OPPO, where were you ?

"V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches" (jbv12) 09/11/2015 at 12:42 • Filed to: None

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It’s sort of clichéd, but where were you on 9/11/01. I was sitting in my basement watching T.V when my mom came downstairs crying. She brought me upstairs just as the second plane hit.

HammerheadFistpunch > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:46

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I was volunteering at a food bank in a small town that was populated with 80% Army and Airforce. It was an intelligence training base and I can tell you, it was a pretty cold mood around town for a WHILE.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:46

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I have no idea, as I was 3 at the time. Probably ogling my neighbor’s Fiero.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:49

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Uh...in my second grade classroom

Grindintosecond > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:50

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I was flying a cargo load in the northeast. The controlling center asked how soon I could get on the ground. I told him I was in the descent to my destination already and would be on the ground in perhaps fifteen minutes or less. that was fine with him. I had no idea what had happened. I watched the second hit from the FBO lounge on the airport then went home. I got drunk that night.

The very next day, I wish I had a camera. A group of biker types-I mean bikers . Were in their very best black leathers, waving american flage, walking down the sidewalk and holding a white bedsheet with black shoe polish saying, “For those that care, Nuke em!”

Then the rest is history. For anyone under twenty, that was Lee Greenwood breaking out and scoring a new number one hit, touring all the best baseball and football stadiums and racetracks.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:52

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1st grade, the teachers kept calm enough that we didn’t know what had happened until I got home to my Mom in tears.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 09/11/2015 at 12:53

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Ditto.

William Byrd > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:53

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Tysons Corner, VA. We were in a business park with lots of US Gov defense contractor offices, looking out the window for more planes. After the first hit, I got CNN to load finally and thought it was an accident. Not too much later it became crystal clear that was not the case.

I went downstairs and watched coverage on our corporate conference center on a screen that was probably 1-story tall, it was massive. I went in and out watching coverage and going back to my office, checking on friends in DC. I watched the first tower fall and the gasp and following silence in the room I can still feel when I think about it. As I said in another thread, no day so long ago is so vivid in my brain.

I was supporting the US Army Corps of Engineers at the time, who were mobilizing to help with recovery. I left the office around 4pm to go pack a bag and keep working, saw the smoke from the pentagon from the DC beltway (which was empty). I worked overnight in Baltimore, which was the USACE HQ for the Northeast for the next couple of nights. Will always remember the empty skies for the next couple of days, very strange to not see/hear planes.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:53

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In another country, actually.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:53

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I was in 5th grade at school. They didn’t tell us ANYTHING about what had happened or what was going on. And since I didn’t have a cell phone back then, I didn’t hear about it until I got home around 2 or so. It was an odd day because people kept getting called down to the office to leave school early. Since we had no information at all, and there was a cop outside the school, my assumption was that all of these people were getting arrested. It was strange to go home and see all of the replays on the news. Would have been nice if the school actually informed us what was going on. Sure I was in 5th grade, but I was definitely old enough to understand what had happened and felt slighted by being kept out of the loop.

Jcarr > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:55

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I was a senior in highschool. I can remember that day from beginning to end, even what I was wearing. As I made my way from my 1st period class to my next I ran into a friend in the hallway who was all worked up and babbling about a plane crash or something.

I walked into my 2nd period journalism class and saw my teacher standing slack-jawed staring at the TV. I sat down at my table and shortly thereafter, the first tower fell.

As a typical American teen, I had never really felt concern about terrorism, but I remember feeling actual fear that morning.

