I still remember

[Trevor]

Going home early from work to get ready to go see a movie: this would've been about 2 45 pm our time.

I got home, turned on the TV and the horrors I witnessed have haunted me every since, especially today.

If I am ever fortunate enough to come to New York, I will make it a priority to go to the memorial pool, the 9/11 Museum and pay my respects.

May all the innocents in the towers, the planes and at the Pentagon rest in power: after 19 years, the horror and trauma of that day are still with me and the wounds are still open and raw.  

youtube.com/watch?v=1WxwUcfH7OI&t=1s  

youtube.com/watch?v=_o-k6uhhMtc  

[claws]

I got home from work in the afternoon (European time) and was spending time in the ain't-it-cool chat when it all began. It was totally surreal, nobody knew what was going on. I watched live streams on the Internet (CNN I think?) right before the second plane hit.

A few years ago I watched tons of footage and audio recordings of it on youtube. There was footage of the "mystery woman" in one of the towers waiting for help. This really haunted me for the longest time.

[zelmo73]

We are in Alaska, 4 hours behind New York, so I was still sleeping when the first plane hit. I had left my TV on all night for some reason, so I woke up to "LIVE" footage of the World Trade Center burning, and half asleep wondering why they were showing old footage of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Then the second plane hit and that woke me up completely. By the time I was ready to leave for work that morning, the towers were falling down. I remember thinking "what a sh*tty way to start my work day."

[indianasmith]

I was teaching 8th graders first period when I went to the office to turn in attendance and heard that the towers had been hit.
We didn't have computers or televisions in our room, so I turned on the radio and we listened as events unfolded . . .

It was the worst day of my life.

[Alex]

I had just arrived at my trade training base the day before and I guess it would have been around lunchtime when we heard the news from the US. I remember walking into our crew room and seeing the news on a projection screen TV just as the second plane hit. It was the start of a very busy time for us in my job.

I hope that time has managed to at least ease the pain of those who lost loved ones that day, and through the events that followed.

[Newt]

I was sitting at the computer, online, like most mornings.
Someone posted a video or link to the news on a forum I was on so I saw video right off.
My first thought was that it was not real.  No way could it be real.  Had to be a scene from a disaster movie.  These things do not happen in real life.
The world changed in an instant.

[ER]

Anger is what I felt then and still feel but not all that anger is directed outward, and I say that because if intelligence agencies had been better connected it's possible these attacks could have been prevented. For a time after these events there was a greater effort made to bring more cohesion to joint intelligence operations but gradually there has been a slipping back to a crosstown rivalry mentality between the FBI and CIA especially, which can only benefit the enemies of the United States as each agency seeks the glory of one-upping the other to the point that requests for information sharing can sit unanswered likes it's some sort of game of annoying the other agency. It's so bad in many cases that the CIA has had to sue via FOI to get intelligence from the FBI that was meant to be shared, and I'm sure the FBI has its own similar stories of frustration and deliberate inefficiency, and it should scare Americans enough that they make it a priority to demand reform.

Some veterans of the intelligence services have gone as far as suggesting the creation of a single department handling all intelligence work, with departments within this agency reporting up one chain of command rather than the multiple diverse command structures presently held. (And by God above, the elimination of the bumbling placebo that is Homeland Security.) Though whether this would truly result in streamlining intelligence gathering and sharing, or result in a continuation of rivalries within departments instead of agencies is debatable.

(I don't advocate it, myself, as a voter and citizen but the fact it's discussed at all shows internal recognition of how bad the problem is.)

Just as a captain is called to task when he loses his ship, so the heads of US intelligence should have lost their jobs and probably their liberty over 9-11, and a lot of people under them should have been held accountable as well going far down the line.

Take or leave what I've written, but I'm not saying it off the cuff. Intelligence failed this country nineteen years ago, and it hasn't learned its lessons.

(And while I've referred to the FBI as an intelligence agency, it isn't, of course, but with its role diverging more and more from its charter, it has in effect long since entered the realm of intelligence, and actually does operate internationally under the umbrella term of crime prevention and this work has seen that agency become involved in what is absolutely intelligence.)

As for remembering today.... were alive, they're dead, the USA remains. To Hell with Islamic terrorists and all terrorists.

[RCMerchant]

I was at work. At 10:00 break I heard about it going threw the office from the factory floor on my way outside to the smoke shack. I left and went home to call my Ma, just to make sure she wasn't in the city that morning.

[Allhallowsday]

It was the perfect late Summer morning, bright sunshine, moderate temperature, a hint of an Autumn breeze.  I was working from home and got a call from my friend.  I had customers with offices in the World Trade Center; I turned on the TV.  I started screaming and acting like a madman when the first tower collapsed.  In the broadest sense, the most horrible day of my life.  It will always hurt. 

[pacman000]

What I find weird today is the passage of time. There are kids graduating high school today who weren't born till after it happened. I know the world doesn't stop, that it shouldn't stop, but it's so weird... 

[indianasmith]

I wouldn't repeat 9/11 for all the world.
But, as someone remarked earlier today, I miss the spirit of 9/12/01.
We weren't Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals, we were AMERICANS.
We were united in grief and shock and righteous anger.
For a brief moment, we felt what our grandfathers felt after Pearl Harbor.
Why does it take the worst to bring out our best?

[chainsaw midget]

I was active duty army at the time it happened.  We were doing a field exercise when the news came down.  Immediatly we were pulled out of the field and put on standby until further notice.  Nobody knew what was going to happen. 

The post went from being open (civilians could drive though) to there being armed guards and patrols everywhere 24 hours a day. 

[bob]

I was in a class in my first college go around something really early in the morning, maybe 8 or so when I heard what happened.  The class was in a computer lab so I was able to find pictures of what happened. 

[LilCerberus]

There's very few times in my life I cared about other people.
This was the most memorable.

[RCMerchant]

There's very few times in my life I cared about other people.
This was the most memorable.

That's very sad. I would pray for you, but I don't think it would help. (Because I'm an atheist- God ain't gonna  listen to me.)
I do wish you well, my friend.