SwiftVets.com

[Chiefjoe]

I was talking about this with my cousin the other day (HMC (SW) Richard Joseph) How my parents remember exactly what they were doing and where they were when J.F. Kennedy was shot. How my Grandfather remembers exactly what he was doing and where he was on Dec 7th. Now my generation has 9/11. I was the OOD for Naval Air Station Jacksonville. I had just assumed the duty at 0745. My POOW said to me "Chief, a plane just crashed into one of the world trade center towers. They are showing it on CNN." We then watched as the second plane hit the second tower, and I said "This is no accident. The sh!t is about to hit the fan fella's."
I spent the next 2 days at the command center we set up on the base with the CO, XO and CMC. All the civilians from the base had to be evacuated. (Including the rent a cops that serve as gate guards) and man up with active duty personnel. it was a work of art how we acted and planned on how to secure the base without the use of the rent-a-cops. It showed once again, how well soldiers, sailors and airman can formulate a plan and carry it out. Like my dad used to say, "phuck, fight, or hold the light."
I know I will never forget the anger, sorrow and grief I felt that day. Now I plan to do my best to spread the word about this power hungry medal hound who is running for President. He is not fit to lead the troops of my country. I for one also don't give a damn if the french or germans "like" us or not. Three kinds of people in this worl, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what the phuck happened. John sKerry is #3, but has shown there is a 4th. Those who watch things happen, then take the credit for them.
_________________
When asked what signifigant thing a man has done with his life I can say "I served in the United States Navy" John F. Kenedy

[Holgrym]

I don't remember where I was on Sept 11, 2002. I remember on Sept 11, 2001 I was watching as the most devastating event in my life unfolded before my very eyes....

I will never forget that day!

[Chiefjoe]

Sorry for the typo....its been corrected
_________________
When asked what signifigant thing a man has done with his life I can say "I served in the United States Navy" John F. Kenedy

[tngator]

I'll never forget that day. I was at work and received a phone call from my 2nd shift line leader and was told that an airliner had apparently crashed into the WTC. While on the phone she began screaming because another jet hit the other tower. At the very moment, it was extremely clear that we had just been attacked (again) on our own soil. I stayed on the phone for about 10 more minutes (and they knock Bush for his 7 minutes, LOL) and then called my team together for a meeting and told them all what had happened. I still have the desk top calendar that I originally wrote the message on and it is framed in my computer room.
_________________
Click 4 SEC Sports Talk
Kerry Fled While Brave Men Bled

[SSBN_Guy]

I work out of my house since starting my own business and my wife also works here (she works commision for a local business) . That morning she left to see a client and I was busy in my office (no TV or radio) when she called about 5 minutes later and told me a plane had hit one of the towers. I flipped on the news and we talked about it while she was still driving to her appointment. I saw the second plane hit on the live broadcast as the reporters were saying the first plane may have crashed due to a navigation error. I told the wife to wrap things up quick and get home as soon as possible.

I didn't have a clue as what to do so I drove down to a friends engine shop and told them we had been attacked by someone. They flipped through the shop radio channels and I will never forget some sorry a$$ on one broadcast who kept trying to tell jokes as the DJs were searching for news. They finally told him to shut the h*ll up and thats when we all realized our nation was in serious trouble. I went back home and was surprised to see I had only been gone for 10 minues. I spent the next three days glued to the tube wishing for a target that I could kill but it's not that kind of war.

I live in Sarasota and I knew that GW was in town over at one of the Booker schools. All of the crap that has been thrown at him for his response after 9/11 makes me laugh. EVERYONE I know was dumbfounded; what the hell do we do? The President did a hell of a job in my opinion. The plane that hit the Pentagon and the possibility that the plane that went down in PA was heading for the White House says they were also targeting command and control centers. He went to a secure location to direct any possible responses from there like he should have.

On a side note, about a week later, we needed some repair work done to our water plant and heard some unsettling news from the guy who showed up (good buddy, an ex Coastie) about the week before 9/11. Seems they had problems with a client a couple of miles away complaining about the water and they weren't paying for the iron filter they installed. His boss told him to go to the house and pull the filter. When he got there, the house was empty and a lot of crap was out front for the trash guys to pick up. There had been what appeared to be two middle eastern families living in the house and according to the neighbors all of the women and kids left Thursday before 9/11 and the 2 men left soon after. At this point my buddy called his boss and he called the FBI. They gave their story and the FBI left .

I don't know who was living there but it was frustrating to think they were that close and I could have done something but that was a different world than today.

[RIslander]

On 11 Sep 04, I was with months of finally having to retire from the military. For my terminal tour, I had asked to be assigned to a position in the NYC area.

Being a "short timer," I had gone from being the first one each morning to just being in. Cup of coffee in hand, I was driving along the Cross Island Parkway in Queens when news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center came over the radio. My first reaction was that it must be a Cessna or some other light aircraft. By the time I got to work, the second plane had already crashed into the other tower, and any thought of this being some kind of accident was long gone.

Entering my office, I noticed that those who were there had no idea of what was going on. That made me the one to have everybody running to the nearest TV.

As we stood there watching, a female Sergeant mentioned that her brother had to go to a meeting at the World Trade Center that morning. I will never forget her tears when the first tower went down. Not just for her brother, but for all the thousands of people we knew might be dying at that very moment.

Before I knew what was happening, all the civilians who worked in our office were leaveing - one of them said, higher headquarters had said that the civilians should go home. As it turned out, she was lying.

