ot:9-11-01 Where were you?

[mwulf]

I was in year 2 of teaching in Killeen Texas which is also connected to Fort Hood. My school was directly near the Post and once word of the attacks came I remember the gates closing and security making itself immediately present. Guns and vehicles everywhere. We had a couple of students whose parents worked in the Pentagon so all tvs were turned off. I asked everyone in class if they had any relatives in either NYC or the Pentagon and no one did so we listened on the radio for the news. The next day it took 3 hours to get to work because of the security procedures at Ft Hood. Every single car was checked. Remember so many tiny details and conversations that day. I had actually just returned from Nebraska for the Notre Dame game.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

I was teaching too.

 

[rpappy3]

Standing by my saw at work listening to "Todd and Tyler"even those goofballs knew it was something serious.

 

[scarletred]

At work that day my father was driving to Sioux Falls to play Golf for 3 days and play with his brothers and Nephew.

Will never forget the felling I had when I heard.

 

[Husker Sledge]

On my way to Husker Harvest Days. Made for an unusual day that's for sure. Everyone was trying to see TVs in tents and really didn't care much for that event.

 

[HuskAir]

I was in high school. Nothing was accomplished that day, in any classes. TVs were on in every room with people's eyes fixated on them. I remember playing baseball with a group of friends that night, fighter jets being the only airborne vehicles, and just a sense of eeriness and uncertainty.

 

[sidewood]

I was on prison yard with about 300 inmates

 

[michaeljjoe]

In Los Angeles. My radio alarm was set on NPR and I woke up in a haze to the sound of their reporters talking about planes hitting both world trade centers. I remember for a moment wondering whether I was dreaming or awake. I turned on the TV to check it out and a few minutes later the first tower fell. I went to work in a trance not knowing if we were supposed to or not. I worked at Universal Studios at the time and they quickly told everyone to go home as they were concerned the theme park might be a soft target. We had security checking the trunks and running mirrors under every car that entered the lot for at least the next 3 years. It turned out I knew someone on one of the planes, not well but had met him through work a couple of times. My brother-in-law who lived in Brooklyn but worked in Manhattan had a 3 hour walk home that day over the Brooklyn bridge with the smoke billowing skyward in the background. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be in NYC that day.

 

[saluno22]

In high school and our teacher kept us in the dark for about 45 minutes until the entire school was assembled in the student union to see what had happened.

On the night the news of Bin Laden being killed was reported, I was working at the school as a residential dean. It was very surreal. A tear may have run down my cheek.

 

[huskergina]

I was at work doing my thing as a community support case manager for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The "clubhouse" clients were in the lounge watching TV when the mental health counselor became aware of the situation and brought all the staff into the lounge so we could as a group process the situation. It was intense; our clients were scared. We were dealing with many clients who were experiencing paranoia and hallucinations on a daily basis anyway. Unreal.

 

[GeauxBigRed]

7th grade industrial Tech class.

 

[Truehuskerfan]

I was sleeping in that day, which meant I found out about it much later than most people. It also meant I had to process it much differently than others because by the time I got up and found out what was going on, it was mostly over. Both towers had collapsed, and the Pentagon had been hit. They were unsure at that time of the location of Flight 93. I've always been thankful that I was not subjected to watching the towers collapse on live TV like many people did.

 

[Catch50]

I was in year 2 of teaching in Killeen Texas which is also connected to Fort Hood. My school was directly near the Post and once word of the attacks came I remember the gates closing and security making itself immediately present. Guns and vehicles everywhere. We had a couple of students whose parents worked in the Pentagon so all tvs were turned off. I asked everyone in class if they had any relatives in either NYC or the Pentagon and no one did so we listened on the radio for the news. The next day it took 3 hours to get to work because of the security procedures at Ft Hood. Every single car was checked. Remember so many tiny details and conversations that day. I had actually just returned from Nebraska for the Notre Dame game.

 

[Catch50]

I walked on the other side of I-395 in Arlington, Va. about an hour before AA 77 hit the Pentagon.

 

[newAD]

I went to the bar the night before and watched I believe the Buc's play the Rams. By the time I woke up, my wife told me two planes flew into both WTC towers. My exact words to her:

"I can't believe it took so long."

This clip from the 1995 Movie "Path to Paradise" told us they'd try again. The final line in the clip (and movie), Ramsey Yousef (involved in the 1993 WTC bombing) did say those words.

