1 I watched. I stood silently and just watched. I thought of the people in the buildings as I stood silently and watched. I watched as a second plane entered the scene. I stood silently and just watched. I thought of the people in the buildings as they collapsed, and I stood silently and watched. I prayed for those lost. I then got angry and vowed revenge.

2 That's funny, I said something very similar to a co-worker. Something like "Those idiots are about to learn the difference between Democrats and Republicans the hard way."

3 You ask what we thought that day; I was on the West coast so it was 6:30 am -- I distinctly remember being woken up by my brother who said "this is war."

4 My first though after the initial shock was this: There will be hell to pay for this. Lets f'ing do it this time!

5 Those are my two most distinct memories of the day. The ones I that always stick with me when I think about it. My very first thought, though, was when I first heard that a plane had hit the WTC. I couldn't believe that a pilot could be so blind that he hit one of the buildings in broad daylight. I just assumed it was some yokel in a Cessna.

6 I was home sick as Hell. Got better in a heartbeat, I knew I had retired the September before. My first thought was, will they take me back. Somebody has to go get these bastards!

7 First thought: during WW2, a B-25 hit the Empire State building... same thing? Second: someone's gonna f***ing pay. Third: call Mom. Call the office and tell 'em I'm not coming in. Fourth: gas up the truck, fill the spare cans.

8 I was thinking it had been about 14 years since Pres Jimmy stabbed the Sha in the back. And now the Muslimfascists are bringing us their thanks. I was hoping we would really go after them. It reconfirmed for the umpteenth time that Jimmy was the worst Pres in history. But he re reconfirmed it in 02,03,04, and 05. Proving no *bad* deed goes unrewarded.

9 Thoughts? You people were able to think? My daughter had just gone to kindergarten and Barney was still on an hour later so I switched to CNN. I was so stunned my brain shut down. Vaugely as the first building went down before my eyes, I remember being annoyed that there wasn't a matching pair any more, but it took me several days to comprehend that when we were talking about the dead people that I had watched them die as the building went down. But I was crying for weeks. I remember that. I remember waking up in the mornings and it was like after someone in your family dies, there's a second before you remember it and then you remember it. I remember not wanting to wash my husbands dusty pants after he came home from working in the pit because I felt like all the dust was sacred.

10 I remember watching the people jump from the building, one after another, and wondering who they were. It took so long for them to come down. I remember being impressed the TV stations were showing each others footage, logo and all. Oh man, its only 730 in the morning- its going to be a long day. I remember running to find the flag by about 10 am. I remember looking in the face of every stranger and seeing an American looking back at me. Somebody ask me today what is the deal with all these articles Im writing, today I can explain it.

11 I remember big groups of doctors and nurses and stretchers all lined up at the hospitals, ready and waiting out in the street for the ambulences that never came. I remember that big cloud like a monster swallowing up people and snaking down blocks until it exploded over the city like a bomb. I remember Rudy kept walking as he gave the interviews and instructions to the public.

12 I was on my way to work heading over the intracoastal bridge and listening to NPR when a female voice interrupted and said a plane had just flown into one of the twin towers. It was about a 5 second interruption. Then they went back to the program that was on. And I thought,"What? That's all? no more information?" The moment I got to work, I turned on the TV in the bar and as other employees came in we just sat in horror as the rest of the day played out. When the second plane hit, I turned to someone and said, "This is no accident. Bin Laden did this."

13 "Some motherfvcker is going to pay!!!" (He's still camping out in Pakistan today)

14 I remember thinking that life as we know it is over.......Its time to get serious about terrorism and let anyone and everyone involved with it know that we are coming for you. The days of pussyfootin are over. Thank God we had a Republican President in the White House. M.W.

