Never Forget - 9/11

On the anniversary of 9/11, I'd like to share this with everyone...

On this day 18 years ago, 246 people went to sleep for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep for work tomorrow. 25 flight attendants packed their bags for their early reports. 343 firefighters, 60 police officers and 8 paramedics went to sleep for their morning shifts. 125 government employees prepared for meetings at the Pentagon. None of them got to see past 10:00 AM on Tuesday, September 11th 2001. Life can change so drastically in one single moment. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today, and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never ever take one second for granted. Remember and honor all these brave Heroes on 9/11... Never forget.

It's hard to believe but many of the younger drivers on the forum do not remember this attack. I will never forget it, as I was boarding a flight in Heathrow (UK) Airport, bound for Newark NJ airport. Returning from a long business trip, I learned of the news as I observed a woman rolling a cigar. Obviously I did not take-off that day as all flights into the US were cancelled indefinitely. Communication and information was sketchy, all I knew was that an additional plan crashed in rural PA. At the time of 9/11, I lived in a rural section of Chester County, near Downingtown. 2 days passed before I was able to connect with family. And this was crudely achieved by rigging up my laptop through the hotel TV, with an ancient 9600 baud modem. Better than nothing...

3 very long weeks later I returned to a very different environment, one void of the twin-towers; my last visual memory of them was when I took off at Newark. Little did I know at the time, they would fall 10 days later. Upon return, entering my car in the parking lot, the smoke I saw is all that remained. Surreal. I cried, because I knew there were associates who perished in the attack and that their families were forever broken. After that occurred...nothing was the same, and never will be.

God Bless the families who suffered loss resulting from that attack. Never forget...take nothing for granted, cherish every moment. Peace my friends.

On the anniversary of 9/11, I'd like to share this with everyone...

On this day 18 years ago, 246 people went to sleep for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep for work tomorrow. 25 flight attendants packed their bags for their early reports. 343 firefighters, 60 police officers and 8 paramedics went to sleep for their morning shifts. 125 government employees prepared for meetings at the Pentagon. None of them got to see past 10:00 AM on Tuesday, September 11th 2001. Life can change so drastically in one single moment. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today, and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never ever take one second for granted. Remember and honor all these brave Heroes on 9/11... Never forget.

It's hard to believe but many of the younger drivers on the forum do not remember this attack. I will never forget it, as I was boarding a flight in Heathrow (UK) Airport, bound for Newark NJ airport. Returning from a long business trip, I learned of the news as I observed a woman rolling a cigar. Obviously I did not take-off that day as all flights into the US were cancelled indefinitely. Communication and information was sketchy, all I knew was that an additional plan crashed in rural PA. At the time of 9/11, I lived in a rural section of Chester County, near Downingtown. 2 days passed before I was able to connect with family. And this was crudely achieved by rigging up my laptop through the hotel TV, with an ancient 9600 baud modem. Better than nothing...

3 very long weeks later I returned to a very different environment, one void of the twin-towers; my last visual memory of them was when I took off at Newark. Little did I know at the time, they would fall 10 days later. Upon return, entering my car in the parking lot, the smoke I saw is all that remained. Surreal. I cried, because I knew there were associates who perished in the attack and that their families were forever broken. After that occurred...nothing was the same, and never will be.

God Bless the families who suffered loss resulting from that attack. Never forget...take nothing for granted, cherish every moment. Peace my friends.

In October 2001, I flew from Orlando to Boston. Smoke was still coming up from the hole in the ground.

Our office building in Orlando was right next to MCO. For a week after the attack no planes flew in or out. It was eerie.

6th grade English class when we learned of it (gosh I feel young) TVs were on but muted all that day at school. It was a very difficult thing to understand at that age. I cant imagine the pain the victims and their families suffered, and are still suffering.

As a retired firefighter/emt, I just have to say thank you. I was actually coming off shift the morning of 9-11. We were held over from a late morning call, then my whole shift stayed the rest of the day after watching the first tower fall. I was stationed in northern Virginia, so we were all on high alert.

Anyway I truly appreciate you G-Town. I was saddened today when someone actually asked me why the flags were at half mast. I guess it still feels like it just happened for me.

