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I can echo what Matty says up to a large degree, except that I dont get to shoot nasty people.

I heard about the attacks relatively late, having got up in the afternoon after a online game all nighter.

There were no thoughts of disbelief, instead I wondered why such a thing had not happed before. After that was the thought: terrorism, in New York. Ok, perhaps that measn next time the IRA come around asking for a donation for their so-called 'cause' Americans might think twice about it. To a large extent this was justified, and quickly too, the US had a to be frank childish opinion of the balance of world affairs, freedom fighters/terrorists and race history. The US yet to learn not to yap on cue when hardline Israeli governments want to do something unsavoury, but 'plastic paddies' no longer get the unthinking support (strong emphasis on the word unthinking) they used to.

Within a few weeks Gerry Adams was beginning to come through on his rhetoric and the Continuity IRA/Real IRA suddenly stopped bombing people. The Troubles havent restarted.

Albatross wrote:MOAR 9/11 threads!:

How did your pets react to 9/11?

What where you eating on 9/11?

Help, I'm having difficulty eating bread rolls, sausage rolls and driving my Rolls Royce, because it reminds me of 'Let's Roll'.

Hmm. I think I may have crossed a little too far over the line into irreverence. My apologies.

It's not like the title of this thread was misleading. If you are tired of 9/11 threads, it takes less energy to simply not open them rather then make a conscious effort to go crap in them.

Orlanth wrote:I can echo what Matty says up to a large degree, except that I dont get to shoot nasty people.

I heard about the attacks relatively late, having got up in the afternoon after a online game all nighter.

There were no thoughts of disbelief, instead I wondered why such a thing had not happed before. After that was the thought: terrorism, in New York. Ok, perhaps that measn next time the IRA come around asking for a donation for their so-called 'cause' Americans might think twice about it. To a large extent this was justified, and quickly too, the US had a to be frank childish opinion of the balance of world affairs, freedom fighters/terrorists and race history. The US yet to learn not to yap on cue when hardline Israeli governments want to do something unsavoury, but 'plastic paddies' no longer get the unthinking support (strong emphasis on the word unthinking) they used to.

Within a few weeks Gerry Adams was beginning to come through on his rhetoric and the Continuity IRA/Real IRA suddenly stopped bombing people. The Troubles havent restarted.

Oh yeah that's a good point, I remember seeing some American kids myspace page years ago when MS was popular, and it was a montage of the twin towers and Gerry Adams and Irish flags.

I was in first grade, and my mom wouldn't let me look at the TV. Then my dad called (He was in Sweden I think, somewhere in Europe, but probably Sweden) to say that everything as alright, but he wasn't going to be home for a while. He cam back almost three weeks latter. We had always gone to the gate to meet my dad coming off a plane, but the new security wouldn't let us do that.

Just started secondary school, got home after an unusually sunny day and turned on the TV.

The scenes looked almost fake. It was very hard to believe.

I didn't feel anything then, and I don't really feel anything now.

Sure when they interview some of the victims families the stiff upper lip might come into play, but the actual event itself?

Not so much.

A work mate and I had a terribly disgusting idea for a 'bad taste' party that we later aborted due to laziness.

I am not a classy man.

I was in the second grade, and school started at 8:00, so a little after the first plane hit, the teacher turned on the Television. Channel 7, NBC. I remember. It was a foolish and traumatizing thing to show to an entire class full of of kids who had little problems in life other that what their starter pokemon was, or how far they got through harry potter.....And I remember my absolute disbelief and shock at the second plane, despite being unable to comprehend the monstrous and abominable consequences of that day. I can remember an announcer screaming "oh god, oh god! There's another plane ohgodohgod"

And then the first tower fell. And it was like a wave of sorrow and fear. So many lives were snuffed out at that very moment. And I understood that.... They turned off the TV after that. I don't remember seeing the second tower fall. My mother forced her way into my classroom, and dragged me out... We had a silent car ride home, and we flipped on the TV. It wasn't over yet. It wouldn't be over for months. I remember calling my grandfather, who lived a couple of miles away. He's from Brooklyn, and I just remember him being speechless.