15 my ex-wife called me a little after 9am, she was crying hysterically that the WTC had been blown up...my tv was out, so i calmed her down and got her to explain to me what had happened....called my parents across town to get info from them, my job called in a bit after saying work was called off for the day...guys at my job working the day shift watched the WTC collpase from the plant rooftop....every day for weeks i drove the NJ Turnpike on my way to work and saw the smoke rise from the collapased rubble..felt more stunned than anything, that for the first time in over 50 years,America had been attcked on its own soil

16 I remember the day well. I was asleep, a long hibernation which I enjoyed, back in the day before life was a bit more 'organized'. I remember my mom calling, all hysterical, and saying "A plane hit the World Trade Center! Turn on the TV!" As I was doing so she was asking questions, the first of which being "Do you think this was on purpose?" "No," I replied, "No one could do this on purpose. It must have been some terrible, terrible mistake." Of course, my words were proven wrong, and not more than a few seconds after uttering the phrase, we all watched as the second plane hit the other tower. So much for denial. I can still remember the burning, quite lividly. I got online, one of the few things I could do. The messenger services, bloated. I even got on the in-line chat systems for a couple of the internet games I played, and it was the subject there, too. I noticed something odd about my cellphone, it wasn't counting time, and I realized that the companies had, on this day, realized the importance of communication and NOT decided to charge people. I called everyone I knew, my GF, my ex, my friends far away. During this time, I watched the burning buildings, and the people hurling themselves from the windows. I saw the Fire Department of New York rush into the buildings, despite all sanity which screamed at them that it was a death sentence to do so. Yet they had gone beyond sanity, for they knew they would die if they went there, but STILL chose that course, in the hopes that they could save as many people as possible. I remember thinking "If those buildings are still standing, they will never be taken down. We'll use it as a monument to this day, and the lives lost, and there will be signs and lights made so that will will remember the day these buildings burned like two great torches." Again, I was wrong, and I still feel bad about my timing. For not more than a few seconds after that thought, the windows began exploding even as the supports began collapsing. While logically I knew it would be designed to fall DOWN as opposed to OVER, it didn't keep me from worrying. And then I remembered the rescue teams. I remember the plane ramming into the Pentagon, though only barely. There wasn't as much news coverage or, as I should say, I didn't SEE much of it, as I was talking both phone and online to the people I cared for. I remember the vast smoke cloud, the pile, and the wreckage. I knew that THIS would illicit an IMMEDIATE response, because if anyone was stupid enough to try and attack THAT place, they'd better do the job in its entirety and all in one go, else they'd be hunted to the ends of the Earth. I remember the news about the plane over Pennsylvania. I remember them talking about the crash. Again, wrong in the end, I assumed that someone had figured out what was going on. I figured that the 'higher ups' had realized that our planes were being used against us and someone had to make the dreadful order to take them down. I thought, as the news talked about the downed plane, that there was likely someone out there who had been given an order and, knowing he had hundreds of lives at the end of a trigger, had been told (or taken it upon himself) to shoot it down. The thought that someone would have to make such a terrible choice was itself as distrubing. Fortunately, if anything on that day could be fortunate, once investigators got there, it was easily determined that the plane had somehow just... crashed. At this point I guessed again, and was actually correct for once. The passengers, upon hearing what happened to the other planes, WOULD have tried to retake this one by force. When presented with an impossible situation, we would fight tooth and nail to prevent it from harming others. That's what Americans do. All in all, my biggest memories were that we had come upon a new era. A certainly level of agreement or trust existed among enemies were some things simply weren't done. Now the rules had been thrown out, and no matter how we chose to fight, we WOULD choose to fight. And despite what others would claim, months and years later, we wouldn't just go after those who had done this (impossible, as they all died), we wouldn't just go after those who supplied the information, those who masterminded it, or those who had directly made it possible. No, we'd pursue every enabler, everyone who had ever had any contact with these men or their organization. It would be less of a war and more like an extermination, because: This. Could. Not. Stand. All those helped even the slightest must be held accountable. And so we would, though there were many who were not up to the task and did not understand what it meant. That day, and its memories, led me to a choice I would make a little more than a year later. A choice I couldn't make RIGHT THEN, for the simple fact that everyone else would. I'd do what I could in peace because at some point in the future, I'd do what I could in war. Thank you for the space to reminisce.

