13 years

Where were you and what were you doing 13 years ago?

I was in the National Guard and taking classes at the time. The teacher wanted to keep teaching her class but I bailed and headed home to pack and get ready for whatever came next.

Sigh. Must we do this? We made it to almost 5PM Eastern.

I'm game:

13 years ago: I was graduating boot camp in the Navy. We were handed our tickets to fly out to our respective A-school locations, formed up in formation outside the building, and were informed of the news. I don't think anyone believed a word that came out of the RDC's mouth (9-weeks of threats, yelling, lies, tricks, and empty promises will do that to ya) but when we saw a TV in our barracks we figured something was going on. (Ever hear of TV in boot camp? me neither )

Now:
Working with the Air Force as a civilian contractor. Turning wrenches on aircraft mostly.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Sigh. Must we do this? We made it to almost 5PM Eastern.

This year has actually been weird... every american site, facebook, etc has been super quiet.

Does nobody care about it anymore?

If you forget the past, then you forget the past.

Thirteen years ago we were making magazines. I was a little late to the office (as usual) and got my first report that something was up via Stern.

I grew up in New York, and the Twin Towers were my compass. Okay, that way is downtown.

And a little PS. Why remember an awful event from a dozen-plus years ago? Good question. One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes is Deaths-Head Revisited. It's about an SS guard who returns to a concentration camp and is haunted by one of its inhabitants. Anyway, the episode ends with a monologue that has stuck with me for years:

"There is an answer to the doctor's question. All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes – all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers. Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in the Twilight Zone but wherever men walk God's Earth."

Hmmm. Well, I was waiting to go to Air Force basic training (I had signed up in June 2001 but was in the Delayed Enlistment Program). I remember my good friend, who I have known since I was 14, and had joined right after high school graduation, called me and I'll never forget what he said; "The E36 M3 has hit the fan". He was stationed at Fairchild AFB at that time. The base went into lockdown. I jumped out of bed and turned on the TV just as the second tower fell.

I was at my deployed location "over there" during the 10th anniversary. About 400 of us gathered at the base recreation area. The installation commander gave a speech and then we had a moment of silence. It was one of those immensely powerful moments where it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up and gives you goosebumps.

David S. Wallens wrote: If you forget the past, then you forget the past. Thirteen years ago we were making magazines. I was a little late to the office (as usual) and got my first report that something was up via Stern. I grew up in New York, and the Twin Towers were my compass. Okay, that way is downtown.

I also was listening to the play by play on Sterns' show driving around 275 in Cincinnati headed to northern Kentucky.

I remember stopping in the local convenience store chain on my way to the office and overhearing some folks saying they heard another bomb had gone off at the trade centers. I got to the office before the 2nd plane hit. My dad worked at the Pentagon. I remember cell traffic was insane, no way to get in touch with anyone, the internet news sites were overwhelmed and I actually got all my updates from a thread in the off topic section of corvetteforum.com

My wife and I had only started dating a few months before, I ended up leaving the office and driving to her house where she was sitting with the TV on but almost catatonic from shock.

We decided that day to get married, life is too short.

I was working at the hardware store when a customer came in and told us about the Trade Center. The owner turned on the radio and we were standing around listening. When the news said a plane had crashed into the Pentagon and there were more planes unaccounted for the owner said "We are closed, everybody out and go home."

Nick_Comstock wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: If you forget the past, then you forget the past. Thirteen years ago we were making magazines. I was a little late to the office (as usual) and got my first report that something was up via Stern. I grew up in New York, and the Twin Towers were my compass. Okay, that way is downtown.

I also was listening to the play by play on Sterns' show driving around 275 in Cincinnati headed to northern Kentucky.

I remember cnn.com crashing due to the traffic. Once they realized that something was amiss, the Stern crew went into total news mode--no goofs, no BS. They had people reporting from around the city.

Was woken up (West Coast) by my alarm clock right after the first plane hit and the DJs were talking about it. It was still assumed a tragic accident at the time. Jumped out of bed to turn on the news, just in time to see the second plane hit.

Couldn't shake the feeling of being helpless and vulnerable as an American. Were planes going to fall out of the sky everywhere? How many were highjacked? Do I go to work? Stay home a cower in the dark?

Decided to go to work and be with people I know and trust.

HiTempguy wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Sigh. Must we do this? We made it to almost 5PM Eastern.

This year has actually been weird... every american site, facebook, etc has been super quiet. Does nobody care about it anymore?

Making a big deal of it over a decade later implies we are terrorized by, well, terrorists. We should remember 3000 innocent people being killed in one morning, but not like this.