The rest of the day was surreal as schoolwork was set aside and we just watched the TV coverage. I even remember running home at lunch and seeing that the Food Network had suspended their programming for the day out of respect. A weird, innocuous detail, but something that illustrated the enormity of the day to me.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:56

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Just started grade 2. Didn't know 'til I got home. I had no idea what the WTC was, but I did know people just don't run planes into things and it would be bad. I do remember being really pissed at Jean Cretien (don't know if that's spelt right, don't care) for not helping the US afterwards though.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:56

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I was at school when the first plane hit. They made an announcement about the WTC being attacked and in the next break between classes, a friend of mine who had a handheld TV (remember those?) got the news on it in time to see the second plane hit. At that point, everyone started freaking out, people were crowding in to get a look at this 4” screen, and everyone knew what was going on to some extent. Rumors started flying, and the school administrators decided that all of the classes for the rest of the day were going to play the news on TV. School was out by about 1 pm, and I spent the rest of the night watching TV as my parents were making frantic calls to friends and family who worked there or with FDNY or NYPD to make sure they were okay. Luckily, our family didn’t lose anyone, but my Uncle’s firehouse lost eight people and my Aunt (who was out of the office for a funeral) lost pretty much everyone in her company since they were on one of the floors hit. Mostly, I remember shock.

jariten1781 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 12:56

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Was in a Thermodynamics lecture. I had made a workaround so I could get on the internet from the lab computers and suddenly every single news site went down. Eventually after a lot of refreshing and trying things Drudge loaded up with a picture of the first tower burning and a headline saying something like “Plane strikes WTC, terror?”. Went out into the lobby of the building which had TVs and watched as the second plane hit. Went back into the classroom and talked to the lecturer who dismissed the class and flipped the overhead to project CNN (no sound). Almost no students left. Watched there on the big screen till the first tower came down then went and hopped on my bike and rode back to my apartment so I could call my girlfriend/parents (no cell phone for me yet). Watched the news all day.

It’s all firmly etched in memory, I can recall where the classroom is, where my seat was, where I was standing in the lobby etc. Still wander by every time I go back to campus for a ballgame. Can’t remember a single other location or day from college with that type of uncanny clarity.

MPA > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:01

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I’m in the midwest - I was working til 2am at the time, and I woke up at about 11:30am. My dad was a Local 3 electrician at the time, and I was pretty sure he didn’t work at WTC, but I still waited for him to call me when he got home.

My grandfather was an electrician as well, and worked on the towers while being built.

My childhood friend lost her father that day - Steven R. Strauss. He was last known to be in an elevator when the 1st tower was hit.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:02

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Gym class in elementary school. I think the gym teacher had a little tube TV in the shed building where the equipment was stored. People were also freaking out that someone was going to attack the nuclear power plant near us in south Florida

Snuze: Needs another Swede > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:04

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Sitting in my AP Calculus Class, senior year of high school. I can’t remember how it happened, might have been an announcement over the PA, but my teacher turned the TV on to CNN and they were showing the plane hitting the first, over and over again. Most of us just sat and watched in silence, seeing the second plane. The collapse. I really don’t remember much of the rest of the day.

I distinctly remember a couple guys sitting behind me cracking jokes - they were friends with a German exchange student who was also in the class, and they kept ribbing him, saying things like “That doesn’t look like an accident. I bet the Germans did it...”

I also remember that was the day that I made up my mind to join the military. I had been considering it for a while, but after that I knew it was going to happen. It wasn’t out of revenge... at that point we had no idea who was responsible. It was just a sense of duty, of obligation, to my country. To give back and to help ensure it never happened again.

Nibby > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:04

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I was in 5th grade. School made an announcement and I remember my classmate crying cause her dad worked at the world trade center. He ended up being fine.

Dad took me to Manhattan just that Sunday before on the way to seeing Peyton Manning and the colts play the jets.

Takuro Spirit > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:06

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At work, getting ready for the day. As I opened up my box and went to the service drive to grab a work order, I heard one of our writers in the lounge yell “HOLY SHIT ANOTHER PLANE JUST HIT IT!”

Me and a couple others went in to see what was going on and just stood there, not knowing if it was a cargo plane, military plane, civilian plane....

The service manager came in and told us to get to work (he was a dick) so we did.