I did not get a chance to get home for the next three days. And, the one thing that stands out in my mind is how empty the highways were. The only people I really saw using them were in uniform. In the evenings, when I went out to have a smoke, it was almost surreal not seeing any civilian planes flying overhead. When I saw lights, I knew it was a fighter.

The other thing that stands out in my mind is seeing the damn smoke from the World Trade Center from my office window.

The female Sergeant's brother was at the World Trade Center that morning. As luck would have it, he was badly injured by something falling from the building, and he was in a coma. For two weeks, they were unable to locate him.

Nothing since I was a boy in Viet Nam has had my adrenalin flowing the way it did on 11 Sep 04. When people ask why we are fighting now, I ask them if they remember that date.

[War Dog]

Thanks RIslander, that was a tough day on all of us, but even tougher on those that were in NY or near NY.

War Woof!
_________________
"When people are in trouble, they call the cops.

When cops need help, they call the K-9 unit."

[RIslander]

And of course I meant, 11 Sep 01 - had a long drive today!

[Tamaroa]

I consider myself very lucky indeed. 7 weeks prior to 9/11, I was the building manager of a building two blocks away from the Trade Center. I was transferred uptown to 49th and Park in July. We heard about the attacks on the radio and ran to the roof then mobilized our teams to get down there to see what we could do as building operating personnel and engineers. A good friend of mine died in the building that day. He was my first Assistant Chief teaching me the ropes of a stationary Engineer.

The next several weeks were in a dream world. After I finally got off the island around midnight, I saw a sign on route 95 that chilled me to the bone. It said "All bridges and tunnels to Manhattan are closed due to terrorist attack." I thought I was in the middle of a disaster movie.

I will never forget the sight of the WTC burning for weeks before it was finally extinguished. I deplore the trash that they are going to put back up. I want to see the original towers put back up, maybe shorter now that so many long term leases are out of the city, but the same silhouette would be an up yours to the terrorists.
_________________
Sometimes, you're the windshiield, sometimes, you're the bug.

[searcher]

On Sept 11 I was visiting my brothers store here in the UK, he had the radio on and they reported that a plane had hit the WTC, at that time they thought it was an accident.

When I got home a short time later, I turned on the TV, not long after that, the second plane hit.

All day the TV was reporting what happened/was happening, I have never felt so sick.

I live 7 miles by road and about 1 1/2 miles straight across the fields from an Air Force Base, (Tornado's) all day I was waiting for them to fire up the engines, I was sure that something was planned to happen here too.
_________________
Steve.

[baldeagl]

Chiefjoe, you're making me feel old. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when:

John Kennedy was assassinated
Robert Kennedy was assassinated
Reagan was shot
The Twin Towers came down
_________________
antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/

[afvet69-73]

I was off duty that day mowing our lawn. My wife called me in and said i recieved a call from my F.D. that they wanted me and put on the tv. We did just in time to see the 2nd plane come into the bldg.After many phone calls my dept decided to assist the FDNY by attending as many funerals as we could, freeing up them to keep searching for survivors,which sad to say were none after the first 24 hrs. remember this slogan,NEVER FORGET,NEVER FORGIVE this goes for all who were involved in this attack and all who give aid and comfort. and YES i include most of the dem. party right to the top.
_________________
never forget,never forgive

[mcb58]

My DOB 9/11/46...........

Friggen ragheads f___ed it up for me, eh?
_________________

THE GREAT FIFTY-EIGHT

[P3 Tweek]

I was flying as a captain of a small Cessna Citation jet that infamous morning.
Approximately halfway through a short flight at FL330 (33000 ft) from Salt Lake to Denver we and all IFR aircraft were given the chilling news, "There's been an airline related incident at The World Trade Center!" The Denver Air Traffic Control Center then commanded, "all airline crews contact your companies immediately!" The cleansing of the CONUS airspace that morning had begun. Tuning to KOA New/Talk Radio on our ADF gave us only a glimse of what happening but enough to be very unsettling. We were allowed to continue to our destination in Denver for the remaining 20-25 minutes of our flight. After landing we noticed a low flying F-16C flying CAPS over the Denver area. Undoubtedly, the Colorado ANG F-16C had been following us and all other aircraft to secure the skies over Denver. Our passengers were shocked after my brief to them after engine shutdown.
The blank faces and anger of the ground crews was a sight burned into my memory that I will never forget as long as I live.
We were not allowed leave until late Friday as the FAA continued to slowly release airspace- 4 days after the attack in NYC & DC.

P3 Tweek, AX2, USN (77-83)
_________________
"The object of war is to make the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." LtGen Geo. S. Patton, USA 1944.
"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue." ADM Chester Nimitz, USN 1945.

[jalexson]

The clock radio woke me about my usual 10:00 CDT. I work 2nd shift.
What the announcer was saying didn't make much sense. Something about "unprecedented" and the "Pentagon" and the "vice president". I thought at first that the vp had been shot of something, so I got up and turned on CNN and then saw what had happened.

I also remember Nov. 22, 1963. I was in High school physics class, the glass walls on the east side of the room faced the hall. Just before 1:00 one of the guidance counselors came to the door and our teacher went out in the hall to talk to him for a short time. Then the teacher, Max Hamilton, told us that President Kennedy had been shot, but it was unclear how badly he had been hurt. I remember one of the students quipping "that means Johnson is president."
_________________
"That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoe making and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poor house."
-- Mark Twain