I'm still kinda peeved they built a memorial instead of just putting them back up stronger and continuing on more or less as if nothing had occurred. Acknowledging a bully who wants nothing more than to piss you off has never done anybody any good.

Kenny_McCormic wrote:

HiTempguy wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Sigh. Must we do this? We made it to almost 5PM Eastern.

This year has actually been weird... every american site, facebook, etc has been super quiet. Does nobody care about it anymore?

Making a big deal of it over a decade later implies we are terrorized. We should remember 3000 innocent people being killed in one morning, but not like this. I'm still kinda peeved they built a memorial instead of just putting them back up stronger and continuing on more or less as if nothing had occurred.

We remember our fallen in any war, this should be no different. To pretend nothing has happened and go on as if nothing has occurred is insulting to those who paid the ultimate price and folly for those who would quickly allow us to be vulnerable again.

I'm all for remembering what happened and never forgetting. But we here watch a lot of discovery channel and the like and all week it has been night after night. I want to remember but not relive it if that makes any sense

Kenny_McCormic wrote:

HiTempguy wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Sigh. Must we do this? We made it to almost 5PM Eastern.

This year has actually been weird... every american site, facebook, etc has been super quiet. Does nobody care about it anymore?

Making a big deal of it over a decade later implies we are terrorized by, well, terrorists. We should remember 3000 innocent people being killed in one morning, but not like this. I'm still kinda peeved they built a memorial instead of just putting them back up stronger and continuing on more or less as if nothing had occurred. Acknowledging a bully who wants nothing more than to piss you off has never done anybody any good.

this ….

a memorial could have been built anywhere … the twins should have been re-built … just my 2¢

First day of college classes.

Making a big deal of it over a decade later implies we are terrorized by, well, terrorists. We should remember 3000 innocent people being killed in one morning, but not like this.

Precisely. Remember it but move on. Have a stiff upper lip. We have already mourned our dead. We have been at war for the better part of the last two decades. We should be a little harder by now. Especially since our President in his speech last night just doubled down on an indefinitely long commitment for more of it. Terror organizations feed on sentimentality. berkeley them. They won't get any from me.

If only we had hardened up a little quicker maybe we could have stood our ground against fear and opportunistic political agenda snatching away half the Bill of Rights. So, remember ALL of it. Not just the dirty faces in the rubble, or the endless tolling of bells... remember that possibly our greatest loss that day came from legislation that followed.

EDIT Full disclosure: I have participated in this sort of whiney aggrandizing in the past... but now I'm berkeleying mad at our own sad predicament.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

All he asked was where you were. I think that's a fair question about the event that like it or not has had the biggest effect in our society in many of our life times...so far. It wasn't a political question, it wasn't a comment on terrorism or defense spending or foreign policy. It was simply a question of where you were. I still remember where I was when the Challenger exploded, like many old farts still remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated.

I don't often disagree with GPS, but when I do I think he's reading too much into a question.

In reply to Nick_Comstock: Exactly.

Middle school.

Nick_Comstock wrote: I don't often disagree with GPS, but when I do I think he's reading too much into a question.

Are you distancing yourself from me? I feel you pulling away!?

Oh. Right then. I was across the street from the ABE airport in an office planning some sort of project.

I have been listening to nostalgic drivel all day... I may have gone all DEFCON there. Sorry

I showed up for work and the TV was on. The TV was never on unless there was cycling on. Cycling was not on. Then the second plane hit. My service manager and I looked at each other. We both knew it was not an accident, but nothing needed to be said between us.

There was only silence. It was the calmest part of that day.

Junior in high school and was my 1st year at vocational school, was on my way up for morning break when the class clown came down saying NYC is being attacked, no one believed him, once we got up stairs to the cafeteria they put the radio on, in hearing all the insanity going on i went to find a TV.

Ended up in the "principals" area about 3 or so minutes before the 2nd plane hit and was just lost on what was going on, finished school and drove home and truly released the magnitude of what happened when EVERY station was playing some sort of live coverage of the events.

This is probably more then half of the reason I ended up joining the army TBH.

Nick_Comstock wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: If you forget the past, then you forget the past. Thirteen years ago we were making magazines. I was a little late to the office (as usual) and got my first report that something was up via Stern. I grew up in New York, and the Twin Towers were my compass. Okay, that way is downtown.

I also was listening to the play by play on Sterns' show driving around 275 in Cincinnati headed to northern Kentucky.

I also was listening to Stern.. while finishing up drawings for a client's summer house in RI. We were supposed to have a conference call that morning but her week suddenly became less about the summer home.

Client's son's fiancée happened to work for Cantor Fitzgerald in the north tower, and she perished that morning. The day moved in slow motion, except for my eleven month old son.