17 First thought as I'm riding into NYC on NJ Transit - why is there smoke coming from the upper floors of the first tower? Bomb? Explosion? Did I see a plane? WTF? Confusion. Call the office and say I might be late - I take PATH after all. I get into Manhattan okay, but now look up and see both towers have flames and smoke coming from them. WTF?! That can't be possible, unless this was deliberate. Who? What? WTF? All the local news websites are crashing from everyone trying to get on. I hit the BBC and JPost. Planes hijacked. Some may still be in the air. Plane crashed into Pentagon. WTF?! Where are the towers?! Gone? Collapsed? WTF?! How many people were just murdered by this heinous act. Then, as I'm leaving Manhattan on foot, heading into Brooklyn over the Manhattan Bridge, I look back through the smoky air and think to myself. Fuckers are gonna pay. The fuckers are gonna pay for this.

18 I was at work, knee-deep in briefing several colleagues on recruiting for interns in my upcoming absence. I was eight months pregnant, and had received a stern warning from my doctor not to travel, hence my briefing my co-workers and getting them ready for the road. Our boss walked in to our conference room and said that a plane had struck one of the towers of The World Trade Center. We work for an agency of the Department of Defense, and just one day prior, our Security Manager had sent a mass EMAIL regarding travel to the D.C. area in late September. Some sort of message had been received regarding a potential threat, and we were cautioned to be vigilant if travel plans had us going to the D.C. area later that month. When our boss told us that the first plane had hit, all I could think of was "Oh my God...we knew this was going to happen, but not in New York...and not today!" Not too long thereafter, she came back in to our conference room to tell us about the second plane. At that moment, I ran out into our little learning center, which was filled with Marines and other DoD civilians all glued to the tiny televisions we'd set up. Most were crying, and many were just plain in shock. One of our secretaries had planned to take me baby shopping later that day, and she just stood there in total shock. She said over and over, "I saw the plane fly into the second building." She just was in total shock. It wasn't long thereafter that the building was evacuated and we were all sent home. I'll never forget it...it was such a clear and gorgeous day in Kansas City, much like it was in New York. And here we were, so heartbroken and scared and sad, and it just didn't seem to fit. The beauty of nature, both externally and growing inside my womb contrasted with this deep and horrible terror and tragedy. When I got home, I was glued to the coverage on television, just as everyone else was. And the entire time, I felt tremendous guilt. What kind of monster would I be for bearing a child in a world where human beings (and I use that nomer exceptionally lightly) hurt and kill like this? And I thought over and over, "What am I going to tell my baby about this day? How will I explain this to her?" Seven days later, I delivered her via emergency C-section...early, and her life and mine were both temporarily in danger. But we are both, thank God, safe. She was my little miracle and my little piece of tomorrow that shows me that we're all going to be OK. We have a tremendous responsibility and opportunity as parents and citizens to educate our children about love and freedom. Hopefully the world my almost four-year-old daughter will have when she is my age will not be the same world we have today...instead, her world will be one of peace and understanding and respect for others. As a mother and an American, that is my hope for tomorrow. Perhaps that's the legacy the beautiful lost souls of 9-11 has left for us...the aspiration to teach our children to work and reach for a better world. If we work toward this, then those lost are honored better and more respectfully than any physical monument or structure that we could create. Thank you for the change to share this story.

