September 11th, 2001 a day we shall never forget-Where were you when it happened

[Bill]

Disclaimer: This is not a political thread, you want to discuss politics, go find another forum or thread to do so. This about a somber remembrance of what occurred 22 years ago this morning


Local station this morning played air traffic control, cockpit tapes, phone calls from some of the passengers, some I had never heard before, all of the emotions came flooding back at all once, the news of the first plane, all of the emergency equipment from further west of us, and then some filling the highway headed east that morning, the rising up of the columns of smoke that could be seen from our home 35 miles away, having to try and explain to our child that some of his friends parents would not be coming home, trying to wrap our head around it all, friends, business acquaintance, all gone in a moment. Being glued to the TV for days straight as more horrible news came in about the Pentagon and then Shanksville , PA . The feeling of being helpless, no matter where we went, or our we volunteered our time, or resourced. We cannot let any generation forget what happened this horrible day some 22 years ago. Literally, I had to pull over to the side of the road to gather myself as the tears burst forth......

We as a country, no, as a world, must put our differences aside and learn from this.

United we stand, divided we fail.


Edit to correct PA city that flight 93 crashed

[557]

Terrible day.Never forget....

[98SVT - was 06GT]

On my way to work when first plane hit. When the Pentagon was hit I called my wife to ask where her cousin was. She called her aunt and had found out he had been sent to London the week before and they were going later in the week to see him there. She then had her aunt turn on the TV. The plane had hit 3 offices away from his and he lost many friends.
Working at a utility we were considered critical infrastructure but had very little real anti terrorism protections in place and those were mainly at the power and water control centers which were in hardened confidential locations. We shut down all the access roads and entrances to the facilities and sent non essential workers home for the day. In the months following security got big beef up. We had many audits and recommendations by the FBI and Homeland Security. They redid everyone's clearance and probably 100 (out of about 9,000) were found who had lied on their applications and let go. Everyone got new smart ID cards and they put access gates into all the buildings and some of the internal areas. Of course no amount of training can solve all the problems. Some white powder was found in an envelope so the mail room took it to security. Caused shutting down access to the 3 floors it traveled through. Everyone told to stay in their offices. A Hazmat response of about 15 firetrucks and 30 police cars. After an hour it turned out to be cornstarch commonly used in the printing process to keep wet ink from smearing on glossy paper. Everyone had to do another 1 hour class on if you find something close off the area, leave and call security.

[FL SAAC]

Although it was one if the darkest days in our history.

It unified us as a country and showed our charitable instincts and reminded us of what we stood for and stand for.

God bless America  !

[5566]

A respectful correction: Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville PA. 

[Bill]

A respectful correction: Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville PA.

Edited, thank you


Bill