Where were you during 9/11? What has changed in 20 years?

I was TDY at what was to become a hornet's nest of activity. I was TDY for a school with my PSG at MacDill AFB. I woke up sick with a mild case of food poisoning and had fallen back asleep. My wife called me and told me to turn on CNN. I saw the second tower get hit, told her I loved her, and headed to the classroom. Class got cancelled, and we spent the next few hours asking every MI person we saw how we could help. We got moved into downtown Tampa later that day. We spent the next 2 days trying to get someone to let us help since all air travel had been grounded/restricted. We ended up renting a car and driving back to Fort Bragg on that Friday.

I was eating chow in the DFAC at the great place, Fort Hood, Tx

I was a PFC at Fort Sam Houston.
Had a terrible case of laryngitis.
I had broken down and went to the TMC that morning and was put on 2 days quarters.
When I checked back in with the orderly I was barely with it. He told me "a place hit one of the towers."
I had no idea what he was talking about. I was thinking small plane, local radio tower.
I said whatever and retreated to my room.
I was awakened a few hours later by an NCO.
He yelled "America is under attack, we need you at the gate," and tossed a rifle on my bed.
I was groggy as I made my way out of my room, down the hall, wondering if I was going to have to dodge bullets on my way to the gate.
No one knew what the hell was going on. We were standing guard by a gate on lockdown...a gate that was ALWAYS open, leading to BAMC at Fort Sam Houston.
I turned away ambulances and senior personnel wanting to get on base.
I tried to put the pieces together but the facts were hidden amongst rumor and hyperbole.
Finally, I was able to sneak off post after 12 hours at the gate in the Texas heat. I grabbed a copy of the local paper at a Denny's and learned what had happened.
"A New Day of Infamy" it said.
I saw Bin Laden, a face I knew from classified briefings at 97B school.
I knew shit had just gotten real.

I was stationed in Alaska, and I'd worked two weeks in a row just before 11 Sep. I'd been given a CTO, so I was at home on asleep when I recieved a call from work telling me not to try entering the base and that I was being put on standby. I had no idea what was going on, so my Section Chief told me to turn on the news and gave me a quick brief. He told me about the two planes hitting the towers. As I was watching TV they start to announce that an aircraft hit the pentagon. I told my Section Chief and he cursed and told me he needed to go so he could continue the recall.

I was stationed at fort meade maryland. Was very busy

I was stationed at FT Drum with 2/22 IN at home eating a bowl of cereal after PT. Got the call from my unit to get in. I had already reenlisted to go to FT Bragg so I did not get out the door with 10th Mountain.

I was in AIT at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. We had marched to the classroom and were waiting for our instructors. As an hour passed and no one showed up, we started getting a little nervous. It wasn't until our drill instructors showed up, marched us back to the barracks, and put us in the day room that we knew what was going on. We were allowed to use the phones only later on in the day to call our families, the phone lines were jammed with people all over the east coast trying to contact loved ones in D.C. and New York. It was then that I decided to join active duty. I had originally enlisted in the guard but I wanted payback for what had happened to us. I didn't get my active duty orders until 2003 but I never regretted my decision.

one day i will never forget. Walked out of a briefing of the 2 star on our FTX ans saw the second plane hit the tower on TV. for a bit i stared wondering what film that was untill i realised it was on CNN. same 2 star kicked me out of a briefing at the start of the support element for the 2002 winter olympics. he just didnt want to jinx the operation :)

I was in Quantico, Va TBS H&S Co. in the S-4 Office when the first one hit a fellow Sgt who was looking at CNN on the the computer let us all know. I then had to head over to the Company Office for a meeting with the 1stSgt due to a couple of PFC's getting in trouble the prior weekend. I took them in the Company Office and the 1stSgt took me in his office and chewed my ass because they were all F@#%ed up. He told me to leave and send them in, so I went outside the Company Office I went down the hall to the guard shack since I was going to be SOG for October. I walked in and was getting information from the duty SOG when the second one hit and the TV was on CNN....I knew it was no accident so I hurried back to the Company Office gathered up the PFC's and hoofed it back to the S-4 office....Chaos ensued people were running around no one knew where the planes were going to hit next...it felt very scary and we felt very vulnerable....strangely enough earlier that year in July I believe, the 1stSgt mentioned in a company formation something about Osama Bin Laden and the rest of the terrorists out there looking to kill any American service member

SFOR 9 in Bosnia.