19 I turned on the radio and heard Don Imus talking about smoke coming from the WTC, and I wondered to myself why they were replaying part of a broadcast from the 1993 bombing. Then they mentioned the airplane and I realized what was going on. I knew there were clear skies along the whole east coast that morning. And I know where NYC's airports are. It had to be on purpose - you can't accidentally hit the WTC in clear skies. In those first moments, my only question was; "is it a crazy person in a small plane, committing suicide or crashing into his boss's office or something? Or is this the Real Deal?" When the second plane hit, that was answered. Unlike most of you, I did not see any of it on TV that day. It felt shameful and voyeuristic to think about sitting om my ass and watching. I wasn't able to race to NYC to help, but I couldn't watch helplessly. I couldn't invite that extra trauma. I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. By the time the Pentagon was hit, I was convinced that a state of war would soon challenge our understanding of the post-Cold War world and of our personal freedom, because it is hard to keep Americans both safe and completely free. I was hoping we would pull it off. I am surprised at how well we have done - not at running down the organization responsible, which I knew we would do. But at trying not to sacrifice our personal freedoms for security. I expected much worse. I still want Bin Laden's head on a pike.

20 I was visiting my Uncle in Toronto. I rolled off the couch in the basement and switched on the tv just after the second tower was hit. I remember how surreal it felt watching them collapse into that gigantic cloud of dust and debris, taking thousands with them. Later that day, standing at the bus stop, the whole world felt strange - the streets were virtually deserted, no traffic, no people, no noise. I thought though, with my shock now turning to anger that this was the turning point. The civilised world was finally going to unite and crush Islamic terrorism. How wrong I was.

21 My wife was dropping me off at work when NPR reported a small Cesna had hit the World Trade Center...my wife and I thought it was a wierd and terrible accident. By the time I got to my desk my phone was ringing. It was my wife who saw the second plane hit live on tv. I was dumb struck. I worked for a major phone company at the time which then went into emergency mode securing communications for the nation's capitol. It was unreal but it was also clear...our good and Godly nation was now at war with the god of radical Islam. I have no doubt our God will prevail.

22 I stood in front of the TV in total shock and grief. I knew our lives would never be the same and thought, "How could someone want this to happen?" Naive I know, but I just couldn't believe that people could hate that much.

23 I was thinking well they've started it now we got to finish it. And we will.

24 I live across the river from where the WTC once stood. Many of my neighbors died. I made a short film. These are my memories: http://mistersnitch.blogspot.com/2005/09/our-after-911-site-is-online.html

25 I remember being called to pick up my daughter from school. Before we got into the car, we fell on our knees (well, I did - she was only 5), and prayed for the safety and protection of New York. I remember that my husband was in the DC area for training, and I wasn't sure if he was in the Pentagon or not. I remember crying out to God that whole week, begging for Him to be merciful to us. I remember begging Him to allow us vengeance.

26 I'd caption the picture: "The Mideast replays Pearl Harbor" As for what I did, I'm a manager at a (very secure, I can't say what) plant and I went to my Engineering staff to inform them of what one of the group had told me. I told them all we knew and asked that anyone who had family that they needed to leave work to go contact to just tell their supervisor and they could leave. Thoughts? That it was a foolish sucker punch. As if "they" could take this whole country down?? Just get on a plane and fly over 2 big cities. OK, 2 buildings -BFD, and payback's a bitch. No matter what their cause, they just turned on a hellfire response and their cause couldn't possibly be serviced by this. (This response is still being tempered -my biggest beef is that we should quietly notify the 7-8 countries that bred and are hiding these sewer rats that the next hit on our homeland will cost 3 of those countries about a million people each and they could gamble amongst themselves who'll get it -Make it clear the this is THEIR problem more than it is OURS, let THEM round up the creeps.)

27 i wuz running late for work, pulling on jeans in front of the news, and i saw the first plane--it wuz big for a private plane i thought, but i couldn't concieve of anything but a navigation accident by a private pilot...it wouldn't fit in my brain...and then the second plane hit...i knew it was deliberate, planned...and then the towers fell!!! i dropped to my knees and prayed, i never pray, hadn't since third grade.

28 For me, It actually gets harder to talk about each anniversary that passes. I want to hear other people's stories but just can't tell mine anymore. I just can't express enough gratitude to flight 93.

29 I went over to the back door at the job site and looked at the Tennessee sky. The skies were already empty, save the clouds. Then I turned around and put my hammer through the wall.