 

[redfanusa]

Worked at UNL at the time. During the morning commute Tim & The Animal on 106.3 "The Blaze" mentioned a plane had hit the World Trade Center, but at the time they said it was a small private plane. Didn't think much of it until I got to work.

After settling in at my desk, I tried to open CNN.com and the site wouldn't open. Some other news site was also slow or down. I knew something serious was happening, and went down to the break room where they had a TV. A few coworkers were already there, and by time the first tower fell the room was packed. We all just sat there shocked, with people sobbing quietly.

Back in my office, they announced university staff could leave if they wanted to donate blood. I guess it was the only way I felt like I could do something...anything...to help, so I left. There was already a two hour wait at the blood bank, but like everybody else we just crowded the lobby and waited. The entire UNL women's softball team was ahead of me in line.

My brother's brother-in-law worked in one of the towers, and his family frantically tried to reach him to no avail. Turns out he had worked analyzing numbers until like 4:00 a.m. the night before and was still in bed when it happened. His secretary had the day off, or was out of the office for some other reason.

 

[47Husker]

Was back in D C for a conference from Korea with our Los Angeles site office. Found out during the first meeting. Watched the towers go down on TV. Meeting cancelled and we were told to get back home soon as we can. Luckly, I was able to get back to our office in Busan Korea by the following Monday. As it turned out, the flight we all were taking out of D.C. that Friday was the one that hit the Pentagon. Still think about that to this day that Tuesday was chosen for the attack and not Friday

 

[mmccauley777]

I was in year 2 of teaching in Killeen Texas which is also connected to Fort Hood. My school was directly near the Post and once word of the attacks came I remember the gates closing and security making itself immediately present. Guns and vehicles everywhere. We had a couple of students whose parents worked in the Pentagon so all tvs were turned off. I asked everyone in class if they had any relatives in either NYC or the Pentagon and no one did so we listened on the radio for the news. The next day it took 3 hours to get to work because of the security procedures at Ft Hood. Every single car was checked. Remember so many tiny details and conversations that day. I had actually just returned from Nebraska for the Notre Dame game.

At that time we lived in North Carolina about an 1 1/2 hours from Raliegh. I was driving my wife to Raliegh for a Flight to Omaha. We did not have our radio on and were oblivious to what happened to the Towers. We arrived at thet about 10:30 and were totally baffled because the parking lots were empty. We found out about the attacks at the luggage checkin. . It was so surreal.

 

[baseball31ne]

I was working as a substitute teacher Ralston Elementary School that day. I remember teacher aide coming in and telling me to go to the teacher Lounge when I had a chance. They wouldn't tell me any more. I was working with kindergarteners I could tell from just the way the gentlemen suppose it was something big. It was a forever day changer.

 

[jflores]

I was at ISU learning how to design an autopilot for landing airplanes

 

[jeans15]

At home angry, sad and proud.

I will never forget the choices our fellow citizens had to make...jump or burn.

 

[bigboxes]

I was up in Denton for a work meeting. Went into the break room. They had this 13" black & white television on top of the refrigerator that was playing the news from an over the air local channel. It was soon after the first plane hit. My thought was that it was a terrible accident. Then the second plane hit the other tower. I don't think we got much work done for the next week. It was all too surreal.

 

[TruHusker]

Teaching at Colby, KS High School. Kids were saying something had happened. Administration told us to not turn on TV's. Later they changed that and allowed them on. Colby is on I-70 which is a main east west interstate coming out of Denver. Planes were grounded so people were scrambling to get out of Denver to wherever they were headed. Remember some guys of middle eastern decent who happened into a small convenience store on the interstate and they were not welcomed very friendly. At that point you didn't know what was going on or who to trust - I guess that part is still true today.

 

[wkato]

Hill AFB getting the first launch of F-16'S ready to go out on a training flight. Needless to say, nothing flew that day.

 

[TFrazier]

Teaching in the KC metro area when a colleague walked into my classroom and asked if I heard what was happening. I told her no and she covered my class for a few minutes so I can see it on a television in another room. I will never forget that moment.

 

[Lincoln gopher]

On my way to Husker Harvest Days. Made for an unusual day that's for sure. Everyone was trying to see TVs in tents and really didn't care much for that event.

This is what I was up to also. Weird day working a farm show. didn't talk much business at all that day.

 

[mwulf]

Good read

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/were-the-only-plane-in-the-sky-214230#ixzz4JnR3fDWd

 

[tarheelhusker]

I was setting up products, spray guns, fenders, hoods & trunk decks for a 2 day refinishing class @ Camp Lejeune.

