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Where were you?
I'm sure you remember.
If you were old enough on that day, you will never forget the exact moment you heard that an aircraft had flown into the World Trade Center. If, like me, you heard that news from someone, you immediately went to a television set to find out what was going on. If, like me, you arrived at a television set at the right time, you saw the World Trade Center with smoke issuing from the North Tower, with confused reports of what had just happened. If, like me, your timing was just right, you arrived in time to see a second aircraft fly into the undamaged South Tower of the World Trade Center.
No doubt, you spent a few long seconds wondering what had just happened. I know I did.
I headed to our facility's cafeteria when I had heard the first report of an aircraft hitting the World Trade Center, in time to see the second impact. A colleague and friend turned to me and asked what was going on, I told her, "We're at war."
One aircraft could have been an accident, two was a deliberate human action to make war upon the United States. As reports came in of an aircraft flying into the Pentagon, then another crashing into a field in western Pennsylvania, with definite reports that the latter aircraft incident was no accident, everything changed.
My son was a newly commissioned officer in the United States Navy, which gave me pause. It's one thing to wear the uniform and face the prospect of going to war, it's quite another to have your child facing that prospect. Unlike me, my son did go to war. It changed him.
Thousands of Americans (and many of our allies) went to war, many did not come home. We are still fighting that war and the prospect of it ever ending is highly unlikely. We have entered a new Thirty Years' War.
Things have changed, Pandora's box has been opened, there is no going back to "the way things were." We have experienced a sea change.
I remember.
I cannot, will not forget.
Ever.
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I had a 1100 AM flight from SAT to OKC planned. I was eating breakfast when a radio report came on about the first plane. I remember a B-25 hit the Empire State Building in 1946 or so. Could've been an accident... Then the second plane. I looked at my wife and said, "this is gonna be a long day." My wife adamantly asked me not to go to OKC. On the way to SA, heading down hill right before 1604, I heard about the Pentagon. I made it to the office and watched the buildings collapse. No flight today, so back to the house to comfort my wife and kids, to take stock.
ReplyDeleteNext day, I drove to OKC. Went to the Bombing Memorial, it was well attended, and almost utterly quiet, no aircraft overhead, no one spoke. Did my job and came home. Loaded up a "get home at any cost" kit and carried it up until recently. (That will be reinstated.)
I remember the flags.... Everywhere.... I remember the solidarity.... I remember the resolve....... We were Americans again....
That feeling was good, too bad it didn't last. Got worse after "The Great Divider" became President.
DeleteYup. Like you.
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteWill not forget, will not forgive.
ReplyDeleteRoger that.
DeleteI was in Boston in a training class that morning. Had rented a Monty Python movie the night before and was in a good mood. Has just started class when a colleague came in and said a plane of some kind, maybe a Cessna, had just hit WTC. Just after we went upstairs to the TV in the conference room, the second plane hit, and it was obviously an airliner. My brother in law collected his mail every morning in the basement of WTC, but he was working in NC that day. Several people he knew were killed. I had taken my then 12 year old son to WTC in April 2001, and he enjoyed the view from the observation deck and also the ride around Manhattan in one of the tourist helicopters, which flew by the WTC. When I called home to let everyone know I was OK, He asked me, "Dad, those people who worked in the Observation Deck of the WTC are all dead, aren't they? " it was a sobering moment for him.
ReplyDeleteLike y'all, it still makes me angry, and I will never forget nor forgive. The drive home to NC in a rental car was eerie - and ditto on the flags and the feeling of unity and resolve. How have some people forgotten the kessons of that day so quickly? Looking at those who want to 'understand' those who would perpetrate another such attack and even welcome them to live among us. How can they be so naive?
Understand them? Foxtrot that, I just want to kill them.
DeleteMe too - ditto my wife. That's why I can't believe some others can be so naive.
DeleteThe naive ones will get us all killed.
DeleteCairo Egypt setting up for the Bright Star military exercise. It went from a training mission to a real world logistics mission getting equipment and manpower into the middle east. I was supposed to be there for 3 weeks and it ended up being for 3 months. I was in the GA Air Guard and my employer paid my full salary for the entire time I was gone. Company policy was for two weeks
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that your employer took care of you, some do, some don't.
DeleteI was in the middle of replacing fan belts on a Dodge van when I heard the news. Nothing I could do about it so finished the job. Later that day there were long lines at the gas stations (in Colorado). Next day every window clip USA flag was sold out and many cars were sporting them. Bluntly, I was disgusted. Later I saw a video of the ad hoc boat lift moving stranded people from Manhattan Island. Found that to be uplifting - my admiration of those involved was, and is, profound. Those are the fellow citizens I want to be involved with - not the fair weather patriots.
