9/11

[RealisticCy]

Third week of freshmen year, undergrad at North Dakota State. Heard vague info in the communal bathroom about the first plane, watched the second one happen. Saw both towers fall. Classes canceled and we just watched TV all day wide-eyed.....

Remember seeing the lines at gas stations that night.....prices went up 2+ bucks at every station and panic set in.

 

[GMackey32]

I will have to look for your suggestion. This is the one I have found the most compelling:

9/11 (TV Movie 2002) ⭐ 8.5 | Documentary

1h 52m | TV-PG

www.imdb.com

These two French filmmakers (brothers) were actually doing a "ride-along" style documentary of a NYC fire house and crew. They had been there for a few days already and had gotten to know the men. This documentary is comprised of their live footage from that day.

It’s actually called 102 Minutes that Changed America so I got the title wrong but basically it’s just 102 minutes of amateur and news footage from people in NYC that day and it’s all in real time. It starts with the first tower being hit all the way until the last tower falls. At one point after one tower falls, you hear these weird sounding alarms/beeping sounds from someone documenting the scene. The alarms/beeping sounds are alarms that are on firefighters that only sound when they are stationary for too long (you can put 2 and 2 together).

I’m pretty sure the documentary is on YouTube.

I will be checking out your suggestion tonight!

 

[ImJustKCClone]

It’s actually called 102 Minutes that Changed America so I got the title wrong but basically it’s just 102 minutes of amateur and news footage from people in NYC that day and it’s all in real time. It starts with the first tower being hit all the way until the last tower falls. At one point after one tower falls, you hear these weird sounding alarms/beeping sounds from someone documenting the scene. The alarms/beeping sounds are alarms that are on firefighters that only sound when they are stationary for too long (you can put 2 and 2 together).

I’m pretty sure the documentary is on YouTube.

I will be checking out your suggestion tonight!

Based on your description, there are probably clips from the Naudet documentary included in those 102 minutes.

 

[GMackey32]

Based on your description, there are probably clips from the Naudet documentary included in those 102 minutes.

I’m sure there are. The one that gets me is these girls filming the first tower wondering what happened and then seeing the second tower hit. They scream and one yells it’s terrorism, which definitely wasn’t something you automatically jumped to back then.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

If I may...
This was written by my USAF son today. If it is cave material, I will delete it. But it's a poignant reminder of who we CAN be.


"Never forget."
That slogan showed up on 12 September 2001 and has been used (and abused) for nearly 20 years now. We haven't forgotten that day. Many of us dutifully and mark our rememberances and move on through the day with solemn dignity. Many more of us contribute by throwing around heartstring-tugging memes. And that's... fine. Gold stars for you for your participation.
The trouble with not forgetting is that we remembered the wrong lesson. We remembered to be fierce and defiant. We remembered to be fearless in the face of danger, boldly standing up against that which would try to scare us into submission. These are good things to learn, don't get me wrong. But, from a day filled with so many lessons, they were the wrong ones to focus on for so long.
We have forgotten, as a nation, the most important lesson. For just a couple months, we went out of our way to look after each other. We actively gave a damn about everyone else around us, whatever their circumstance. The racists among us targeted muslims and sikhs, and the rest of us stepped in to protect those people. We didn't even think about it. We just did it because it was *right.* It was what we, as Americans (and Humans) *should* do.
I'm... not sure when that completely disppeared, if I'm honest. I know it was mostly gone by 2008, when an entire political party decided the presidential nominee from the other party was a scary Muslim. All the while, September 11th came and went, marked in its passage almost out of habit.
I looked around today and saw that it has only gotten worse. Rather than simply ignore the injustices large and small, many of us will go out of our way to justify them. Rather than go a tiny bit out of our individual way and subject ourselves to a minpr inconvenience for the health and safety of all, we rail about how our freedoms are being taken away. Worse, we villify the people fighting against these injustices and that selfish apathy.
Nineteen years of habitually marking this day, and it seems as though we have not only forgotten that actual day, but that we actively worked to reverse its meaning. We need to remember that original meaning once more, or we need to stop marking this day altogether.