My father was stationed in Quantico at the time, and apparently it was a Fething blood bath there. Marines screaming insane vulgarities and all the jazz you'd expect from the few and the proud. I can imagine that experience would be one of the most traumatizing....

I saw the 2nd plance hit when I got home from an early shift.

My boss called up soon after and we decided to spend the rest of the day in the pub with Sky News on.

We raised a glass to those who had died and spent the rest of the day trying to make sense of it. My boss got most of it spot on.

dogma wrote:

Amaya wrote:I knew we were going back to the Middle East as soon as I saw it.

Afghanistan is in Central Asia.

Amaya wrote:
Looking back at. I'm mainly amazed at how poor the terrorist attack was, they could have attacked the White House and done more symbolic damage, they could have attacked a major sporting event and caused a much greater loss of life. I've always been unimpressed with their tactics and understanding of the American psyche.

As I recall the stated aim was to start "bleeding wars", and in that respect the attacks were very successful.

Also, from the perspective of a conservative Muslim New York is a much more prominent symbol of America than anything in Washington.

And Iraq is in the Middle East. Derp.

6,000 dead, close to 50,000 wounded. Those are not significant numbers over a 9 year span. The 1+ trillion expense on the other hand...

1st grade, we let out early, and I was rushed home by my mom, who was in tears. She sent me and my brother upstairs to watch cartoon network, and told us to not change the channel no matter what. The T.V. upstairs already had the news on. We got a good replay of the planes hitting the towers. My brother started crying, and I just stared. I had nightmares about it.

I was in the control room at work, starting up one of our chemical plant units when one of the operators came in and asked if we were at war or something. I had been there since 3 AM.

We turned on the TV that we use to monitor the flare stack about 1 minute after the second plane hit. We watched in silence for a while, trying to make sense of what we were watching.

We completed the startup when the towers started falling. Most of the operators in the room had been in the armed forces. To a man, the response was "It's time to bomb the feth out of some people."

I was an Army ROTC instructor at a university, prepping for a class on first aid I was supposed to teach the freshmen later that day, as well as planning the logistics for a training exercise we had coming up.

Our admin guy called us into the lounge area of the offiice where we had a TV just in time to watch the second plane smash in.

My initial thoughts were "Damn, this is a well coordinated attack, I wonder how many more planes are involved?" My next thoughts were guesses as to what organization or country had pulled this off.

As I continued to watch and the towers collapsed and word of the Pentagon strike came out I got more and more pissed that I was stuck in ROTC land and would not be in on the ass kicking I knew someone was going to get, and wondered how many buddies of mine may have gotten capped at the Pentagon (answer 1, took 3 days to get confirmation).

As I went to my first class of the day some of my cadets from my afternoon class were telling me the Airforce cadets had been told not to wear their uniforms and wondered what Army was going to do. I pointed to my uniform I was wearing and let them know "If our ROTC cadets are on athe active target list, you're already screwed, wear your uniforms and just be calm. Don't talk to any reporters, send them to us cadre".

When I got the chance I called my wife (at an army school in a different state) and my kids (in a third state staying with my in-laws).

So, I guess I felt pissed I would not be in on the upcoming ass kicking I knew we would be handing out, and pissed the attacks were as successful as they were.

It did allow us to push the cadets a LOT harder than we had been allowed to previously, and to hold them to standards that some had been allowed to stray from. I enjoyed that part.

Jake

I was in 4th grade, was nine years old at the time...Ironically enough I stayed home that day because I was feeling under the weather and had been sick the night before so I was at home when it happened...

I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the Andy Griffith show and after it was over my Grandmother turned the channel to the news...that was when the first plane hit and it was really confusing...people were saying different things but most thought it was an accident, at least that was what the reporters were saying. I remember thinking I've never seen so much smoke come from one building before...

Then the second one hit...I was really confused at this point, for one moment I thought the same building had exploded a second time until they showed it from a different angle and I saw it was actually the second building that was hit...