ReplyDeleteIn the days and weeks that followed, opened my wallet to those fund raisers I could verify the legitimacy. 9/11 brought out the best, and worse, in our citizens. I would like to think I am in the first group.
From my dealings with you WSF, you're definitely in the first group.
DeleteYou would think that as time passes, my anger would become less but it never does. I hope everyone will also remember the other 9/11 -- 9/11/2012 when our government abandoned Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods to their fate at the hands of the muslims in Libya.
ReplyDeleteI remember them as well. A pox and a curse on those who left them to die.
DeleteYep, Worst President Ever! and She-Devil.
DeleteYup, The Great Divider and The She-Devil.
DeleteAmerica was granted a reprieve that glorious night on 8 November. I'm looking at my copy of the new Gorsuch book, "A Republic, If You Can Keep It". Still an open question. I believe our mettle would have been tested as it was in the mid 1800's had the She Devil won- Obama had set the stage and evil would have run amok were the Clinton's allowed in the White House again. And we think the country is divided now?
DeleteLord yes, she would have been a disaster of Biblical proportions!
DeleteAt work at the local PD. The first crash was jarring. The second was... the end of the world. Suddenly all the cops were assigned to guard the water/waste water plants, power stations, distribution stations, and so forth (wanna really kill people, take out a water processing plant. On their plans shows a large area around the plant labeled 'KZ' for kill zone in case of a major chlorine leak...) Went to my second job at the secret PD facility across from the trailer park where we raided biweekly, and watched tv and just... watched the end of the world as we knew it. And I didn't feel fine.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Andrew and I watch the 9-11 shows every year. Because we can't forget. We won't forget. We must not forget.
And I recommend the two following videos, from Blue Man Group. They had a personal take on that day...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzHhfoMZxzA about the creation of the following video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIvnakBudiI if you can, turn it up to hear the voices in the background.
My heart is heavy, my eyes are wet, but my flag is flying. I will never forget.
I will never forget the loss of the
It's hard staying focused today.
DeleteI will also never forget the loss of the Bengazi 4. Or Somalia, or the Cole, or Beirut, or the first WTC attack, the Boston Marathon bombing, ... the list goes on, and on.
ReplyDeleteThis war may never end. I remember them all...
Delete@Beans/
DeleteSimply google "Exhibit 13" for the Blue Man vid..
Powerful.
DeleteSorry about the 2nd video. Try this one...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIvnakBudiI
again, listen to the voices in the background...
I'll have to wait until I get home to watch those videos. Today is rough enough as it is.
DeleteI was driving to work and on the radio I kept hearing them talk about the World Trade Center. I thought it was an anniversary of the 1993 bombing. It was only about five minutes into it-had the second plane just hit?-Did I realize this was real time. And I often think of that plane in Pennsylvania. Would I have had the courage to rush those people knowing I would probably die?
ReplyDeleteThen they knew they were already going to die
I think most of them realized that there was no other outcome but dying, but to go ahead and cause the plane to crash rather than allow the a$$holes to continue on to DC, that was courage of the highest order.
DeleteThis: http://web.archive.org/web/20040103103416/http://216.111.31.12/details.asp?PRID=32
Delete109 Minutes (the length of time it took Americans to stop that terrorist nightmare in it's tracks)
Especially this part: "When Jeremy Glick called his wife, his first question was an attempt to confirm something another passenger had heard on his spousal call: was the World Trade Center story true?
Lizzy Glick paused, thought for a minute, swallowed hard, and told him the truth. Yes, they had. Moments later, still on the line with her husband, Lizzy Glick saw that another plane had run into the Pentagon. She passed that information on as well to her husband, who relayed it to the other passengers.
Jeremy Glick then told her that the passengers were about to take a vote and decide if they should rush the hijackers and attempt to foul up whatever evil plans they had.
He put down the phone and a commotion was heard by those on the other end of the line. Then nothing. A dead line."
Then the head shot from Reynolds: "If George W. Bush had been a better, braver, man, he would have recognized that new reality instead of creating the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security. But both the Democrats and the establishment Republicans are heavily invested in making ordinary Americans feel powerless and helpless. And their worst nightmare is that it hasn’t really worked."
I pray he is correct....
Via Instapundit
...The passengers of Flight 93 had a backup. Two unarmed F15 fighters were scrambled to bring it down at all costs. The pilots decided that the plane of one would take off the tail, the other would ram the cockpit...not much hope of them ejecting either...
DeleteI don't think I knew that. (My memories of those days is still a bit jumbled and wrought with emotion.)
DeleteFighter aircraft without immediate access to weapons is a travesty.
And what president was responsible for standing down most of America's active CAP armed planes?
DeleteWhat president didn't prosecute the 1st WTC bombing, or any of the other actions by these cretins?
Billy Jeff has much to answer for when he enters Hell.
