Remembering 911

[Neil039]

I remember 911 like it was yesterday. I had a summons for jury duty. As I was leaving my house, the news of the first plane was being televised. I had a 15 minute drive to the Court House in downtown Colorado Springs. As I listened on the radio, it was hitting this was no accident as first reported. The streets were empty, even for a moderately small, town.

I checked in and sat in the jury pool room on the old 4th floor of the court house. Thankfully, a buddy from HS was there. He’s a police officer and we started to talk about the news. He pointed out how the room has TVs but were all off. The radio in the room was playing elevator music. Lastly, that two guys he knew from the Sheriff Department were oddly guarding the jury door. This was well before smart phones. We sat for 4 hours in wonderment. The staff provided us with waters but no information on why nothing was happening or that no one had been called for a jury. It felt eerie as hell.

My friend, Gavin, went and talked with the two deputies. It seemed like a hour had passed before he returned. He told me in a calm voice, insisting this was just a conversation between us, that the deputies were clearing the court house floor by floor due to a terrorist attack. Since jurors were seen as non essential we would be the last to leave through screening. After some years had passed I believe it was to isolate us to ensure none of us were terrorists or would do something stupid.

When I finally got to my car, it hit me there was not an individual on the streets. There was no traffic on the highway. It was right out of a syfi movie. I tuned into 850 out of Denver and started to realize how life was changing in that moment.

When I got home I had two voice messages. One from my brother in Florida asking how I was and the other from work saying the week had been cancelled with pay. I spent the next 24-36 hours glued to the TV, occasionally nodding off for a short nap.

I can say for certain, 911 changed my life. I had already been on the path to work in Law Enforcement. I embraced giving back and supporting local public services.

My story is blah compared to millions of others, it’s just my story and what I remember. I’d love to read others here on ROD. It’s not about politics or hate. It really is my generations Pearl Harbor.
God Bless American...and The Rams Too!

 

[CGI_Ram]

I was at work. In a meeting when things started.

Most of the day wasn’t productive as we were all glued to TV’s, and whatever news we could get just moving about work.

I remember the stretch where planes were missing was sort of scary, not for myself... but just the unknown of it.

On the ride home, sat in line for gas... There was some panic like that, but not crazy.

Watched the TV coverage until bed. One of those days you remember.

 

[Loyal]

I was at work. In a meeting when things started.

Most of the day wasn’t productive as we were all glued to TV’s, and whatever news we could get just moving about work.

I remember the stretch where planes were missing was sort of scary, not for myself... but just the unknown of it.

On the ride home, sat in line for gas... There was some panic like that, but not crazy.

Watched the TV coverage until bed. One of those days you remember.

But the toilet paper flew off the shelves like there was no tomorrow! oy veh... ~ @CGI_Ram

 

[Raptorman]

What can be said? We all know what we were doing and where were when we heard. I was in my living room having our new furniture delivered. My sister in law called and said we had to turn the TV on. We watched as the second plane hit. Then it came down to the plane hitting the Pentagon. And I called my National Guard unit and asked if I needed to come in. It was a 15-hour drive from home but I would have made it in a heartbeat. 95% of all guardsmen in my unit called in, the other 5% just showed up in uniform. Our mission at the time was not the protection of US soil. Sound odd, but we were tasked with southwest Asia. You know, the middle east. So our planes did not carry live ammo or missiles. But we sent some up anyway. By the end of the day, we were flying air cover 24/7 with live ammo. This went on for over 6 months. And even today, we have several fighters armed and ready to go, 24/7.

There is another story about that day. When two of our pilots took off to intercept Flight 93. Unarmed. They had one mission. Prevent that plane from reaching Washington DC. This is that story.

Receiving the go-ahead from flight control, both jets’ afterburners belched out thousands of pounds of thrust as they took off and headed northwest, the last known location of the fourth plane. Word came to them that they had shoot-to-kill orders. Knowing that they had taken off with unarmed aircraft, that could mean only one thing. They would be flying a kamikaze mission, ramming into Flight 93, a Boeing 757 aircraft, nearly 7 times the weight of their F-16 fighter jets. They had agreed upon the plan of attack. Sasseville would head for the 757’s cockpit and Penney would aim for the plane's tail. As they sped out beyond Andrews Air Force Base, flying low at about 3,000 feet, they could see black, billowing smoke streaming from the Pentagon.

Beyond the mission at hand, there wasn’t much else on First Lieutenant Heather Penney’s mind. She had accepted the fate of Flight 93’s passengers, believing whether she succeeded or not, they were going to die. She briefly toyed with the idea of ejecting from her plane just before impact, but quickly dismissed the idea, knowing she had only one shot and didn’t want to miss. It didn’t even cross her mind that there was a possibility the pilot of United Flight 93 was her father, who often flew out of East Coast cities. As it turned out, he wasn’t.

On 9/11, Heather Penney Tried to Bring Down Flight 93 | HISTORY

Her father might have been the pilot of United Flight 93, but Penney and her commanding officer had a singular focus.

www.history.com

 

[dieterbrock]

It really is my generations Pearl Harbor.
God Bless American...and The Rams Too!

Appreciate you, this hit incredibly close to home for me and in this year of such widespread dissention it almost seemed forgotten. So I appreciate you for your kind comments.
At one point there was talk of it becoming a National Day of Remembrance, a National "Holiday" if you will, and today it almost seems an afterthought. Hopefully next year on its 20th anniversary we can bring back the feeling of unity, nationalism and patriotism that was felt