My uncle, who had been in New York during the World Trade center bombings in the nineties...he slammed his fist into a table and nearly broke it, he started shouting about terrorists and what not, confusing me even more...I remember watching it like it was some sort of movie...it was entertaining, I was so young back then I didn't realize all the people that were dying that day...

I remember my dad, he was just about as pissed about it as my uncle, that very day he drove up to a marine recruiting office and offered himself for reenlistment (He had been in the Corps during The first Gulf War and had already gone over there.) I remember him just saying the US was going to finish it this time, didn't know what he meant by that until later...The recruiters turned him away obviously...and I remember seeing a lot of other people coming up for the same thing, both teens and older guys...


I remember that entire week being really sombre and sad, the flags were put at half mast and in the morning at school they played the anthem as well as the pledge in the morning...then there were a lot of things said by the President and so on and so forth...I remember that there were a lot of people that were angry.

During that week I saw a lot of military stuff being moved around too...There were Humvees being moved around on flatbed trucks and Trains that were moving battle tanks...I remember some weird story about some APCs being moved form one place to another by just being driven there because their transport had broken down...I thought it would be funny to see some armored vehicles going down the street, how people would look at that in their cars...

About a month afterwards I noticed one of my friends at school, a Muslim kid, just as old as I was, he was being bullied by other kids who had heard their parents talk about how horrible Muslims were...I did my best to stand up for him but it was a bad affair all around, I think that's when I figured out the scope of what had happened, it was a lot bigger than I originally thought...

that is pretty much exactly what happened to me, WARORK, i was in first or second grade though.

I came home in time to see the second plane hit the second tower, i saw the whole thing fold in on itself, like some sort of tripod.
at the time, I was more surprised than scared. I remember my uncle said he would have reenlisted in the Marines if not for the fact that the age limit was passed.

I was driving back from retail training (I was working for Odeon Cinemas at the time) and turned on Radio 1 expecting to hear Chris Moyles's usual nonsense. A song was playing and this was followed by another and another. Normally, you'd have one tune every 15 minutes to break up the banter, but the music just kept on playing.

Eventually Chris Moyles came on and said something to effect of "Obviously we're not doing our usual program today because of the attacks on America." I thought "Uh huh" and upon arriving home, turned on the tv. The towers were down by that point and a montage of repeated images was being shown. I just sat there gob smacked for hours. I can't remember what I thought would happen, but I guess knew there'd be consequences.

I woke up to get ready for work. While getting ready I was watching the first tower smoking, the second hadnt even been hit yet. Then on my way to work I heard on the radio the 2nd tower was hit. I worked at Target at the time, and so most of the employees and my self were standing in the electronics section just watching it all unfold. I remember just being totally shocked that, that happened at all. I couldnt believe it, specially when they started showing people jumping out of the buildings from way up, that made me feel pretty sad for those people. Then when it all fell down, I was just speechless. I really dont remember much after that the rest of the day.

I was seven at the time, and got back from school and was upset that my parents wouldn't allow me to watch CBBC because of some news story about something happening in New York.

What I had forgotten at the time was that my grandparents were on holiday in America at the time, and they were travelling across the country by plane that day; their plane had left Boston Airport only a few minutes before one of the planes that was hijacked. Understandably my parents were incredibly worried as to the location of my grandparents.

I still don't feel that much about it, I understand the concept of it being a huge atrocity, and it being the reasoning behind the invasion of afghanistan, but I think that because I was that age when it happened, I was old enough that I wasn't raised in a society that had been affected by the attacks, but I wasn't old enough at the time to understand their importance, so they just haven't left an impression.

Amaya wrote:
And Iraq is in the Middle East. Derp.

You predicted the invasion of Iraq based only on 9/11? You must be prescient.

Amaya wrote:
6,000 dead, close to 50,000 wounded. Those are not significant numbers over a 9 year span. The 1+ trillion expense on the other hand...

So, good job Al-Qaeda, you trolled the US.

I was 12 when it happened.

I home sick from school that day, and I remember I was resting in my bed when my dad came into my room and said "Ty! Come downstairs and see the news! Someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Centre!"