30 In the book First In, about the CIA team sent to Afghanistan kill OBL after 9/11, the author states that his boss told him on the morning of the attack to bring back bin Laden's head in a cooler, packed in dry ice, because he had promised the President that very thing. I wrote this extended haiku, trying to envision his final moments as the Caliph of the Caves. The dominos fall. One day. He will be alone. No friends. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Then the sounds. Warriors on the hunt. Like wolves. Closing in. Now he's the sheep. Helpless. Abandoned. Forsaken. Alone. Caught.

31 I was shook awake by my wife telling me that someone had attacked the WTC....I told her it was radical islamists and called a friend and told her that a man named osama was behind it...she said her dad had just called with the same info and asked how I knew? I told her that he had declared war on us, swearing our destruction, and that only the death of him and every muslim with a radical thought would we be safe.....she cried...I still refuse to.

32 Well, remember it was just after the 2000 election? Or seemed like it? My horrible fear as I watched the towers come down on TV was that the left had done this -- that it was some extreme left group behind it. It seemed entirely plausible then considering the way my lefty friends were carrying on, and it brought specters of civil war and destruction of our nation. In comparison, knowing it was Bin Laden was a relief. Still, something broke in me that day something that will never be the same again. Ever.

33 Due to a construction project at the privet school my kids attend, we were not going to start the school year until the 3rd week of Sept. Perfect time to take a vacation I thought. Plans were to go to San Diego Sat- Tues, then drive up to Disneyland for the rest of the week. We did Sea World on Sun, then the Zoo on Monday. Planned to go to Sea world again on Tuesday 9/11 to finish off our 2 day passes. I was the first one awake and flipped on the TV and the whole thing just started unfolding before me. I watched for about 45 minutes then woke up my wife. Looking back, it was hard to put the whole thing into context. I remember thinking right away it was Muslim terrorists. We were also on the road and as the morning wore on, no one really knew the extent of the whole thing.No one to talk to outside my family. As all plains were grounded, the final tally came in. Was this day one or was it over? Looking back, this seems incredibly shallow, but I called Seaworld and asked it they were open. I remember being pretty bummed out when they told me the park was closed indefinitely. The kids were upset, I remember my daughter telling me 2 days before that the first day at seaworld was the best day of her life. We ended up watching the news for a couple of hours, then spent the afternoon at the beach. Having a rental car at this time was like gold because I believe they were extremely hard to come by. Wed we drove up to Anaheim and checked in. We didnt know if we would be able to fly home on Saturday or not but I knew I could just drive the rental back home if we had to. I had some pretty mixed emotions about trying to enjoy myself with all the events going on. My wife and I decided to just make the best of the rest of the time we had. The kids ended up having a great time. We bought 3-day passes for all. Disneyland ended up giving us an extra day free. This was our 2nd trip to Disneyland and both parks were deserted. I think I went on the California screaming roller coaster over 20 times. You could get off and get back on with no wait. Sometimes the seats were not even filled. All the rides were like that. I told the kids this would never happen again. On Friday I called Alaska airlines and asked if I could move our flight from Sat to Sunday and they were able to do it. We went to mass Sunday am, then drove to Orange county airport and dropped off the car. Screening at the airport was heavy. I remember it was the first time I had been physically searched at an airport. Coming back to Seattle I remember looking down and a few thousand feet below was a USAF fighter aircraft. It must have been from McCord AFB. I thought for just a second about the possibility it was scrambled to shoot down a civilian aircraft, but I dismissed the thought pretty quickly. During the flight I remember going back to the rest room and two stewardesses were sitting behind the curtain. When I pulled the curtain back one of them was startled. She gasped and covered her heart. You could tell she was under a lot of stress. That was a week I will never forget.

