Where were you on Sept. 11, 2001?

Poulsonator

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2002
1,597
0
76
Walking into work, on the phone with a buddy, who was telling me about the first plane.
 

SaurusX

Senior member
Nov 13, 2012
993
0
41
In college at the time. I woke up and turned on Scifi channel as usual and watched an episode of Manimal (which I'd seen before). Walked to class and by then both towers were already down.
 
Dec 10, 2005
29,317
14,768
136
In school. No idea anything had happened till the mid-afternoon, when my mom stopped in to tell me what happened and that my dad was okay (he worked in the World Financial Center, which was across the street, at the time, and up until the 1992 or so, he actually worked on the 101st floor of one of the towers). I didn't quite get it until I got home and saw the news.
 

Proprioceptive

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2006
1,630
10
81
Woke up for school living in Saipan. Grandmother said a plane had hit the WTC... I figured a prop plane pilot fell asleep or something... then we turned the TV on and 5 minutes later the second plane hits... very surreal that morning.

(News was on a time delay so we didn't see it in real time.)
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
688
126
I worked for Compaq in internal IT. I remember hearing people in the cubes outside of my office stating that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center and then a few minutes later, the other plane hit and it was clear what happened. They turned on the projector in our big conference room and showed the new coverage. It was an awful, awful day.
 

jman19

Lifer
Nov 3, 2000
11,225
664
126
In college. Woke up, heard there was a fire in the WTC from an "accident". Went to my physics recitation - about 30 min in to it we were all told to go back to our dorms. Tried calling my parents (who live in Manhattan) but couldn't get through. Woke up one of my friends who was also from NYC to let him know what happened. He thought I was joking until he turned on the TV. Turns out his aunt worked in one of the towers but thankfully was not at work that day. Two girls in my hall who were from NY were crying hysterically.

Will never forget that day.
 

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
Day off. I slept in and woke up right after the first tower fell. I seriously thought I was dreaming.
 

Thebobo

Lifer
Jun 19, 2006
18,574
7,672
136
I was at the Voice of America building down on the mall in DC in the Building managers office and he had the TV on as I walked in. He was watching the news of the first plane and we stayed and watched untill the second plane hit and then all hell broke loose in DC.
 

Pardus

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2000
8,197
21
81
Was home watching it and remember how the news reporters didn't think this was real or live at first.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
5,228
136
Had just moved from FL back to GA, was watching TV that morning, taking a break from working/trying to resurrect my Dad's old BMW motorcycle. Saw the towers attack live on ABC. Still cannot erase those images.
 

LookBehindYou

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 2010
2,412
1
81
In the Air Force, was at home watching it happen. I was down from duty with a sprained ankle, immediately wrapped it up, went to the clinic and got cleared for duty. Within an hour of being brought back up, I was armed and on my way to patrol the missile field for countless hours afterwards. I think I came home four days later long enough to do laundry and went right back out for another 5 or 6 days. As soon as we were in Afghanistan I was tasked with a deployment to go there, we cancelled at the last minute (bags packed, already processed through the mobility line) because it would have been too difficult to backfill us with guard and reserve because of the nuke mission.

Fun times.
 

sixone

Lifer
May 3, 2004
25,030
5
61
Getting in the shower, heard on NPR about the first plane. When they reported the second plane, I flipped on the TV. News people were going nuts.

Hard to believe it was real, so used to seeing movies and stuff on TV that's fake. But when I went outside and there were no planes in the sky at all...

That was also the day our new combine was delivered. Was the most expensive thing I'd ever bought in my life.
 
Feb 10, 2000
30,029
67
91
I learned of the attacks on this very forum. At the time I was in the Air Force and stationed in Washington State, and was reading the forums before work. A couple of weeks later I was deployed to a classified location in the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Force.
 

Arcadio

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2007
5,637
24
81
I was getting ready to leave for school. Scientific Computing class at 10:00 am.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,576
126
At work. Didn't know until a late arriving employee gave me the news.

Quite a day.
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,256
406
126
At work. My friend came to pick me up for a college class shortly after as normal, and he said that my boss had said "We're going to war" after it happened.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
getting ready to go to class.

had just gotten back from the shower and turned on the news to listen to as I got dressed... this was just after the first plane hit, before we new the towers actually fell. I spent the morning just assuming we'd be able to see them once the smoke cleared.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,165
640
126
I was driving to work. Back then I listed to Stern on FM and he was talking about it. I wasn't quite sure what was happening until I got to work and turned on a TV. We were all in shock.