Went downstairs and he had CNN on. The whole screen was given over to the live camera feed. And sure enough, there was one of the towers with a huge hole in the side and smoke just -pouring- out.

I don't think I really understood what I was seeing until the other plane hit. And then we were just standing there, glued to the screen. We watched for what seemed like hours, and then all of a sudden this big cloud of dust comes rushing toward the camera, and all these people are running away from the towers, and the next thing we knew, the towers were gone and everything was -covered- in concrete dust.

I was still sick come Wednesday, but everyone got the day off of school. I guess there were a few kids that had relatives that were in the towers, and they were really messed up because they hadn't heard from them since the attack.

Amaya wrote:And Iraq is in the Middle East. Derp.

Wrong war, Epic fail.

I was 7 years old in second grade and I thought I was watching a movie or show at the time. Then the newscaster appeared and I put two and two together. Then we all went home early and I watched it on the news again, and again (mom wouldn't let me change the channel) so I think that scarred me a little but other than that life went on for me. I wasn't being tough I was just seven so I didn't really focus on it.

I was also around 7 and to be honest it didn't really bother me, we had an emergency school assembly that bored me and it wasn't really until I got home and watched the news that I understood what was actually happening.

dogma wrote:

Amaya wrote:
And Iraq is in the Middle East. Derp.

You predicted the invasion of Iraq based only on 9/11? You must be prescient.

Amaya wrote:
6,000 dead, close to 50,000 wounded. Those are not significant numbers over a 9 year span. The 1+ trillion expense on the other hand...

So, good job Al-Qaeda, you trolled the US.

Or maybe it's because my dad is an MI Officer in the army and has enough sense to understand that in addition to directly going after Osama we would also be going back into Iraq to remove Hussein.

Yeah, at most this war is Al-Qaeda trolling the US. The only people really suffering in this war are the Iraqis and Afghanis.

Amaya wrote:Or maybe it's because my dad is an MI Officer in the army and has enough sense to understand that in addition to directly going after Osama we would also be going back into Iraq to remove Hussein.

I don't believe for 1 second that the day the plains flew into the buildings your dad said "Well we are going to war in Iraq".

Amaya wrote:The only people really suffering in this war are the Iraqis and Afghanis.

Are you being sarcastic or ?

Amaya wrote:
Or maybe it's because my dad is an MI Officer in the army and has enough sense to understand that in addition to directly going after Osama we would also be going back into Iraq to remove Hussein.

It makes even less sense when you say it like that. More poignantly, such a prediction would indicate that the Iraq War was the product of zeitgeist, and not actual security concerns.

Amaya wrote:
Yeah, at most this war is Al-Qaeda trolling the US. The only people really suffering in this war are the Iraqis and Afghanis.

And Pakistanis, and some Egyptians, Somalis, and probably some Saudis. Also, Filipinos.

Oh, and the US military.

mattyrm wrote: I apologise if this sounds callous to people that might have friends or some such that died on that day, but i'm just being honest here. Take solace from the fact that I am well aware that you don't care even slightly that some of my best friends got KIA.

I was at CTCRM and I just did a boring ass 6 month tour in Northern Ireland.

I was genuinely happy about it, not only because I care little for people I have never met, but because I joined the RM a few years earlier on the back of the Luxor tourist massacre, and that rage and blood lust got me through my commando tests, and as soon as this happened I knew It would absolutely guarantee me the chance to go and feth some people up that I desperately wanted to feth up.

I was right, and it was awesome. I got two tours of Iraq and Afghanistan under my belt, so it turned out perfectly for me.

The same goes for the London/Madrid bombings, and ive been saying this for years.

I get off on this stuff, because the more this type of thing happens, the more people start thinking my way, and that is far more important to me than the lives of perfect strangers.

I do not care even slightly that some of your friends got Killed In Action. K, we're even!

I love you, Matty. Even if your views are different from mine, you make me proud in that you are not afraid to share your opinion even if it is likely to be very unpopular.

I was 14 or 15, I wasn't in school at the time, and I was in a buddy of mine's apartment on the North side of Chicago, and was pretty stoned when it happened, didn't really pay much attention.