34 Fuckem, they're all just little eichman's anyway.

35 I had just gotten out of the shower and click on the TV. I stepped back into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. In the background I heard the newscaster talking about a plane stiking the WTC and that the president in Florida. I walked back into the room with a mouth full of toothpaste and turned to look at the tv just in time to see the second plane strike the tower. I swallowed my toothpaste. I couldn't believe that a pilot could be that wrong, that incompetent. Then it occured to me that this could not be an accident, two planes and two towers it had to be intentional. I sat on the bed with my wife for several minutes just staring at the TV. She was crying and asking why. I just sat there and stared at the TV while getting angrier and angrier. By the time we had to take our kids to school and get ourselves to work my wife was avoiding thinking about what we had seen by concentrating on getting the kids ready. I was seething. This was wrong. This was war. My personal transition from shock and disbelief to anger and the desire to see some bastard pay for this took about 30 minutes. It has been four year and those images still immediately stir the same feeling of anger and a desire for revenge.

36 I had been incommunicado until after the Pentagon was hit, so I was give the whole story in about 30 seconds from someone who'd seen the TV reports. When the 1st plane was mentioned, I thought, "What a terrible tragedy." When the 2nd plane was explained, I thought, "Dear God, the terrorists finally did it." When I heard about the Pentagon, I was frightened because I thought the entire buidling was destroyed. And when I could finally wrap my brain around all three, I thought to myself, "What fools the terrorists are. They have awakened the sleeping giant." And what quickly followed was deep sorrow, as the historian in me thought, "Well, I guess I'll know what it's like to live in wartime."

37 It sounds heartless, but when one coworker expressed surprise I showed up for work as someone had just blown up the WTC using airplanes, I just shrugged and said "It's a big country and that's a long ways from here." They looked rather shocked, but I was still thinking of why I would not come in to work. Danger here? Maybe I should waddle/limp down to the recruiting station and try to convence the Sargent I'm 30 younger than I look? Anyhow, the US can absorb a lot of damage, and I can help best by doing my job, no matter what is going on elsewhere. By helping to provide the fighters with a stable base to operate from. Also, first reports are always incomplete and close enough to always wrong, so I try to wait to find out more before reacting. Acting on false assumptions can do more damage than not acting at all. I got online and started checking, and discovered the evidence pointed to Moslem terrorist action, and that two other planes were involved; one at the Pentagon (which gave me a moment's amusement at the reality jolt the ivory tower brassheads must have recieved, being a 'Nam era vet) and one crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside. I felt great pride that the passengers had fought back and forced the plane down, one way or the other. Later, I felt great contempt for the Loony Lefties who tried to claim that the passengers had not taken over the plane, the hijackers had crashed to plane to prevent them from doing so. So what if they were right? The plane went down because the passengers fought back. My greatest regret is that we cannot arrange for a "Moslem/Liberal Mutual Support Demonstration" to carpet bomb.

38 I was playin' Playstation, and when I switched games and browsed through channels while it was loading, and there was text on the top of screen rolling about a plane hitting a building in New York. 'Wierd... Must've been some autopilot bug' I thought and kept on playin'. Maybe an hour later I browsed through channels again and the news were saying there were other plane crashes and that they were terrorist (a word I had only seen in a more positive meaning in Final Fantasy 7 before that day) attacks. And I thought among other things: 'Ok... Shit happens... Lucky those guys had crappy aim, crashed 'em way too high, those things won't fall... Oh, now they did...' and started looking for more info on the events.

39 A few days later I got bored since my TV was so full of it, and started linking Usa=>Shinra Inc., WTC=>Mako-reactors, Bush=>Shinra President, Al-Qaida=>AVALANCHE, Osama bin Laden=>Sephiroth... Of course I didn't take any of it seriously, just comparing plots of the game and real life, but eventually the Shinra Inc. and Shinra President became more and more obvious even though the others were bullshit.

