Where were you 5 years ago tommorrow

[1st_Saturday_in_May]

I was a freshman in high school. I'll never forget that the first person to break the news of the attack was my 75 year old lesbian gym teacher. Me and my buddies just camped out in front of a TV and watched it all unfold for most of the morning and when we found out the terrorists were from Afghanistan I'll always remember one friend asking 'Afghanistan? Who the **** are they?' One or two teachers (Mr. Shriver especially) continued along with their lesson plan and lectured that day, but most just let us watch the TV in their room. Was one of the saddest (but luckiest) days of my life because my aunt was supposed to be in the Pentagon that morning but her meeting got postponed and she wasnt there at the time of the attack which may or may not have affected her (she's really not sure). RIP to all of the innocent that died that day and God Bless the USA!

[Sightseek]

I had just woken up and turned on the radio. Howard Stern was on and he said how a plane had hit the towers and my first thought was that was the worst thing he could joke about...then they kept talking about it and I turned on the TV just after the last plane hit.

What a horrible day.

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

One of my best friends had just died in a car wreck and I was at home sick with depression and strep throat (not a good combo). I was laying in bed watching the news when I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center. I couldn't believe my eyes at first. Then, all I could do was cry because I realized what was happening. Very, very sad day.

[Seattleallstar]

I was doing situps watching CNN, when Aaron Brown said there was only a fire at the WTC

Originally Posted by Sightseek

I had just woken up and turned on the radio. Howard Stern was on and he said how a plane had hit the towers and my first thought was that was the worst thing he could joke about...then they kept talking about it and I turned on the TV just after the last plane hit.

What a horrible day.

The same thing happened to me. I was listening to Stern and I thought he was joking. Then I turned on the TV and saw right after the second plane. I was in my room at college.

[Crown@club]

In my office, fielding phone calls by drivers worried about not finding fuel on the road, and Corporate too worried about losing business

[somerfrost]

I was at work in the juvenile institution...we all crowded around a small TV with a screen about the size of my computer monitor and watched events unfold. That day and the day Kennedy was shot (I was in high school Spanish class) will remain with me forever. I remember all the rumors that were flying about and the fear in the kid's voices (many had relatives who worked in DC at or close to the Pentagon or the Capital)...rough day!

[skippy3481]

I have a pretty unique story. Most of you dont know but i went to flight school in florida. 5 years ago i was sitting on the runway cleared to take off, pushed the power foward, was about halfway to roation and i heard the controller frantically screaming abort takeoff. Slam on my breaks thinking wtf, there is nothing on the runway must be some type of emergency in the air nearby. I asked the tower controller what was up, but he only replied the faa had grounded all flights and wouldn't say anymore.
As i was taxing back to our ramp, i heard them launch our alert fighters(we were only 20 miles from kennedy space center)

Got back in to our dispatch area and they had cnn and found out what was going on. Hit me very hard that not only would people kill innocent people, but that they would use something i love(airplanes) to do it. Spent the next two days in a stupor waiting to see what would happen. Still does not seem real when i think about it.

[pmayjr]

I was a Ju-co student at the time, and I had been sleeping because I didn't have classes til later in the morning. My mom comes in to my bedroom when the first plane hit the tower, to tell me that... I was thinking "oh damn, that sucks, but I'll see it on the news later" and went back to sleep. But then 10-15 minutes later my mom wakes me up again and says a 2nd plane just hit the WTC. I was kinda half asleep, and half-joking, but I asked my mom "is school cancelled?". It sounded dumb and a lil insensitive, but when she said the 2nd plane hit, I knew there was some serious **** going on.

Me and my friends are pretty much all night owls. We had been up really late the night before, and so I called my friend to tell him to turn on a TV. He was really pissed because he hates waking up, and he just started yelling at me "WHAT ABOUT THE PENTAGON!? WHAT ABOUT THE PENTAGON!?" And that's how I found out about the Pentagon crash. I explained to him what happened, and he calmed down. I went to my one class that day, and spent the rest of the day in front of the TV, because I didn't have to work.

One extra side note- My favorite band back then, and still now, is the group Jamiroquai. They were in NYC that day, to play a gig at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Well of course the show got cancelled, along with the rest of the tour, appearances on Letterman and Leno, and they weren't allowed to leave the U.S. for 2 weeks because of all the flights being grounded. They came back to tour for the first time last fall, and it was extra special to go see them in NYC, and tour Ground Zero and all of that stuff.

Here we go.

I was on a US Naval ship that had been deployed for 4 months. We had been doing OPS in the Persian Gulf. Mostly intercept OPS with any vessels trying to leave IRAQ. We would intercept them and take those ships back to an anchorage location in the Northern Gulf area.

We had been relieved and were on our way back to the Red Sea to transit through the Suez Canal back into the Med. The plan was some liberty in Turkey, Italy, and Siciliy before returing to the US.

I'll never forget that afternoon our time. I had just knocked off my division and noticed that one of the taskings I had assigned wasn't completed. I had gone down to the berthing to chew some butt of my Petty Officer in charge. When I got there I noticed the lounge in the berthing was full of people watching TV. I thought they were watching a porn flick which is normally the only time the lounge is that full of sailors. As the senior guy of 70+ people in the berthing, when I arrived they looked at me and said "Boats, look at NYC."
We had live satelite feed.

Between the time I left the berthing and entered the senior enlisted lounge the second building was hit. Remember at this time we are off Yemen headed to the Red Sea doing about 30 knots. I turned to my fellow senior enlisted and said we are going to turn around. They didn't believe me but within 30 minutes we did.

On October 7th, 2001 I was on the flight deck at 8:00pm in the Indian Ocean. It was a glorius night, no clouds, all stars. We were about 2 miles from the USS John Paul Jones when the first tomahawks were fired into Afganistan. I turned to someone as the Tomahawk went over the horizen and said alot of people will die shortly. There was utter silence.

Originally Posted by 1st_Saturday_in_May

I was a freshman in high school. I'll never forget that the first person to break the news of the attack was my 75 year old lesbian gym teacher. Me and my buddies just camped out in front of a TV and watched it all unfold for most of the morning and when we found out the terrorists were from Afghanistan I'll always remember one friend asking 'Afghanistan? Who the **** are they?' One or two teachers (Mr. Shriver especially) continued along with their lesson plan and lectured that day, but most just let us watch the TV in their room.

I would be Mr. Shriver. We were told to keep on going with our regular plans at school and to let the parents talk to the kids when they get home. Its a big deal in Texas not to interfere with the parents right to inform. A few teachers did not tow the line and got calls from parents saying how dare you let my kids watch that without me present to explain...

I have to tell you I was completely dumbfounded how the towers actually crumbled. Some of the teachers were watching it and told me one of the towers collapsed and I said NO Way... How does that happen? And then I said I just cant see the other one collapsing and then it goes and I am completely at a loss. So much for my engineering ideas. I just could not believe they came down. Odd I know, but that was my first thought, as I was not able to follow it closely thru the day while teaching.

[Scav]

I was in college down in Carbondale. I missed class becuase of a late night playing cards and my friend came downstairs and knocked on my door and said "Yo, get ready to get drafted"

Went upstairs before the 2nd plane hit the building and missed class for the next 3 days because I was glued to CNN/Fox News/MSNBC...First time in my history that I didn't have some sort of sport on the remote go back.