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

I was assigned to the patrol division of my police dept. Very sad. We are across the Hudson and had ocean avenue shut down to all traffic for ambulances to run people to our hospital in the city after coming off the ferry. Sad thing was there were no ambulances cause not that many were injured... Most had died.... I worked 20 hours that day. The train parking lot was full at midnight. That was not the norm. People either killed or stranded or injured, it was their vehicles... I could see the smoke from the trade centers blowing across that parking lot (about 20 miles from there as the crow flies) it was surreal. I had a lot of family up there assisting (FDNY and NYPD) no one heard from them at that point... I was wondering if they were ok. I will never forget!!

Gettin' ready to hop on the bus to 3rd grade! :D

I just wrapped up a PT test, (orders for Sept 9, 2001 for scheduled deployment to Kuwait) when I walked into the Armory TV's on and everyone who was faster than I, surrounding the television in total shock. A few minutes later the Police pulled into the parking lot and we received the order to post sentry guards and we locked everything down. I remember the stillness.

I was on-board the USS Carl Vinson, a couple of days out from enter the gulf. I had just come off of watch and got down to the berthing and everybody was watching the news. That was just before the second tower was hit and reports of other planes going down were coming across. After that, we all knew that we were on a path to something else and this was not going to be a normal deployment.

I was in Denver getting my initial VA appointment afte retiring. To tell the truth I was expecting to get recalled back to service, but that never happened. My daughter was in Basic Training and I sure that she and her comrades took their training a lot more seriously after that.

Had just got in the rack after a 15 hour shift at RAF Feltwell. Was almost asleep when the phone rang and my CO ordered all members back to the compound.

I had barely had enough time to get over jet-lag after deploying to Saudi Arabia on April 9th 2001. I was sitting in the Arms room watching how the flights collided with the twin towers. It seem so surreal, so many delays back home getting on post. It was taking three to four hours to get on Ft. Carson Colorado. I felt like every other patriotic American I am sure. I felt helpless, kind of useless because I was there and there was nothing I could do.

I was in the shower at my home in Denver, Colorado when the rock station I had on said there had been an explosion in NY. That station never interrupts its programming, so I thought it was important. When I got out of the shower, I turned on the TV and saw the first and second towers collapse, and saw news of the Pentagon crash and explosion. It sounds overly dramatic now, but not knowing how far the attacks would go, I prepared for the worst (suitcase nukes). How many know that Denver becomes the capitol if Washington DC is destroyed? I threw my camping gear into the car and took $500 out of an ATM. I went to my law office in Wheat Ridge, in a building where I officed with many other attorneys and CPAs. Everyone else showed up at work, but we all watched TV throughout the day. I was prepared to head for the hills, but fortunately I didn't have to. I connect with other Wayne Whites on LinkedIn and occasionally Google myself, and sadly one of my Wayne White brothers was killed in a twin tower collapse. After reading many of the responses above, my thanks to all active duty military and first responders who went on alert and responded to the attacks.

I was a brand new SSgt and was an FTAC Team Leader at Offutt AFB, NE. We had a field trip scheduled to go see th military working dogs. The first plane hit and I ended up watching it in the next room while they occupied themselves before we were supposed to leave. I watched as the second plane hit. That's when we got a call that the field trip was cancelled as all the working dogs were called to the airports to do screening. I pulled an old rabbit-ear tv out of our storage closet and set it up so they could watch the coverage. That's when the Airmen were asking to call family since many had family that worked in the towers. I ended up loaning my cellphone to them. Thankfully, none of their family members were affected. Shortly after the Pentagon was hit all of the Security Forces members were called to arm up. This included my other team leader. We also had POTUS coming shortly after as well. Our base was closed up tight and it was long day. I finally got to go home very late that day after all the Airmen were taken care of.

I had been out of the Corps for a little under a year and had flown back in from Detroit, MI the night before after a factory audit for my civilian job. I was just starting up the day in my home office when I turned on the TV and heard the news. Earlier that summer, I had contacted my old AT (TOW) reserve unit in Broken Arrow, OK and interviewed for an open platoon commander position- needless to say up until the attacks, I had put the decision on hold -partly due to my hectic civilian job tempo and extensive travel and weighing the balance of adding the reserves into this equation while raising a young family. As a result of the attacks, I ended up putting the uniform on one last time for 6 months with the local reserve unit in April 2002 in Wichita (after getting back in shape and getting my paperwork turned back in). I have never regretted the decision to go back in-only wish I had been able to re-join the summer before with my old unit. S/F- Jeff