40 I remember the mornin' of 9/11 also. It was a Satuday mornin' and I was supposed to be at work. Instead, I was home with my wife to assure and comfort her. Her Grandpa had just committed suicide a day or so earlier. As we were watching the television that mornin', a 'special report' was announced: "The World Trade Center has just been hit by an unidentified aircraft." "Oh, My God!! An airplane has just crashed right into the World Trade Center!!" I said, as I looked at my wife with total disbelief. The first tower fell. I grabbed the phone and called in to my job to find out if they were seeing what was happening. The second tower fell. Later, my wife and I talked about it. We couldn't come to understand how anyone could be so violent and do such thing's to hurt so many people. The shock of it all was now beginning to pass. The adrenaline and anger was coming now. "Do they think we're just gonna sit back after doing this s--t?", I asked my wife. "We ought to take whoever done this off the f----ing map!!" "God Help Us All!"

41 What is that?

42 I switched on the TV just after the first tower fell. I am an electronic idiot... so I thought I had tuned into a movie instead of the news. I kept working the remote, trying to get to a news channel. When I finally satisfied myself that I was indeed on a news channel I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing. I don't remember ever being so disoriented in my life. Around 2 AM on 9/12 I sat straight up in bed and wondered if I had dreamt it. It took me several moments to come to terms with the fact that what I thought was indeed real. Day after day after day the smoke from the rubble continued. I remember wishing that the smoke would just stop. I live on Long Island. The silence from the sky was unnerving, only to be puctuated by the fighter jets flying a race course track overhead. 16 Naval Academy graduates lost their lives at the Pentagon on 9/11. My son was at the Naval Academy then. If you know anything about the sacrifice young men and women make to spend 4 years at a military academy, then you will also know what a terrible loss that was to our country.

43 One other thought, all the pics of shoes. I mean shoes everywhere. I've not worn loafers since. I got a pair of sturdy sketcher all leather shoe boots that look kind of like a dress a shoe but I can really stomp in em.

44 I was on I-5 South in San Diego, heading downtown to work. Radio announcers were talking about "the attacks in New York and Washington." I kept changing the stations trying to find out what they were talking about. When they finally mentioned that commercial jets had crashed into the two towers, I thought "there's no way that an American pilot would fly a commercial jet into the WTC. Not even with a gun to the head. This is an act of terrorism." And I was not surprised.

45 I was in room 1C670(Army IT Architecture) of the Pentagon. We had a TV next to the colonel's office. The TV was was tuned to CNN and the volume was turned down so as not to interrupt the folks in the office. I was about to go down the corridor to 3C338(Army G-4) to meet with a friend to discuss Focused Logistics, when I looked at the TV and saw the replay of the first plane hit the first tower. I thought that it was a terrorist act immediately. I called several folks to the TV to see what was happening. Then the second plane struck the second tower. The voices of the reporters turned to quiet gasps. I turned to Bob and said, "we are sitting ducks, too". Bob nodded in agreement. I turned and went out into the A Ring Corridor, and suddenly a deafening boom and dense cloud of dust poured into the hallway. It sounded like a huge car accident followed by a bomb. I felt a rush of hot air go by. I was stunned for a minute or so...and covered in white dust where I had dropped. I heard screams of people down the hall, and got up to help them. There were people already arriving to help, so I took the first person I saw to the exit. Her skin was full of whelps from plaster from the walls blasted away by the explosion. Next, I carried a colonel on a stretcher to the triage point across from the marina. He had jumped from the 5th floor of the crash site and injured his ankles, and had also suffered smoke inhalation. I put an oxygen mask on his face at triage. Then, the FBI arrived with a bullhorn and said that another plane was on the way to strike us. I raised my fist in anger and cursed at the sky. At that point, I began the mile-long trek to Rosslyn-north of the Pentagon. I went to a building there where I knew folks, and called my wife to let her know I was OK. Then I caught the Metro and the Train home to Frederick. That night, I drank some wine, and cried for those who died...especially for my friend, SGM Larry Strickland, who died that day. We need to win the way on Terrorism, and demand that our allies assist us. If they do not, we need to find better allies. Thanks for letting me write my story of that day for the first time...it feels like healing.

46 I was thinking, Damn. How could they possibly have got through our air defense grid? It wasn't until later I realized that (of course) "they" couldn't have.