I turned my radio on to listen to the news (some stations were still playing music) and slowly started changing oil on some Dodge product.

My service manager came over and asked what was taking so long, and I apologized, said the news was kind of hard to take and says “Then turn off the radio, and get back to work”

He was a dick.

I went back up front once done, turning in the keys and paperwork, and EVERYONE was in the lounge. The writers, some techs, ALL the customers.

“Do you really think they’re in a hurry to leave?” I asked my service manager. He just gave me a nasty look and went in the lounge to shoo employees away again.

We ended up closing early thanks to the GENERAL manager (who was less of a dick) after a nice young lady came by and was handing out little red/white/blue ribbons she had made.

I put it on my antenna and drove home. Listening to the news. Unable to feel.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:07

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I was actually up in MT at my dad’s ranch and we didn’t really have any idea. My aunt was there too and I remember they thought a Cessna had hit a building in NYC on the news, didn’t think much of it, so we went on with our day.

McMike > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:09

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I was at home, watching it unfold right before my eyes while on the phone with Mrs McMike.

She was in DC trying to get out, and I was looking at paper maps at paper maps trying to find her a route home over the Potomac before the closed all the bridges.

While we she were effected by traffic and hysteria of the false “other bombs/explosions” reports, our story pales in comparison to anyone who lost a family member or was directly effected by the events that morning.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 09/11/2015 at 13:11

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I was in high school when the OJ trial was on and on the verdict day I had a cool teacher who let us watch. That’s the only timw something effected a school day back then.

EL_ULY > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:11

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9th grade classroom watching it on TV. More than 80% of the school had been picked up by the end of the day. The next day, we also found out the dude that sat behind me in that class had collapsed during football practice and died. The morning of 9/12 was just utter shit

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:14

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If memory serves me right, the first plane hit as I got on the bus for school. It was 1st grade so I don’t really remember much of what happened.

Officer Jim Lahey is not a real cop > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:14

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I was in English class (high school) on Long Island. We could see the smoke on the horizon. Fortunately my dad and two uncles who sometimes worked in the WTC were elsewhere that day, but many classmates weren’t as fortunate.

Justin Young > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:14

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I was asleep...because timezone.

But as a 3-year-old at that time, I didn’t see breaking news about 9/11.

wiffleballtony > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:20

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I had just moved out to Arizona to go to college. At the moment, I was getting ready for class, turned the TV on and there it was. I remember thinking someone was going to get a serious bollocking as a result of it.

T5Killer > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:25

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I slept in late due to a long night of drinking with friends. My mom Woke me up “Some one attacked the pentagon and NYC” I jumped up and was instantly not hung over anymore, watched TV and called a friend who’s family was in NYC and got ready for work (i had started a new job So I didn’t want to miss a day) What a creepy drive to work. No one on the roads, no planes in the sky, all the radio channels were news and there were police blocking every bridge crossing. I ended up not doing any work since no one was calling in and just had a whole shift of hitting F5 on CNN.com and other news sites wishing I had enlisted right out of HS.

TheRealBicycleBuck > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:30

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I was in grad school at the time, so I was on my 80-mile commute when the first plane hit. I heard about it on the radio. I knew that it wasn’t an accident and called my wife who was pregnant with our first child. We had a very depressing discussion about the event.

I arrived at the university and discovered everyone standing in the hallways watching the monitors which normally carried local events and announcements. The second plane hit while I was standing there with the crowd.

The university decided to close for the day. It was a long drive home.

CaptDale - is secretly British > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:32

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Just woke up getting ready for school. I think we were late watching the news (West coast here)

for Michigan > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:33

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I was eight at the time, home schooled, and my family didn’t have cable but we did have dial up internet. Don’t really remember anything until my dad got home from work and my parents started taking about it. They hooked the TV up to the old antenna we never used and we spent the next week or so camped out in the living room watching the news and Seinfeld.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:36

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I was in 5th grade at the time - first week of the school, even. It was kind of cheery until the principal came in and whispered something to our teacher. I remember the day I saw her face show an emotion that (for the last 14 years of my life) had been scarred into my memory permanently;

It was the emotion of fear, shock and horror rolled into one.

