It’s 9/11. Never forget.

[ironman1315]

Today is 9/11. Eighteen years ago the world changed when terrorists struck the World Trade Center shocking the nation and the world.

I remember where I was when I heard news of the plane striking the first tower. I was on the corner of my parent’s bed, getting ready for school, watching the news. Then I heard the anchor say that a plane has struck the the tower. I watched in helpless horror as the second plane struck. I watched the towers fall. I watched brave men and women sacrifice themselves to save the victims of this attack. And for the first time in my life, I truly felt the fear that I could be swept up in a nightmare by forces beyond my control. I went to bed that night worried about war.

The next morning we woke to a changed world; a changed country. A country united in a single purpose, to heal itself and rise up from this attack.

Never forget 9/11. Never forget its victims. And never the sacrifices of the heroes.

[UM4G]

I will always remember that day too – I was 12, had climbed in my friends van to head to school and he turned around and asked if I had heard about the plane in New York hitting a building. Then in school they had it playing on the TV’s all day. Later that day at home my parents had the news on all day and we were just sitting and watching non-stop. I had a paper route at the time and I’ll never forget going to fold the papers and seeing that big, bolded headline… I thought I kept a copy for myself, but now I’m not so sure, if not I should have.

[Tony (admin)]

I too remember of course. Watched the 2nd plane as you did. 9-11 had a lasting effect on my business at the time.  I was a recording studio owner/engineer. After the attack my current clients cancelled their projects and no new clients called for months. Musicians were afraid to spend the money to record after that because the economy was so messed up. I held on as long as I could, but my business never recovered. I shut the doors a couple of years later. That was a dark time in my world. I had no income and blew my savings trying to stay in business.

I remember buying a starbucks coffee one day and realizing I’d just spent 6% of all the money I had in the bank on it. That was quite mind blowing. I had to reinvent myself and find a way to make a living.  Fortunately I’d started to learn software development. 18 years later, here we are. I’m in a good place and with some of those skills I developed, I built Ute Hub!

[Warrior Ute]

I am sitting in the Airmen and Family Readiness Center, going through classes on how to prepare for the transition to civialian life.  Hopefully after more than 20 years I can figure out how to be civilianized.  I don’t know if I will ever become fully civilized. 

I am hearing through the wall the base band play the national anthem for the elementay school kids who just completed the rememberance walk from school to this location.  It is amazing to think how much that one day changed our lives.  I think a good way to never forget is to think about what you want to do in your life despite these changes.  We should recognize the people, places, activities and things that are most important to you and focusing on enjoying these and letting those closest to you know they are important to you.

[OldAsDirtUte]

Thank you for your service to our country.

[Central Coast Ute]

First off, I thank you for your service. Second, the transition is not easy. Civilians are weird. At least they seem that way at first. Listen to what they tell you in those classes and take notes. They actually do know what they’re talking about.

[Warrior Ute]

Thanks!  I will actually retire in July of next year so I am doing it early.  I know I have to think and speak differently.  My typed notes for the week so far is up to 9 pages.

[Heike]

Yes, indeed. Thank you for your service to our country!

[PlainsUte]

My wife and I happened to be vacationing in Rome.  We were doing a walking tour that afternoon and on the way to the Pantheon my wife decided to pop into an internet cafe to send a mesg to her Mom just to let her know we were fine — her Mom was a worrywart.  The login screen for AOL (yes, AOL) had a pic of smoke coming out of Tower 1 with headline about plane hitting the building.  My first thought was some idiot flew a Cessna into it.  Anyway; we got in and out of there without learning anthing more.  By the time we got out of the Pantheon all the American tourists were abuzz and we got the full story.  The next morning the Rome newspapers had a huge block headline “10,000 Morto” — that was early estimate on fatalities — that was shocking, but we had CNN International in our hotel so we knew the estimates had come down by the time we saw the newspapers people were reading on the subway.    It wasn’t until we got home that we got full stories of heroism that occurred that day.
Fortunately for us we were just beginning our trip and we ran into people over the next week or so who were stuck in Europe because of cancelled flights and/or the ensuing back-up in seat availability because of the cancellations.   By the time we went home 12 days or so later, things had calmed down but security flying back was A LOT tighter than arriving — German security confiscated a small folding scissors buried in my shave kit I forgot I even had; felt bad because they had repeatedly told us knives and scissors were now verboten.

[EagleMountainUte]

I always think of the brave firemen and police officers that ran towards and inside collapsing buildings. I always hope I have the same call to duty as they had. First responders climbed 110 flights in an attempt to rescue people.
I was a stupid college kid at the time and watched the second plane crash. I will never forget danger is always at the door and we need to be vigilant.

