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

I was setting at my desk as a US Army Recruiter, and my wife called me. She said have you seen the news a plane crashed in to one of the towers in New York. I said damn, well maybe it was a plane malfunction. At that time another plane hit. Then I knew it was no accident. Work was done for that day, I went over to the Navy office , they had a tv, and we all just watch in disbelief. I felt bad I couldn't deploy with the first wave of troops.

I was an ET3 (E-4) stationed in Okinawa, Japan when September 11th attacks occurred. It was night time for us, and we were visiting friends next door when his wife called us into the living room for "...something weird going on on the TV!" We walked in 30 seconds before the second plane struck. We knew even then that things would never be the same....

I was at lunch junior year of high school. This was my driving force for joining.

I was a Major in the New Jersey Army National Guard. I was in the S-3 section of the Division Support Command, a brigade level headquarters with all the support units. My wife called and aid something bad was happening. She audits hospitals and there had been an alert to all the hospitals in the area. I turned on the TV to see both towers burning.
I called my Supervisor to ask if they needed me, was told be ready, not yet. The NJ State Police are the lead element in all NJ emergencies, the NJARNG support their efforts. I was called up on State Active Duty to help run an EOC in Liberty State Park, directly across from Ground Zero. I worked the night shift. The State Police had an EOC there and we were next to it. We had an expando truck.
The Military Ocean Terminal-Bayonne was supposed to be turned over to the city of Bayonne on 1 Oct, it had been bracked out. They had 4 million square foot warehouses there. When the donations of items from Americans began flowing in, we called up a warehouse platoon form our Forward Support Battalion and ran the warehouses for the next few months. I pulled a few days as OIC there.
Our Governor had the NJARNG guard the bridges and tunnels going from NJ into NY for almost 1 year. We had Soldiers stationed in Armories in Jersey City and Teaneck. The Jersey City units guarded the PATH station, both Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and the 2 bridges going into Staten Island. Teaneck covered The GW Bridge with units at the base and up on top at the toll area. I was on duty for 90 days helping to run the DISCOM EOC overseeing our 3 subordinate battalions as they rotated through the above mission, on 30 day rotations. NJ also had Soldiers on duty at Newark and Atlantic City Airports.

I hadn't joined the Military yet. I had been a Law Enforcement Officer for 6 years in Virginia and had moved to Colorado in 2000. In Sept. 2001 I was just days away from starting a new Police job as a Federal Officer. I was driving an Armored Car for Loomis that fateful morning. My Messenger came in from a delivery and told me a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. I was in a media blackout for the next 10 hours and got the play by play throughout the day from my messenger as he went in to different buisinesses. I got home and was able to see the carnage finally. It was a powerless feeling being a trained First Responder but being a thousand miles away and not able to help my Brothers and Sisters in Blue that were ultimately going to perish when the Towers fell. I'm a Native Virginian and was equally pissed when the Pentagon was struck. I dedicated myself to my Federal law enforcement job but ultimately that job didn't work out after falling victim to dark Federal office politics(ie. incompetent management.). This ultimately led me to joining the Army Reserves by wanting to do something else with almost 10 years of uniform service. While the job transitions were going on though, I've been working on a 9/11 Memorial car I'm building out of my 1977 Firebird. I call it the Freedom Firebird Project. It's not complete but I haven't given up on my dream either. I've posted a snipet here on RallyPoint about it but if you just Google,"Freedom Firebird Project," I've got numerous online postings and pictures including on Facebook and GoFundMe.com.

Taclet South Miami Florida.

I was in Northern Kuwait deployed under Intrinsic Action.

I was working in a Warehouse in Denver Colorado

I was rewiring the engine of a pickup truck that morning. I said, to the 17 year old son of my friend, that this was his generations' Viet Nam. Meaning that it would become another quagmire, a bottomless pit for cash and an endless stream of casualties.
Sometimes I hate that I'm right so often.

I remember; I was in my motorpool on Kleber Kaserne in Germany. A buddy of mine came and told me that his sister called him and told him a plane had flew into the WTC tower. My first reaction was what an idiot. It wasn't until a short while later that our Company Commander came down and held a formation to explain to us what had happened.