The next thing me and my classmates knew, we turned on the TV just as the second plane hit.

Mind you, I was a little bit naive at the time, thinking violence and (mass) murder existed on TV shows and movies. If there was a more horrendous way to yank out a child’s innocence and safety...

Shift24 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:40

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I was in 5th grade when it happened. All I remember was that we were coming in from recess and the teachers office had tvs on with the teachers all huddled around. I stopped to look in, as any elementary school kid would, and saw what was happening. I think I thought it was a movie at first but after seeing the news logos and the teacher’s faces I knew it was something much more. We were finally told what happened very late in the day but I still didnt fully understand. And to be fully honest I didnt even know what the twin towers were until then.

When we got home my mom sat me and my sisters down and asked if we had any questions on what happened. Of course we did and she answered each one with a calm demeanor and at the end assured us we were fine. So we watched Who’s Line is Any Way and that was it.

Jcarr > jariten1781 09/11/2015 at 13:46

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I know exactly what you mean. I was a senior in highschool and I can recall the entire day from start to finish, down to what I was wearing that day.

JR1 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 13:58

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I was in 1st grade. Got called out of school early. The teachers didn’t tell us. My dad told me what happened on the ride home. I say it on TV and even as a kid it still resonated with me what had just happened. I asked if it was like Pearl Harbor. And my parents said yes it was.

Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again. > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:02

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I was at my grandparents with my family, I can’t remember if I saw it live, but I do remember my grandma repeating “this means war, this means war!” as we watched the coverage.

I really wish she had been wrong.

marshknute > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:03

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I was in 3rd grade. We were all working on something (math, writing? Can’t remember). One of the Vice Principals came in and pulled our teacher into the hall. When she came back in she had us all huddle together in the reading corner and told us that some planes crashed into some NYC buildings (we hade no idea what a Trade Center was at that age).

We packed our backpacks and waited while the school busses were scrambled to send us home. We couldn’t really appreciate what was going on and we hadn’t even seen the news on TV at this point (hell, we only talked about the new F&F movie on the bus ride home).

I remember the bus dropping me off and my mom wasn’t even outside to greet me (my mom ALWAYS greeted me at the end of the driveway. I let myself into the house and found her glued to the TV and an image of one smoking building. One.

I asked my mom if that was one of the buildings that got hit. Yes it was. Then I asked her when they would show the other building. I didn’t know what to say when she told me where it was supposed to be.

Everything after that is just a blur of replays and “grown up talk” from the reporters and my parents. I knew what was happening was bad, but was still too young (and too sheltered) to follow what the reporters were saying. I’ve never seen my parents so glued to the TV before.

But what scared me was the fact that my parents couldn’t explain what was happening. It was the first time in my life my parents didn’t have all the answers.

Joe F > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:03

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Sleeping.

Sleeping on my couch because I was too lazy the night before to bother dragging my ass to bed.

Not a great story.

Sort of like the fact that I am sure some guy was beating off when Kennedy was assassinated. Of course when people asked him where he was, he had to make up a lie.

Svend > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:03

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One of the most surreal days of my life. Working in the Nederlands and went on a coffee break from the factory floor and looked up at the TV to see the planes hitting the towers from different angles on repeat. I thought it was a film at first then others in the canteen noticed and that’s when it dawned on us what had happened. The world had been changing a long time before then, but that it when it changed completely.

RallyWrench > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:04

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Walking to class at college on a foggy morning at about 7am, and somebody random just asked me, wide eyed, “did you hear?”. I hadn’t listened to NPR that morning, which was unusual for me. Classes all just combined in silence and watched the news in shock on whatever roll-in TVs and radios the school could scrounge up.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:42

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I was three, so I don’t remember, but I still have the letter my mother wrote me on 9/11/2001 knowing that I would read it in the future.