I watched some coverage the next morning while I was laying on his couch and wondered how many years we would be in the ensuing conflict.

I still wonder.

My first inkling as to something being wrong was when I heard my dad curse, I figured out later that CNN had just put out about the first tower being hit. he told me it was "just people being stupid, get off to school." so i hopped on the bus and went to school. once i arrived, the halls were completely empty. no students, no teachers, i peaked into my homeroom thinking i was somehow late, and saw everyone's eyes glued to the TV. the first tower collapsed seconds later.

here we are, two time zones away, and everyone is shocked. the teacher came in and turned off the TV, and the principle announced something over the PA. the day continued as normal as possible from than on, but the halls were eerily silent, nobody wanted to talk about anything.

I was a University student at the time, but working part time in a Casino when the planes hit. Specifically, I was stood behind a guy playing some slot machines as the TV channel had cut its regular show and had switched to live footage of the smoking buildings. He paused for a moment, coins in his hand, looked at the TV for a couple of seconds, and then carried on slotting the money in. The perils of gambling addiction Most likely we could have been in NY itself and the same thing would have happened.

My major was politics, we spent some time discussing it in class and one of my colleagues at the time commented that it was connected to Bin Laden and Saudi dissidents. As it turned out he was right, although it's amazing how many people still think it was either the Afghans or Iraqis who were responsible because of subsequent events.

Ahtman wrote:

Amaya wrote:Or maybe it's because my dad is an MI Officer in the army and has enough sense to understand that in addition to directly going after Osama we would also be going back into Iraq to remove Hussein.

I don't believe for 1 second that the day the plains flew into the buildings your dad said "Well we are going to war in Iraq".

I think I remember reading that quite a few political commentators, such as Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal, noted that a military move back to Iraq was an inevitability the moment those planes hit. If you read a lot of international politics, and have studied the history of the countries and power play involved, I don't think it was too much of a stretch to know what would happen next.

Pacific wrote:

Ahtman wrote:

Amaya wrote:Or maybe it's because my dad is an MI Officer in the army and has enough sense to understand that in addition to directly going after Osama we would also be going back into Iraq to remove Hussein.

I don't believe for 1 second that the day the plains flew into the buildings your dad said "Well we are going to war in Iraq".

I think I remember reading that quite a few political commentators, such as Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal, noted that a military move back to Iraq was an inevitability the moment those planes hit. If you read a lot of international politics, and have studied the history of the countries and power play involved, I don't think it was too much of a stretch to know what would happen next.

They said that later, not that day. You'll notice the "day the planes flew into the buildings" part. That day I think we all knew something was going to happen militarily, but I don't think anyone knew with absolute certainty that Iraq would be the specific target.

Pacific wrote:
I think I remember reading that quite a few political commentators, such as Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal, noted that a military move back to Iraq was an inevitability the moment those planes hit. If you read a lot of international politics, and have studied the history of the countries and power play involved, I don't think it was too much of a stretch to know what would happen next.

I don't believe Chomsky ever said that the Iraq War was inevitable. Vidal might have, but he's incompetent when it comes to politics (so is Noam, but not quite so severely).

There was nothing connecting Iraq to 9/11 except "They be Muslim and Brown."

Vidal and Chomsky are incompetent when it comes to political commentary? I agree Vidal can get a bit outlandish sometimes but the guy has a fearsome intellect. In any case that's an interesting viewpoint, can I ask who you would recommend reading in their stead?

Although there was nothing connecting Iraq to 9/11 (although Chomsky's comments regarding Iraq are in 'Hegemony or Survival' I believe), it's possible to make the assumption that the pieces were in place to make a play in the middle east when 9/11 happened. In fact, many republican Hawks had been angling after it for some time prior to 9/11. Once there was an attack of that nature on American soil, it settled the matter.

I was 7 at the time, and the first time I saw it was when we had gone into town that day, and we just happened to be in a shop selling TVs, meaning that the footage was appearing a dozen times at once. I had no idea what was going on, to be honest, it looked scary but also unbelievable at the same time.