 

[jsb]

It’s actually called 102 Minutes that Changed America so I got the title wrong but basically it’s just 102 minutes of amateur and news footage from people in NYC that day and it’s all in real time. It starts with the first tower being hit all the way until the last tower falls. At one point after one tower falls, you hear these weird sounding alarms/beeping sounds from someone documenting the scene. The alarms/beeping sounds are alarms that are on firefighters that only sound when they are stationary for too long (you can put 2 and 2 together).

I’m pretty sure the documentary is on YouTube.

I will be checking out your suggestion tonight!

There's a book that the movie is based on 102 Minutes and I highly recommend it. One of the things that stuck with me was that workers in the second tower were told to stay put after the first tower was hit. Obviously hind sight is 20/20, but there were many lives lost because of those orders. Obviously the people in the first tower had more time to get out because they were hit first and the building collapsed last. The number of deaths in the 2nd tower vs. the 1st is surprising. The other thing that struck me was that the radios for the NYFD (I think or maybe it was the PD) were so outdated and caused a lot of problems. And there were some police and firefighters that didn't think the towers would come down.

The other book that I'm not sure that I recommend, but is interesting is about a woman that faked being in the towers. That in and of itself probably isn't that interesting because I am sure that there are lots of people that claim to have been close to the towers when they went down. But this woman inserted herself into a lot of survivors groups and kind of rallied those people. She met a lot public officials due to her role. As you read it, you wonder why so many people believed her because her story was really far fetched---she claimed to have been severely injured and one of the few people to survive above a certain floor and her fiancé/husband was killed in the other tower.

 

[michaelrr1]

I will have to look for your suggestion.

102 minutes is on the History channel every year. It starts at 5 pm CDT tonight. History channel has documentaries all day.

 

[GMackey32]

There's a book that the movie is based on 102 Minutes and I highly recommend it. One of the things that stuck with me was that workers in the second tower were told to stay put after the first tower was hit. Obviously hind sight is 20/20, but there were many lives lost because of those orders. Obviously the people in the first tower had more time to get out because they were hit first and the building collapsed last. The number of deaths in the 2nd tower vs. the 1st is surprising. The other thing that struck me was that the radios for the NYFD (I think or maybe it was the PD) were so outdated and caused a lot of problems. And there were some police and firefighters that didn't think the towers would come down.

The other book that I'm not sure that I recommend, but is interesting is about a woman that faked being in the towers. That in and of itself probably isn't that interesting because I am sure that there are lots of people that claim to have been close to the towers when they went down. But this woman inserted herself into a lot of survivors groups and kind of rallied those people. She met a lot public officials due to her role. As you read it, you wonder why so many people believed her because her story was really far fetched---she claimed to have been severely injured and one of the few people to survive above a certain floor and her fiancé/husband was killed in the other tower.

I’d be interested in reading that first book. My wife read a book from the lady who was the forensic anthropologist that did a majority of the identifications. I want to say it’s called “Teasing Secrets From The Dead” or something like that. Also worked at Waco and the OKC bombing. My wife highly recommends it.

 

[brianhos]

Driving into work when the first tower got hit. Listening to local sports talk and they were talking about it. I was on a video call with a couple guys in NYC when the second tower got hit, they were on Park so it was a ways away, but they could see it. They freaked and ran out of the room.

 

[jsb]

I’d be interested in reading that first book. My wife read a book from the lady who was the forensic anthropologist that did a majority of the identifications. I want to say it’s called “Teasing Secrets From The Dead” or something like that. Also worked at Waco and the OKC bombing. My wife highly recommends it.

It's very good, I think it is much better than the documentary (which is also very good). I think one of the reasons that I liked it was that it didn't try to paint everyone as heroes that looked death in the eye and said the terrorists won't win. They were normal people many of whom did heroic things that day, but that just went to work and wanted to go home. They were as brave as they could be, but they were scared. And it doesn't gloss over the mistakes that were made.

The other article that I recommend is The Falling Man in Esquire. It was interesting to me the hurt and shame some families had with the idea that people might have jumped.

 

[CNECloneFan]

I was a stay at home Dad, and I spent the morning holding my 2-year old son, glued to the TV, but keeping his head away from the screen.