STxAR - I knew some of that. Did I like W? Yeah, I did. Did I think he was a good wartime President? Not even a little.
DeleteBeans - Billy Jeff and his ilk have much to answer for.
DeleteFor me reading the book Touching History and the account of the UAL 757 pilot who was taxiing to the runway, sees smoke from the WTC and asked the tower - to which they didn't know what caused it - to then get a bad feeling and taxi back to the terminal....longer story short they probably stopped another hijacking. That and the Shanksville plane probably saved the White House and Congress.
ReplyDeleteEerie.
DeleteThey don't report it much today, but grounding the aircraft probably saved at least 8 other planes and their passengers and crew from crashing. Too many reports of disembarked middle eastern men scurrying away from planes once the stay-down order was enacted.
DeleteBut we don't talk about it today... Makes me wonder what we actually know vs what we guess, and why.
They don't report anything these days, unless they could somehow prove that it was Trump's fault.
DeleteI'm sure there were other hijackers out there whose nefarious deeds were thwarted, someday they will join their co-conspirators in the nether regions. Hopefully sooner, rather than later.
Was watching the news at home when the first report came out on CBS. Saw the second plane, and told my wife it was terrorism. Drove to work, but didn't get much done - paced the hall a lot. After much effort, and after 13 years as a civilian, I managed to get into the ANG in 2004 for another 10.5 years. Miss it, but now I really am too darned old.
ReplyDeleteThat day was very non-productive as I recall.
DeleteI read somewhere someone said, everything I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9-11.
ReplyDeleteI remember that day well...
Truth.
DeleteWe learned what the survivors of Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Acre fallen Acre, Spain's 700+ year lesson, and Malta (though Malta was a win, barely, squeaked into the win column after too many extra innings...) all learned. The Sword of the Prophet is not a protective sword, but a bloody murderous one.
DeleteThere is a reason the militant orders of knights were founded by Christianity, and there is a reason why the Popes called for Crusades. It wasn't to stop random trick-or-treaters or to win hearts and minds, it was to stop at all costs the loss of Christian souls to the swords of Islam.
Exactly.
Delete"Once the lid was replaced, only Hope remained."
ReplyDeleteDon't believe the media and the bullfeces pundits. Hope lives in America, with Freedom and Liberty and with "firmness in the right..."
Yup, hope lives, especially in the heartland. Along with the terrible resolve to see things through to the bitter end.
DeleteAnger. Then frustration when the Navy recruiter said that there was no need for 51 year old ex nukes in the USN, even as "A" school instructors or any other kind of REMF billets.
ReplyDeleteWe were at war, but we weren't. Still feel as though I could have done *some*thing besides go to the mall and, like a great patriot, buy stuff.
BTW, yes. Yes, we should seek to understand them. As Thos. Jefferson sought to understand the Barbary pirates, and as Sun-Tzu admonished his students.
Jim
And that I includes understanding Omar and Tlaib. And their cohorts.
DeleteJim the 1st - I so understand that anger, I wanted to get back in harness, but it was not to be. There was no pressing need for 46 year old computer programmers in the USAF either. Truth be told, I was of more use in my civilian job.
DeleteBut I supported the troops (three, and then four, of which were my own children, then a son-in-law) and, as Coach Belichick would stress, I did my job. (Combat systems for those who are interested.)
Sun-Tzu's advice is well advised.
Jim the 2nd - Ah yes, we need to be aware of those Fifth Columnists, those snakes in the woodpile.
DeleteI love it when I remind people that our first actual war was with Islam over slavery and murder of Christians. They tend to do the 'Nu-uhhhhh!' response.
DeleteDecatur's firing of the USS Philadelphia was one of the early defining moments of the US Navy. As was taking Tripoli by a handful of jarheads was one of the defining moments of the US Marine Corps. And this isn't taught anymore. Makes me angry and frustrated, it does.
There's a reason Marine officers still carry a Mameluke sword.
DeleteJust have re-read the stories of 9-11 first-response pilots taking off in unarmed F-16s to intercept Flight 93.
ReplyDeleteThey were ready to perform their own suicide attack, while considering it kind of repayment for sin of taking fellow citizen's life to protect more lives... Chilling.
Note that merely decade into peace dividend sole hyperpower had not even gun ammo on hand at planes protecting own capital!
(struck me as analogue to most of Pearl Harbor planes...)
Also, am I the only one that the war morphed into kind of Greater Middle East 30-years war, with Saudis and Iranians being main sides, and us in position of foreign, completely infidel intervening power (think Ottomans in 30 years war?)
and as usual Sabaton is here to educate us on history... boy it is hard to describe Syria nad Yemen today better than this:
https://youtu.be/zvdbDw5bXnQ
You have a good understanding for the problem Paweł, I like the way you think. (And Sabaton is becoming a favorite!)
Delete