I was at a field campaign preparing for my masters. Half way though the campaing someone said that a jetliner just crashed into one of the WTCs (NYC is 6 hours late on us). At first I was like "you're kidding me right, there's 50 000 People passing through those buildings every day". Turned out he wasnt kidding, but we had to carry on with the field experiments, if we wanna get the certificate and not waste a year. So we'd carry on with what were were doing while the whole tragedy unfolded, once in a while someone would give us an oral update on what was hapenning in NYC. When we were riding the bus back to the youth hostel in hte evening, we speculated what was happening. We heard about the 2 WTCs and the Pentagon but not the 4th plane. Eveyone was like "wtf that must have been a major government and military conspiracy, cause USA has the best air defense in the world and stuff". When I said nah it was probably the same guys who syncronousy attacked the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania nad Uganda and that all you need for this is 1 pilot and 3 more guys with knives per plane, and they probably had more than the 3 planes that made it, they looked at me like I was crazy. And the question is not if you have the capability to shoot a passenger plane down in 20 minutes, but the question is: is someone gonna make that decision in 10 minutes based on lots of radio static and a funky radar track and no transponder. Back at the hostel we were like the only people who hadnt watched the whole thing on tv already 30 times, and the other people at the hostel were already bored of watching it the first time we watched the towers collapse.
I was in 6th grade, we watched the footage on the TV in class. We actually guessed in class who we thought did it. My bet was on Neo-Nazis... specially Neo-Nazis that looked like this..
Anyway got sent home early, watched the rest of the event on TV at home.. then spent 2 hours in a line at a gas station because people we're outright scared of what was going to happen.
12 years later, I understand the event with clarity, and how it was used to launch the United States into a perpetual state of war. Rest In Peace to all the victims!
Since this has stayed remarkably sane ... or someone has been hiding comments that went off track ...
I had gone to a house to install a radon mitigation system. My sister had called me just before my wife and I left to tell me a plane had hit the WTC, but she didn't say that it was a big plane. So we were thinking, gee, it's just a small plane or something else like that. Listened to the radio while we were working. I'm still not sure how the heck we did our job that day - the home owner was also there, and he was listening to our work radio with us.
He was a WWII veteran, and remembered when the B-17 had flown into the Empire State building. We were all going - well, these buildings are designed to handle certain things - and then we heard them announce that the towers had fallen. At one point we thought there were in excess of 10,000 people dead there. The homeowner said the same thing we were thinking - Well, we're at war. Who are we at war with now?
We finished up the job and went home and just sat in front of a TV the rest of the day. My wife and I are both prior service, and we were wondering when her brother (who was, and still is, in the Reserves) was going to get called up. One thing we did do was head out and fill up on gas for all our vehicles, because we knew there was going to be some gas gouging going on for the next few days - and quite honestly, we thought the short and long term consequences of this were going to be worse than they were.
(I'm not saying they haven't been bad - but we also didn't pop any nukes, which would have qualified as a BAD thing.)
(11-21-2013, 12:53 PM)Jihadjoe Wrote: Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.
I had been working for a TV news station for a number of years as Photojournalist/editor/producer. The station was getting bought out and I knew I was already on my way out the door for a number of reasons. I had two weeks left on my contract. I left my part time Bartending job and rode my bike home. No keys when I get home, I left them in a friends car earlier in the day...No phone so...back to the bar to use the phone...on the way there, I splash my bike on the side walk and split my hand wide open. Long story short, I call my friend and get my keys and a ride to the hospital, I get stitched up, its now about 7am and I call the AM NewsDirector and tell him that the Docs have told me to stay off my hand, not lift any weight with it, keep it elevated. He says how long am I going to be out, I said the Doc said 2 weeks, he said, then why don´t you just take the Vacation time you got and we can all part ways. I said I was cool with that. I hop on a bus and ride home. I left the TV on for the cat I had at the time. Between, the pain pills, the joint I had smoked waiting for the bus, I was a bit looped. When I opened the door, I could see the TV and I wondered what was Die Hard doing playing this early in the morning. Then I hear Matt Laure and Katie Curick...and I said shit, that is live. I was reaching for the phone to call my Brother, and I saw the second plane hit, I sat and watched for a few minutes trying to make sense of it and the phone rings.....Its my News Director, telling me that they need me back at the station asap, that they got to send me to NY in the SAT truck, that its the biggest story of the century.....I just hung up with out saying anything, it was my last day working as a Journalist/Photog. I was thankful that life had set about a series of coincidences to allow me a way out of having to cover that story.
A few hours later, the Prez is about to come on TV. Right before it, there is a Public Service commercial from local law enforcement...it stated that if you "Smoke Weed, you are aiding Terrorism". I was like wow, that was really fast, has not been 5 hours since the towers came down and Pot smokers are now the same as Terrorist. Right after that, Bush gives his, "You are with us or against us" line, and I was still smoking the same Joint as when the commercial aired. I left the US six months later.
Hmmm.... I was about 5 years old back then, but I do remember that i was at a restaurant with my family, some people called us saying that some country started war against USA!
We got back home, my father turned the TV on, and stood amazed!
Edit: Since then he knew that the next years would be the worst the world would face...
I was sitting at home sick with my uncle who was visiting from New York. He was a recently retired New York Fireman and was actualy raging mad that he wasn't there. it was confusing as hell.
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