BiggerPockets

I was on an airplane, the last Midway flight before they shut their doors for good.

I was a junior in high school in Louisiana. I was sitting in history class and my teacher turned on the TV. Some of the other students had already checked out of school. They had relatives in NY. I had signed up for the army and thought the war would be over by the time I left in 2003. Wrong!

I heard about the events in my truck on the way to get UT/OU tickets in college. I had a test that day...I still remember how classless it was for the prof to give us a "pop quiz" that day. What a freaking jerk.

People at UT were standing around large TVs in common areas watching all of the carnage. I'll never forget any of it.

I was asleep in the morning until my mother woke me up and told me what happened. I turned on the TV and watched in horror the events happening.

Such a tragedy as someone mentioned earlier today we must keep on living and always remember those who lost their lives on that ill fated day.

Always Remember.

I was at a conference at La Cantera on the west side of San Antonio, directly outside the outermost loop. I didn't have anything scheduled that morning so I slept in (from a late night). While still in bed, I turned on the TV. By this point the towers had been hit. I watched a couple of seconds, then flipped the channel to see what else was on TV. I though it was a movie, not having paid attention to anything that was happening on the screen. Next station, same programming. Next station, same thing. WTF! Yes, as you can imagine, I now know what's happening. My hotel room window faced east towards downtown San Antonio, a town with several military installations. I leaped out of bed and tore the curtains open. Good! No smoke...it's still there. Phone, phone, phone, where's the freaking phone? Call wife. We lived in Austin at the time. She's OK. Kids, have you heard from the kids? They're in school. Go get them. What, she says? We've been attacked...I'm getting cash and heading back home...Go get them.

I ran into one of the morning presenters on the way down to the main tent area. Get this. He's complaining about lack of attendance. All I can say as I pass him is, "do you even know what **** is happening right now." He mumbles, yeah but.... I'm thinking, are you freaking kidding me???

Was I freaking out? Not really, but I knew I needed to be home with my family...not 100 miles away in a town I considered a strategic military target.

Since I live several time zones behind the East Coast, I didn't know until I woke up and turned on the TV.

I wasn't surprised we were hit. The intelligence community was expecting it. Even some of the ever popular radio talk show hosts had predicted attacks by muslim extremists like Al Qaeda. The manner and scale in which it was carried out WAS a surprise and shocking.

Military bases near where I lived had very long lines (miles long) to get in. Pretty hectic times. The main thing on my mind was that I hoped they were already making plans to kill the bastards behind it all!

PG

I checked the news online that morning like every morning. The internet was VERY slow and there was just a very terse article that a plane had hit one of the towers. All the way to work the radio speculated about what was going on. At work we watched the events unfold on TV. At the time I was working for a small company. One of our sales guys was from NY and he was visiting. His apartment was in a building next to the WTC. We watched in horror as the second plane hit. Fortunately, nobody from our company was killed. I now work for a much larger company that wasn't so lucky. Our CEO sent out a list on Friday of the names of 11 employees killed in the attack.

I was working at a company in northern NJ. At first people were "ha ha a plane hit the WTC" since it seemed so bizarre. Pepole thought maybe it was a small commuter plane. When the real impact was clear, people were running frantically through the office talking on cell phones.

Then I was sitting with my work group and someone thought it was a good time start a heated discussion about Palestine. That didn't help to cool people's nerves.

Finally, everyone was outside in front of the building and there was a sound. A person whom I'd never liked said "is that the evacuation order?" in a semi-hysterical tone. That's when I started to feel very uneasy.

So we were allowed to leave for the rest of the day. I was driving back home on Rt. 4 in the direction of the city so I could see the massive smoke clouds and plumes of debris still suspended over lower Manhattan, in the distance. The traffic was very slow so I stopped to eat at Wendy's. It seemed surreal to be sitting there eating amongst people while all this mass murder had just occurred not far away.

The horror of the event was quickly overtaken by my own personal situation. The company decided a week later lay off 30% of their staff, including me. And I had been informed a month ago by the owner of the condo I was renting that he was putting it on the market and I would have to be out by the end of my lease, which was in October. So now I had no job and soon no place to live!

I did know someone who was in Tower 7. He was very shaken up, and very angry at all organized religions after that expeirence.

I was sitting in the 2nd hour of Business Law class in high school and a friend came running in and she said something is happening something is happening. My teacher immediately sat done logged onto the internet to find one world trade center had been hit!

We were all little confused at the tragic moment, but we though a plane must have had a major failure. Right then he said "oh ****" as the new article stated the world trade centers had both been hit and there are more plans in the air that have lost communication!!

It was a day I will never forget. I made a decision that I would join the military not as a ground troop, but instead try to us my knowledge to improve this place. I have served 8 years as a submarine electrician and now I manage a for man shop that does all electrical repair for ships in San Diego, CA! I has been a great run and I am glad I had the opportunity to serve, but sad at the lives it has costs us!!