Klaus Schmoll > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 14:54

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I had just visited a friend in hospital who had just given birth to her firstborn (Lea was born on 11.09.2001) and then was on the Autobahn on my way to the in-laws when my mum called, telling me to switch on the radio. Holding a newborn and then watching the planes hit the towers in endless repeat the same day.

blacktruck18 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 15:06

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I was 21 working at a corn mill in Paris, IL. We were all sitting around the smoke shed on our lunch break, one of the maintenance guys had just been at the administrative building and had seen the news on TV. He ran over to the shed and told us. I was pretty worried because I have alot of family in NYC, including an aunt who worked at 7 WTC Plaza, luckily they were all okay. Someone else working at the mill said something about “I hope they don’t hit us.” Meaning the mill, it sounds ridiculous now but, we were in the tallest building for 3 counties. We knew so little about what was going on that it seemed possible. Highly, highly unlikely but possible.

That afternoon when I got off work I needed to get gas before I went to my night job delivering pizzas. The lines at the gas stations were insane. I ended up being late for work because it took me so long to get gas. When I got home around 4pm my roommate was watching TV and filled me in on everything while I was getting ready to go to the pizza place. I didn’t really get to sit in front of a TV until I got to the pizza place. That night was the slowest night I ever worked there. We ended up closing at 9pm. I remember the next day the butcher shop in town had changed their sign to “Coming Soon, a big parking lot in Afghanistan.” I remembered thinking I don’t even know where that is. A little more than 10 years later I was in the Army and there.

Your boy, BJR > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 15:23

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2nd grade. Heard some teachers saying there's the smoke! And pointing north. Then we got an announcement to go home early. Both my parents were there. That's the day I learned the word terrorism.

BKosher84 > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 15:29

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Junior Year of high school, I was in my CAD class (I went to a vocational HS) and half of our day was spent in our vocational studies.. One of the Seniors between his morning classes came in and told us what was going on. We all frantically stopped working and attempted to get on CNN.com/Foxnews.com or any other news site.. None of them were loading. We ended up getting a TV in the room just before Tower 2 fell... Lunch was very quiet that day as all the TV’s hanging on from the walls were turned to the news...

Wurrwulf > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 09/11/2015 at 17:18

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I was in 8th grade, and we were kept in the dark about it, as well. During lunch, a buddy walked into class to drop off his bag, and caught a glimpse of the TV the teachers were watching. He told me that he thought something big had happened and to turn on the TV when I got home. I asked, “What channel?” He said, “It doesn’t matter.”

When I finally got home and turned on the TV, I dropped my bag and sat on the couch for the next three hours. It was surreal. My mom was pissed that we weren’t told by administration.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Wurrwulf 09/11/2015 at 18:25

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It just seems like such a bad idea to not tell people, even if we were just kids. I really wonder what the thought process behind that was.

pip bip - choose Corrour > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 20:17

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watching the West Wing , 11pm or so at night , Hamilton Victoria , only been in Hamilton for two months at that point.

fhrblig > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 09/11/2015 at 22:05

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I worked for a rental car agency at the Denver airport at the time, but Tuesday and Wednesday were my days off so I was asleep when everything went down. My phone rang, but I didn’t really wake up until I heard the message being left by my mom. She vaguely described what had happened and suggested I turn on the TV. I jumped up and turned it on and was stunned, like everyone else. I spent that day in a numb stupor.

I was dead broke at the time, but I donated $200 to Red Cross since I wasn’t allowed to donate blood. After going back to work a couple days later, everything was chaos. All the flights were grounded, so there were few customers. When flights were allowed to resume business was still just a trickle. I had only been at my job for just under two years, and a couple weeks later everyone that had been hired after me had been laid off. I was incredibly lucky to keep mine.