Really? No one has any threads to mark the occasion? ...(laughs)...I guess I'll start something then! I chose to place this in 'Chatter' in order for people to post their thoughts on the attack and the related events during the past 10 years. What are your memories of the event? Where were you when you learned of the attack? What were you doing? etc. ...as well as how you feel about it now. Were the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq justifiable? Did our President react the way you would have wanted him to? How did the event make you feel towards Muslims? The questions above are meant to jump-start the conversations. Feel free to post your own thoughts or questions.
I was working at a medium-sized retailer at the time as the Head of Maintenance. I was bustling about doing what needed to get done when another worker approached me with shock in her eyes. She asked me if I had heard about the World Trade Center, that two planes had flown into them. I nodded my head yet said no, I hadn't heard. It wasn't as shocking to me, I had been expecting terrorists to try this in America for years... and I was thinking about it the night before... ...The night before the attack, just before I fell asleep, I thought about a plane hitting one of the towers, then another hitting the other. I visualized this happening from a point high above the towers and some distance away. I can't explain the coincidence of visualizing that and the attacks the next day. I doubt I'd believe someone else saying that, so I can understand when others will disbelieve my account of it lol After work I sat and watched the coverage of the attacks. I watched the buildings fall in horror and awe. Horror at the thought of the dead and dying, awe in the sense that the images were powerful, and frightening. I thought of the passengers on the planes, how their lives were brutally taken away from them by the act of an extremist who cared little for anything but his own ideals. I thought about those passengers families, who would be devastated by their loss of loved ones and suffer that loss for the rest of their lives. I thought about the people who stood by a window and saw an enormous plane coming at them, knowing they had no chance of surviving the impact. I thought about the living who were trapped in the floors above the carnage, and hoped at least some would find their way to safety. I watched as some jumped to their deaths, unable to withstand the pain they were suffering any longer. I thought about those on the streets having to witness their deaths, or the deaths of others who had being hit by falling debris caused by the initial impact. I worried about how we Americans would react to this attack. I worried that the President would 'cowboy-up' and become too arrogant to see reason. I didn't know who had attacked us, but the probability leaned heavily towards Muslim terrorists like Bin Laden, who had been trying for a decade to do substantial damage to the World Trade Center and most likely other targets as well. I watched as Jr.'s administration attempted to link Saddam to the terrorists, how they implied he had WMDs and may use them. Despite the majority of the World telling the U.S. to calm the **** down, Jr. and his administration pushed forward with their plans to invade Iraq. While the U.N. listened to America's assertions, our military mustered into the region, preparing for the invasion that would come in a couple months. Those are some of my thoughts this 9-11.
We should have nuked Saudi Arabia. Now the Bin Laden family is building the worlds largest building in that terrorist nation.
Funny, but that would not be the same "world" I watch tell Saddam that if he did not let the inspectors in, we would come in and get him, would it? Oh, and BTW, he did not let the inspectors in.
True, perspective is important. Though I didn't include Saddam's ****ing around with the inspectors in my original comments, I saw that too. IMO, it didn't merit invasion and occupation though. I'm saying that, while you have a point, your defense of the action is weak. I'm saying that pre-invasion, my perspective was better than yours... and is still better lol Feel free to respond as you wish, but I'd also like to read about the less controversial questions I asked, like where were you when you first heard about the attack on 9-11, what were your thoughts, etc.
Somehow, I fail to see the connection between "IMO, it didn't merit invasion and occupation though" and "Despite the majority of the World telling the U.S. to calm the **** down". BTW, my thoughts the very day was how screwed the world had become and how much worse it was going to get. I almost got it right, but I did not think it would get quite this bad. You can believe it or not, but that was truly my thoughts.
I was at Scott AFB fixing medical equipment. After the second plane hit, we knew it was terrorism, the base went on lockdown and I started hospital security duty for a while, then was sent home after a couple of hours and started 12 hour night security shifts that night for the next several months. My feelings were probably the same as most anyone else's. Shock, anger, sadness, etc. Then I deployed to Qatar, Iraq and Afghanistan at various times over the next half dozen years, working at AF and Army hospitals. Saw a a lot of blood and saw quite a few people die on the tables but saw a lot more live even though many would never live the same again. My world view changed a bit over those 3 deployments. Go to war when you have to go to war but screw the nation building and making democracies. After the 3rd deployment, I decided to get a job at a Veterans hospital.
