It's been 16 years....

[get_nick]

It still feels so recent. I get chills just thinking about it. I got back to Utah after going home to Oregon for my 21st birthday. I remember sitting in the lounge in the barracks watching it with all my friends that worked the afternoon/night shift with me. Everybody got called onto base and we started loading up F-16s with live missiles planning to shoot down potential hijacked commercial airliners. Ugh...

 

[Briansol]

I should have just started my senior year of college, but left school to pursue other interests.... so i was back working at the country club that summer...

I walked into work right as plane 2 hit on live tv on the bar tv. golfers, cooks, office staff.... everyone was watching the tv in disbelief. People missed their Tee-times... howard stern was on in the kitchen - like it always was in the morning... but this day, the broadcast didn't end at 10am... it kept going all day. I think I made $8 that day because basically, no one worked, no one golfed, and no one was doing anything but listening/watching what was going on.

The eerie silence in the skies that followed after that event is what most stands out in my mind. I'm about 40min from a major airport and it's pretty much commonplace to see/hear a plane at least twice an hour coming in for a landing. The lack of cell-phone service even in those days, was also weird. I think it was 2 or 3 days before phones started working again.

 

[reckedracing]

I was living on the 17th floor in an Albany Dorm during my senior year. I remember it like yesterday, getting woken up by my roommates to watch the 2nd plane hit the tower on tv.
Classes were still scheduled, so I went to my morning accounting class. The professor had worked for one of the big firms and had many friends and colleagues in the towers.
She came in crying and canceled class. Everyone was glued to the tv's all day. It was truly profound.
One of my suite mates was from Manhattan and ended up joining the service after graduation because of this attack.

 

[jamesA]

I was working third shifts then so I was asleep when my sister in law came in my room and said planes are hitting buildings everywhere. After an hours sleep I spent the rest of the day glued to the tv.

 

[BigJ]

I was a freshman in high school. My mom's terrible boyfriend woke us up with the tv cranked. We make it to school an hour later and the teacher rolled the tv into class and we watched coverage. Lots of kids crying, parents picking them up, just an absolutely horrible day.

 

[TurboMirage]

yes yes i do remember when jet fuel melted steel beams. i was in army basic training.

 

[phunky.buddha]

I was at my desk at work in Oklahoma... we just listened to the radio and refreshed CNN non-stop. Then went on a gas run after lunch to beat the line... gas was a whopping $1.52/gallon that day.

Fun fact, today I landed in Saudi Arabia. Guy at visa control was all excited to see me because of who I work for. Plus Go USA kinds of sentiments from him too.