Where were you on 9/11? How do you feel about today?

On my to work in St Louis, listing to the radio. By the time I arrived at work that morning the first tower had collapsed. I was a CPT in 318th PSYOP Company - Jefferson Barracks, MO. 2 years to the date we were in Iraq outside Mosul (Q-West Air base) OIF.

When I first heard it, I thought it was a joke. I was at a military college, and had just signed my contracting paperwork (formalizing as an MS3 Cadet) the day before. At the time, a relatively new game that I and several friends enjoyed was Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. In it, the opening scene depicts a massive assault on America that includes the Statue of Liberty being destroyed. It was one of my friends that also played who spread the news down the barracks, and I initially thought he found a hidden video (or perhaps something I missed) in the game showing the trade center destroyed. He came back a few minutes later to ask why I hadn't turned on the TV, and told me it was all over the news. I followed him back to his room just in time for news of the first tower collapsing to happen a minute or so later.

On September 11, 2001 I was enjoying a morning off. I was sleeping in when one of my house mates said there had been a plane crash in New York City. My first reaction was "this better be worth getting up on my day off." When I saw what had happened, then we watched the second plane hit, and it was driven home that we were being attacked. It was surreal. In Colorado Springs, it is not unusual to see f-16s flying overhead. In the days immediately after the attack, they were unusual in that they were loaded with munitions. That is the one image that sticks with me the most. Looking up at a fully armed fighter aircraft actively patrolling over American soil.

COL Charles Williams
14 years ago I was at home reading the Bible and praying and had planned to go to the Pentagon later that morning for a meeting at my convenience. I got carried away and it was after 1000 when I received a phone call that the Pentagon had been hit and all events were cancelled and no entry would be permitted.
I discussed the situation with my wife and submitted a request to be mobilized - I was on voluntary orders prior to being mobilized.
LTG Timothy J. Maude and his primary staff were watching the aftermath of the attack on NY City on TV in his office. A friend of mine who was present in the office left to go to the bathroom on the inner ring. The plane hit LTG Timothy J. Maude's office and killed everybody inside instantly. My friend was burned severely even though he was at the other end because the flames shot up the hall.
The neighbors of some friends from church were passengers on the plane that hit the pentagon. Many people on Northern Virginia were directly affected by the 9/11 attack as were many in NY City.
I do not expect do ever forget what happened to this nation on 9/11/2011

I was working telephone triage/appointment booking at Scott AFB Primary Care Clinic. I was on the phone with a patient and she suddenly said, 'oh my... a plane just hit the World Trade Center'. moments later, she said, she didn't need care that day and hung up.... I was thinking Cessna/piper cub or other small personal aircraft. I took a break for a moment and went out to our waiting area just in time to watch the second aircraft hit the second tower...... My world stopped for a moment, then remembered my wife and infant daughter were planning on leaving the base....I ran to a phone and called her, informing her to STAY HOME. Within 15 minutes, we went from ThreatCon Normal (have not seen that one since 9/11/2001) to FPCon Delta..... she freaked out when, within 15 minutes of my call, fully armed armored Security Forces vehicles started patrolling base housing and the base. I went home at lunch and packed a go bag that sat next to the door for 1 month in the event I got called out on short notice. I will never forget those moments....

COL Charles Williams
I lived in Jersey City, NJ at the time. It was very close to NYC. Depending on location you can see everything going on, including the tall buildings I was in science class at the time, it freshman year for me in high school. My mother was in the hospital holding on to the final days of her life battling liver cancer. It was a boring topic, we were talking about rocks. I was daydreaming and staring out the window. I saw what looked to me like a missile hitting the World Trade Center. I started panicking and notified my teacher of what I saw. He shut the blinds and told the class to stay seated as he left the class to notify the administration, obviously everyone got up.

After the teacher got back, all students were told to report to the gym. We waited in there for a good number of hours until the principle of the school told us that that both the twin towers are down and there has been an attack on US soil. I immediately started thinking about my family friends that work there and later found out that both have lost their lives during the attack. School was cancelled for the rest of the week due to the tragedy. All phone lines were cut out, and television was not very clear because the World Trade Center was used as a routing tower for communication.

It was then, that I wanted to serve my country for at least one term.

COL Charles Williams, I will never forget. I was a young SPC (P) in PLDC when the attacks happened. The morning of, we had just came back to the barracks to shower after PT, when our SGL’s told us we were allowed to turn on our FM clock radios. We knew something was up because we weren’t allowed to do so up until that morning. We heard what was being reported as it was happening and we couldn’t believe it. So we had to rush and get ready for class and after we entered class, we were allowed to turn on the TV and see what was going on. Hearing the events unfold is one thing, seeing the attacks on TV is a whole different ballgame. The installation was put on lock down, all gates closed except for one, all parking in front of barracks and HQ bldgs were prohibited and my BDE was put on alert to deploy right away. It was a crazy day that I will never forget, especially for all of the lives that were loss that day and for all of the lives that have been lost as a direct results of that day.

I was at NAS Pensacola attached to the Mishap Investigation Board for TRAWING SIX. Had just made the Commander's coffee and turned on the news...I thought it was a tragic airline accident and kept wondering if the crew had suffered from hypoxia, or if some other catastrophic system failure had put them into the towers. When the second one hit, we all knew it was a different story.

I was delivering drywall, working for 84 lumber to a remodel. I was with the KY ARNG. While I was turning the truck around to unload the other side of the truck, I heard on the truck radio, the second plane striking the south tower at 9:03. 2 weeks later I was reporting for duty, as one of our sister companies was activated to go to Ft Bragg. Jan 2002 I was sent to Belgium for force protection. Now have two other deployments after that. This we will NEVER forget!

on 9/11 I was working at Newark Intl Airport and watched the entire thing first hand.. spent 3 days in the city afterwards providing any help i could.