PS...I'm still so f*+%#g mad I can't see straight.

 

[Metalfan]

Honestly, in bed sleeping. I was recovering from a knee injury and home from freshman year in college. Mom came running in and said I needed to turn on the news after the first plane hit. I woke up REALLY fast that day.

 

[jedihusker]

I was a senior in high school. I was only taking 4 classes that semester, and each one was a little different and somewhat odd.

My first class, when I sort of found out what happened, was Citizenship Issues, basically a glorified current events class. My teacher in that class could tend to be a little oblivious to what was going on right around him, so the situation that played out wasn't all that surprising from that perspective. We were watching a video series in that class on the Constitution, and at this was when most things were still on VHS! My teacher turned on the TV to start the video, and realized it hadn't been rewound from where another class was watching it, to get to the point we were at in the video. He stops the video to rewind the tape, and proceeds to stand there while rewinding the tape, facing the class to talk to us about something we'll be watching in the video, never realizing that no one was really paying attention to him, and was instead watching the TV screen. The TV was on one of the networks, I seem to recall maybe ABC, and they were of course reporting on what had happened so far, and had video of one of the towers burning from the plane hitting it. My blood pretty much instantly went cold, as I never really thought it was anything but terrorism; but at this point, only one tower had been hit. Never even realizing what was going on, the tape got to where it needed to be, so my teacher hit play and started the video, and that was it for about the next 20 minutes or so. No one was really paying attention, everyone was whispering back and forth about what we had just seen. Then the teacher from next door came over, and talked to my teacher briefly. He stopped the video and we spent the rest of that class period watching the coverage. By the time we got back to the coverage, the second tower had been hit, and it was pretty clear this was much more than an accident.

That class got over, and I head to my next class, which was economics. This class waas completely bizarre, because it was like for that hour, nothing strange was going on in the world. The teacher hadn't even heard anything about what was going on, and when someone mentioned it to her, she kinda just brushed it off, and went forward with her normal lesson plan. For one hour, I and everyone else in that class sat there wondering what was going on (this was well before smartphones so not really a way to check).

That class got over, and I went to my next class, which was Creative Writing, and was in a computer lab. There was no TV in this lab, so there was no way to watch what was going on. Our teacher pretty much just let us do whatever for this period, because he knew no one would be able to focus, so I spent the entire class period trying to find information. It took me about 40 mins, or a good portion of the class period, just to get CNN's website to load up, so I could see what was going on. By this point, the towers had fallen and the plane had crashed in Pennsylvania, and the plane had hit the Pentagon, basically all the major stuff was over.

After that class, I went to my last class, which was called Independent Lit, basically you read books of your choice and did reports on them. That whole class period was spent watching TV coverage, and my teacher was crying, because she had people she knew that lived in New York and wasn't sure what was going on.

Then I went home and spent the rest of the day just watching coverage of everything.

 

[dckchusker]

My morning radio alarm was set to NPR, and I awoke to the news that a plane had hit the first tower. They weren't sure about any details and were speculating that it was a commuter plane whose pilot had had a heart attack or something like that. It sounded like an unfortunate accident, and I didn't think about it much beyond that.

I lived in KC at the time and was driving north on Gilham Rd. toward work and had just crossed 39th St. when NPR interrupted their programming to announce that a second plane had crashed into the other WTC building. Like everyone, at that point I knew it was an attack.

What was somewhat unique about my situation is that I worked at a TV station at the time. So there were, literally, dozens of TV's in nearly every room and every office including (I think) two big screens in the lobby. It was impossible to get away from the images. Everybody had the news on all day, every day, all week. Understandable, but hard on the emotions when there is nothing you can do about the situation. We had three employees in DC at the time, and I believe it took 36-48 hours before we found out they were OK. Since I was around TV coverage all day at work, I minimized what I watched at home. I knew that global events from that day forward, for the rest of my life, would be shaped by that event and responses to it.

 

[HeartMan]

It's one of those events that everyone can recall where they were and what they were doing. I was in my car driving to Orlando International to catch a morning flight back to Omaha. I was going to surprise my son by showing up at the Nebraska Wesleyan soccer game that afternoon to watch him play and belatedly celebrate his 20th birthday. My wife called me as I was enroute and told me what had happened and that all the airports had been closed. I turned around and went back home. I was glued to CNN for the rest of the day...

