their regular time. Turned out half had left, the others were watching TV reports in the conference room.
Yeah, I too holstered up and quite unnecessarily called my sons to make sure they were armed.
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Originally written on 9/11/05:
I was attending a meeting in midtown Manhattan at 44th and 5th Avenue. Just before going into the meeting, I saw a TV news report that a plane had crashed into the WTC. However, I only glanced at the screen and it was difficult to get any perspective regarding the size of plane. While I informed everyone, we went ahead with the meeting. A short time later, someone arrived at the meeting late and said that he had just seen the second plane fly into the 2nd tower. At that time, we realized that the US was under attack. Finally, someone received a call on his cell phone and announced that the first tower had collapsed and that the Pentagon had also been hit. We suspended the meeting and tried to contact our families to let them know we were okay. By then, it was difficult to get a call out. We all went back to our rooms and watched TV -- it was truly horrible to realize that so many people were dead and dying just 3-4 miles away. I went outside once to see which way the wind was blowing -- I was concerned that there might be a chemical element to the attack. (In hindsight, that wasn't very smart.) I ended up catching a train from Penn Station the next afternoon to return to my home in Virginia. I was quite worried about a follow-on attack at Penn Station, but there didn't seem to be any other way to get out. On the train out of NYC, there was still a lot of smoke rising from ground zero. It was a sobering sight that I will never forget.
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I worked a half day basically.
Watched the second tower get hit while at the office and then ran a couple service calls.
I was in a supply house up by Ohare later in the afternoon and had the pleasure of the whole building being shook by fighter jets bugging out after escorting a jetliner to the airport.
Back then I was doing a lot of fishing and my buddy and I were shocked at how quiet the skies were afterward.
In Chicagoland it's hard to not be under a flightpath so you always have a background noise of jets while outside. Even when you get pretty far out in the western burbs.
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It STILL upsets me GREATLY...