[UteThunder]

I don’t think anyone could ever forget the attacks of 9/11 . . . Unfortunately, far too many people have forgotten HOW IT MADE US FEEL AS AMERICANS

The one good thing that came out of that horrible attack on our country was the overwhelming sense of patriotism every American felt in the months following. It is sad the way so many in our country are now anti-patriotism and seemingly hate America and everything we stand for as a nation.

[UtMtBiker]

A lot of Americans believe in a lot of different things and fight for those things. Just because you don’t agree with the way they do it doesn’t mean they are anti-patriotic or anti-American.  There is nothing more patriotic and nothing more American than having the right to speak out against things you see as wrong and fight for the change.  

[EagleMountainUte]

I agree with your sentiments. But it is inherently an oxymoronic viewpoint if he isn’t allowed to hold his view as well.

[whitlessham]

^this

[UteThunder]

What I am referring to is the large segment of Americans who are anti-police, anti-military, anti-Star Spangled Banner, anti-ICE, anti-free speech, anti-border security, anti-national security, etc., etc., etc. There is NOTHING patriotic or American about these beliefs. Fighting for these beliefs is the antithesis of American patriotism. The people who espouse these beliefs are, ironically, using the American way of life to destroy the American way of life and everything America stands for.

[SkinyUte]

So now is when we start howling about not turning this into UFN, right?

[UteThunder]

Probably.

[ironman1315]

As a personal preference, I do wish that this thread not devolve into a political battle but rather remain a thread of remembrance.

[uteman12]

I was 9 years old, getting ready for school and I remember going into my parents bedroom and seeing my mom in tears watching the shock of what was unfolding. Our family didn’t fly for at least 2 years after that we were in fear, I will always remember this day.

[UtesRock]

I agree, the lives that were lost that day, and how America rallied to the scene in one accord must be remembered, and it’s okay to share our feelings. We were all affected and sharing how our life was impacted is how we heal. Thank you for sharing, everyone.
I was working as a project engineer on a water project in Cedar City. I was watching the news before heading down to the free breakfast. I work in the construction industry and remember all the flags hanging from cranes and heavy equipment on all the job sites. Love this site, thank you Tony!
Go Utes!

[Charlie]

I was responsible for a group that received and returned high costs, time sensitive orders over the internet without a backup methodology for an energy company. Someone caught me in the hall and asked what do we do with the internet down. Surprised, I asked what do the two ISPs have to say. They replied, no not the ISPs, the entire internet is down and will likely be down for most of the day. The remainder of the day was chaos. All the time wondering how could this be? Caught the collapse on TV with no idea how many people are in the building. Very stressful to not know any detail until the end of the day.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I was at work when someone broke the news. Eventually someone dragged out a TV and the whole company gathered around to watch. Every once in a while somebody tried to go do some work, but it was pointless. The office was empty by 3:00.

A week later I had to take a flight with our production manager, a Sri Lankan Buddhist who had emigrated to America many years before. At the airport I watched him get yelled at, get called a terrorist, I saw people pull their children behind them when he walked by. I could tell how hurt he was. I realized that day that we as a country have a lot of growing up to do.

[BD]

I was at work. We had a TV in the break room. It was on all day.

I’ll never forget one guy that worked with us – he was a Muslim from Pakistan. When the first tower was hit, we stood around the TV in the break room watching it – we all thought it was just a plane accident. But this guy from Pakistan, who was normally very sociable, isolated himself and simply went to the corner of the break room and sat down on a table with his head down between his knees. Somehow, even before the second tower was hit, he KNEW it was a terrorist attack. He sat there all day- head down between his knees, occasionally looking up at the TV. He completely avoided any social interaction the entire day – head between his knees with occasionally looking up at the TV.

My hell, I felt so bad for him. I wanted to hug him and let him know of our support for him – but he wanted to be alone. He seemed to be ashamed to be Muslim (or whatever he was thinking) – man, we all felt horrible for him, and we wanted to let him know that we supported him – that he didn’t need to feel ashamed. But we knew this was his space, his time to mourn. We tried to talk to him and console him, but he just wouldn’t socialize. Well, we gave him his space, and he went home in the afternoon.

Now – here’s the cool thing. That guy from Pakistan got his US citizenship the very next day. He was in a much better mood, and we all gave him sincere congratulations, and held a little party for him. I was so glad to see his mood shift the next day, and everyone gave him the congratulations he deserved, and he was OK after that.