 

[planored]

I was in Ft. lauderdale for biz and the night before with a co-worker we were discussing terror and shit. Got a call from him in the hotel at 8:45. I turned on tv as most did or had. I watched, then saw 2nd plane hit. He called and said you were talking about this last night. I said this is going to be wild, I said I am ordering a couple bottles of good wine from room service.

I was supposed to fly home that day but obviously that did t happen. The next day I found myself having lunch at a TGIF which was odd because one of my rules traveling is NO chain restaurants. I took a seat at the bar and talking about all the stuff. Recall that the night of 9/11 they were circling in on some of the bastards and Ft. lauderdale was a key focus from a flight school perspective. I get my food and a guy walks up to the bar from the National Enquier. He had pictures of the first guy you saw pics of as one of the guys and asks him "have you seen this guy before". He said no I am new, he said let me ask X she has worked here for yrs. he goes and gets her, NE show her pics and she turned white and says yes I know him. "He sat at the table over there everyday with 3-4 guys and had jack and cokes for lunch. She was visibly upset. Very surreal.

I was able fly out on Friday morning, was to be one of the first flight out after the ban was lifted. I had to fly out of Miami vs Ft. lauderdale. I drove to airport at 3 am and arrived about 4, it looked like a war zone. Military, dogs, police, you name it they were there. The lines was unreal. Nearly 2.5-3 hours to get thru security. People freaking out in terminal. There were 5 middle eastern men at my terminal, they did not look comfortable at all and people demanded they be completely dressed down. I finally get on plane 3 hours after scheduled depart time and those 5 are in my row. I remember thinking if the shit goes down it is going down right here. Not one of them got up during flight. We landed and I was thinking I can't wait to see my wife and kids.

Sorry for the long post but it is like yesterday to me, when you are away from your family with no way to help or know what may happen it is weird. I can't imagine what people that truly lived it or lost family and friends deal with.

 

[bigboxes]

I remember trying to call me wife that day and I could not get out. Unreal. My mother lives 6 hours north of NYC, but I still wanted to hear her voice.

 

[z28craz]

I was a junior in college here in Kansas City. My first Tuesday class didn't start until 11:00 so I was at the gym. I usually got to the gym around 8:00, which was about the time the first plane hit. I was zoned in on my workout so I was oblivious to anything going on outside the gym, despite the fact that there are TVs everywhere. I finished up my workout about 9:45, which would have been shortly after the second tower fell. I got to the locker room and an older gentleman looked at me and said, "It's just crazy isn't it?" Unaware of what had taken place I looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, the world is a crazy place, have a good one..." Walked out of the locker room and went to the snack bar for my usual post workout chocolate, peanut butter protein shake, and that's when I saw the news. Spent the next 45 minutes glued to the TV. I left the gym and went back to my apartment to get ready for class (ironically my Tuesday class was Ethics). From my apartment to my class I took a route that took me past an FAA Air Traffic Control building. As I drove by that day it was eerie, made moreso by the barricades, armed guards, and Humvees mounted with .50 caliber machine guns.

The rest of the day was a blur. Class let out early and all other classes were canceled. I went back to my apartment and was glued to the TV along with my roommates. At that point I can only assume the beer started flowing as we beat on our chests and talked about revenge, especially considering at the time my roommate's dad was former Marine Recon in Vietnam and at the time was a Lt. Colonel in the 82nd Airborne and knew any military action would mean deployment, which eventually did happen (yes, he changed services and retained rank. Very rare.)

It was a life altering day, and one I'll never forget.

 

[redwine65]

running a crane in council bluffs, they told us a building was hit, when I got back to the shop in omaha they told us another one was hit. then I went to a job in bellview and seen bush's plane land at offut.

 

[mothmonsterman]

I was working at Baker's at the time as a 22 year old college dropout. I had been working until around 2AM the night before and by the time I got home I was too wound up to sleep so I stayed up until around 4. A friend called me at 8AM to tell me that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I assumed it was a small plane, felt bad for the pilot and went back to sleep until shortly after noon. Then I turned the TV on and was stunned. A few days later I was carrying out a woman's groceries. She had just gotten back into town after camping in Colorado for a couple of weeks. She asked if something had happened because everyone seemed depressed and there were flags all over the place. I told her about the attacks. I assume that she now thinks of the devastatingly handsome young man who carried her groceries to her jeep and told her about the attack.

 

[8675309husker]

I was listening to Howard Stern when he broke in with live broadcast.. Went to 32nd St Naval Base in San Diego, watched the second plane hit. Then helped get all ships that we could underway. Was there until midnight.