I was working as a cashier at a truck stop when it happened. Odd set of circumstances there as ten days earlier I was managing a truck stop for the same people. Just so happens they leased the truck stop I managed to Muslims on 09/01/01. I was left with no job for no reason which I pointed out to my bosses so they sent me to another truck stop. I was happy to still be working basically. My new "job" was 30 miles away as opposed to 5 so I took the expressway to work. We had no TV at work but radio filled us in. When I left work that day I took the back roads as the expressway was jammed. It was surreal. Driving along the southern end of Lake Michigan on a beautiful day and trying to grasp what was happening out east. I was glad I worked the morning shift as I found out the next day that our maintenance man was directing traffic into the truck stop off the road. EVERYONE wanted to get gas. Made no sense to me honestly. You either had it or you didn't. Gas prices from our suppliers were jumping all over the place I later learned. Some gas stations were even fined and temporarily shut down for excessive gouging. That really showed me a lot about some Americans. A national tragedy and all they could think about was raping the public for profit. As I stated earlier the truck stop I managed was leased to Muslims (from Chicago) ten days earlier. One of the first things they did was to get rid of any product that involved pork. Not too swift. That and happening to be Muslim saw a huge decline in business. Word gets around with truckers pretty fast. I would stop by there occasionally and never liked what I saw. It wasn't because they were Muslim. It was because they had no clue how to really run the place. You run it for your customers not for yourself. The place is closed now. Haven't been there in a few years but was surprised to learn it bit the dust. Especially since it had been in business as an independent for at least 50 years. Bad timing and bad management. It all started ten days before 9/11.
I know this isn't much, especially coming from someone like me, but thank you... for your service, especially to the injured and dying. Many in my family have served in our armies through the years. For this most recent action, one died from an IED, leaving behind a husband and two young children. She was career military with 20+ years of service, and desperately wanted to avoid that last deployment... she wanted to retire, but had the obligation. Another is mustering shortly for another tour. He's leaving behind a wife and two young children. Despite the political differences in my family, all of us respect the men and women who help save lives over there.
Hey clembo, those new owners were doomed from the start... taking away an American trucker's right to eat his pork rinds? Now that's just committing business suicide!
I was with the Mrs on a flight back from the continent to London, we knew something had happend but not what, rushed through customs and baggage and then a friend who was picking us up told us what had happend at 1st we thought he was joking until he turned on the radio and of course when we got home we coudnt believe what we were wittnessing on the tv Our flight was the last to land at Stanstead airport that day Yesterday there was a memorial at the American embassy here in London which was also attended by some rather noisy Muslim protesters who in turn were heckled by moderate muslims and the EDL We have also opend a memorial in Battersea park to those who died with one of the steel girders from the towers been donated by the US and used as the center piece.
Thanks but I have just been a support guy doing a job. The real people to thank are the combat guys. I am fortunate that I get to do something for those guys even after getting out of the military. Part of my duties at this job is to take care of the equipment in the nursing home, the ICU and the in patient wards so I get to interact with guys from WWII to the present on a daily basis. I get more out of it than I have ever given.
10 years after 9/11, the American Idol watching masses are no closer to learning how they were betrayed by their own goobment than they were 10 years ago. Sad but true. Society has not long....thank God.
I was in school getting a degree in Computer Science. I heard the news on the radio on the way back from class, went home, turned on the tv watched for a while. I went to school and picked up my children and brought them home. For a while, a very short while, the world was unified in condemnation and unified in reaction. After that things went to hell. We thirsted for revenge and the government jumped right in to provide it. The perfectly justified invasion of Afghanistan was made and then they turned their eyes away from the real enemies and decided to invade Iraq. On a personal note. I woke up. I was a militant and absolutely fascinated with violence. However, the attacks on 9-11 showed me the real dangers of that mindset and I walked away from it.
Is this something you'd be willing to talk more about? I'm interested in learning more on how your mindset used to be, and how the attacks changed it. If you'd rather not discuss it in public, we can use the Private messaging system here.
I don't mind talking about it in the open. I spent most of my life in pursuit of violence in one form or the other. I have multiple belts in multiple martial arts and I can use pretty much any weapon which exists. I spent a lot of time and energy promoting violence as the answer to problems. As I progressed along that path I spread far more pain than I like to think about. The attacks on September 11 was a direct action by people who thought that violence was the solution to their problems. It was the only answer they could see and the only option they believed to address the world. Make no mistake. I am not forgiving them for their actions, but I can understand it on a basic level. It changed me because I was faced directly with the kinds of results my thinking patterns called for. It was a great awakening and I am very thankful for it. In retaliation for the attack we used a rationale that the terrorist used. The rationale that violence is the only suitable answer for violence.
I should have thought about this, and posted it, back then, but didn't. Oh well... better late than never lol http://911digitalarchive.org/