 

[flycy]

I was the Operations Officer for the 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron Prince Sultan Air Base Saudi Arabia enforcing the southern no fly zone over Iraq. That morning the big news was that we had video evidence Iraq had shot down an UAV with an optically guided missile, we had a big package together to go schwaack some "communications" node to punish them. The Ops Group Commander's office called us mid afternoon and told us to turn on the TV. It was after the first aircraft had struck a tower and before the second. The reporters were speculating that it could have been an accident. Any pilot could have told them no way an airliner accidentally crashes in to a skyscraper. It was surreal to watch the second plane live from half way around the world and listen to the reporters as they realized what we already knew. I wish I could tell you all the crazy things the intelligence community reported in the next hour. Suffice it to say it is really fortunate all their "confirmed" reports of other attacks were wrong.

The next month we spent preparing to strike those who did this. Conditions were miserable as Armed Forces Network played nothing but 9/11 coverage 24 hours a day. We also were in full battle gear the entire time and carried or MOPP (chemical warfare) gear. It was really a miserable time.

I helped plan the targets and watched the strikes from the CAOC on a giant "War Games" like screen. Was glad to come home a few months later as things were finally starting to normalize back in the states.

 

[besserheimerphat]

I was a sophomore at ISU. I was at work that morning, lugging around office furniture and delivering supplies for the university. I heard bits and pieces throughout the morning, but bosses wanted everyone to keep working. None of my classes were canceled. I didn't really see any video of it until I got back to my girlfriend's dorm room that afternoon.

 

[do4CY]

I was a senior in high school but was taking a class at ISU in the mornings. Was eating breakfast while glued to the tv after the first plane hit. Was getting ready to leave when I saw the second plane hit. Was late to class because of that only to find out it was cancelled when I got there. Everyone just stayed and talked about it for a bit.

 

[Chipper]

 

[Chipper]

I watched entirely too many documentaries yesterday on Nat Geo. But it's important for me to feel some of the emotion of that day. It keeps it real. Keeps it close. It's usually the stories of selflessness from FDNY or NYPD, or the desperation of the jumpers or the calls made to family from United 93.

One thing that stuck out was footage I can't recall seeing before of a local NY news camera guy who had gotten into the courtyard between the towers. The 'muzak' that normally played in the courtyard was still playing as the buildings burned above. It provided quite an eerily scene.

The second was just the complete chaos behind the scenes in government. Where is the President? Has the President relinquished duties to VP? There's a top-level 'conference' established between the VP command center in the PEOC of White House, NORAD, US Air Force etc. They initially have issues getting FAA on board because the FAA didn't have the secure means to join this type of call. When they finally were able to join, there were issues on the different terminology the FAA (civilian) and NORAD (military) use in trying to scramble fighter jets and who might be another bogey.

 

[Chipper]

Another thing that sticks out collective global outpouring of support. Hell, even Gaddafi denounced the attacks.

NATO invoking Article 5 and how willing our allies were to send their troops into battle with us. I hope we never forget that when our turn to step up comes.

 

[BigBake]

Anyone else remember how eerie it was to not see a single plane or contrails in the sky in the days following? It's something you don't really notice until they aren't there anymore.

Yes, that remains my most distinct memory of the day but only because I did see one. It was 4:30pm 'ish when I got home from work. Looked up and saw one lone contrail in the sky knowing it was ~6 hrs post the all stop order from Bush. Assumed it was Air Force 1 or a AF recon jet up there at that point in the day. Just hit me that no other commercial planes were flying and I'd probably never experience another moment like that.

 

[NodawayRiverClone]

Biden has reset US military departure from Afghanistan to 9/11/2021 ( Biden to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, sources say (aol.com) ). Departure is subject to conditions on security and human rights. Not sure on specifics.

Any thoughts on how long before the government falls, the Taliban returns to its historical ways, which outside country or organization (as ISIS) will have the most influence, whether the US would stay if conditions are not met, whether the US would return if conditions are not met, whether news sources can/will cover any atrocities after US departure?

 

[cycloneman003]

We won't leave. And even if we do, we'll be somewhere else in no time. The war hawks have, and continue, to run the show in the US. If you think Biden is any different, you're a damned fool.