So please as G Town said never forget.

I was assigned to VF-102 at NAS Oceana, VA, getting set for an upcoming scheduled deployment to the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Persian Gulf.

After working the night shift (1800-0600), I was just getting home. Shower, eat, and bed watching the morning FOX News broadcast when the aircraft hit the first tower, then live when the second tower was hit. Not too long after, the Pentagon in northern Virginia was struck. Lost 3 good friends in that one....

Long story short, we departed NOB Norfolk the next week on the USS Roosevelt and made our way to the Indian Ocean in early October, to begin bombing the bad guys round the clock. We ended up staying at sea for 159 consecutive days on that cruise before our first day off on Naples, Italy transiting on our way home.

I ended up doing 3 tours on the ground in Afghanistan, and 3 other tours in Iraq attached to Special Warfare Composite Groups taking out selected targets from long range with my big rifle.

I'm on a 34-hour reset now in Washington state in remembrance. September 11 gets harder for me each passing year. It's my worst day every single year.

I'll never forget what happened on that day and wish I could forget a lot that happened after.

I remember waking up that day turning on TV and the first plane already hit the first Tower. The commentators didn't know what to think neither did I what a tragic accident. Then the second plane hit the other Tower and we all knew we were being attacked. I'll never forget pictures of that day of firefighters walking up the stairs you could see the look on their face that they knew they weren't going to come back down alive. And the videos of the people jumping off the buildings instead of burning to death... Absolutely horrifying. The one video I will never forget is a woman jumped off the building wearing a dress and with her last bit of dignity she held her dress down so it didn't fly over her head. I'm not ashamed to say watching those videos today I cried like I did 18 years ago.

Worked a 12 hour over night shift in the Pediatric ER. Got home, hugged my kids and went to sleep. The world had changed when I woke up that afternoon. We were also on alert for a while.
God bless all those who lost family and friends. We will not forget them.
Bill R.

To pack rat and all that have served our country thank you.

Life can change so drastically in one single moment. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today, and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never ever take one second for granted. Remember and honor all these brave Heroes on 9/11... Never forget. God Bless the families who suffered loss resulting from that attack. Never forget...take nothing for granted, cherish every moment. Peace my friends.

I don't believe there is ever ANYTHING truer in life than the above words. I remember 09/11/2001 as if it was yesterday.

Disclaimer: What I am about to tell yall CANNOT LEAVE THIS FORUM NO QUESTIONS ASKED:

09/11/2001, I was in my 2nd period World Geography class at my High School in the 9th grade. I remember an administrator was wheeling TVs into every classroom so we can see this unfold live and the bell had just rang and I was getting my stuff ready to head to my next class and I had found out that the 3rd plane had hit at the Pentagon. When I saw this, I literally couldn't move for almost 2 minutes because I was in shock. My uncle who at the time was an intelligence analyst for the DIA or Defense Intelligence Agency. For almost 2 hours I was so worried about my uncle that I couldn't concentrate and it truly affected my work that day. Thank God though that my Dad had sent my brother to come get me that day and pull me out of school during my 4th period Spanish class in school. I was glad to get home that day because when I did, my Dad told me that the plane had struck the Pentagon 40ft from where my uncle's office was. My uncle had called my Dad about 15 min before I got home and told him he was ok and not a scratch on him. God was with him that day, thats for sure. I was in JROTC all 4 years of high school and I knew I loved this country before but 09/11/2001 had supercharged my patriotism levels to where they are at today. I don't like to discuss this on here, however G-Town's above words inspired me to. School had just started for us also and every Wednesday I called my uncle to talk to him and tell him I love him and that I was glad he was ok. At that time my uncle was living in Virginia and I was with my Mom, Dad and brother in Texas.

Anyway to everyone on here: Read my above passage and ESPECIALLY pay attention to G=Towns words above and take that advice for sure. I always believe EVERY DAY IS A GIFT. Whether or not there are special people in your life, Cherish EVERY moment you have on this Earth. Yall never know when it could be yalls last.

Also forgot to mention: THANKS to ALL veterans, police, fire dept, paramedics, and ALL first responders. THANK YALL FOR YALLS SERVICE. We will NEVER FORGET.