20 years...

[Carlscat]

I posted this on TMB and I wanted to hear more experiences here...

9/11/01

809 Vattier Manhattan, KS 66502

My girlfriend left in the morning. Shortly after my college roommate said to immediately get up and turn on the TV. There was zero reason for another word to be said.

I sat in my bedroom watching the second plane hit the tower. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing and found myself wondering if this was a movie or real life. Afterall, how could this possibly be reality within the United States?

For days everyone on campus was quiet...walking on fragile clouds not sure if we would fall through or if we were allowed to go back to the accustomed optimism where our lives would not be effected. The bars were full of boisterous men wanting revenge and others worried about what was coming next. Even though deep down we knew better, we were banking on the ability to continue our oblivious insulation from an enemy we didn't understand nor wanted to learn about.

I remember shortly after 9/11 seeing a man sobbing in the corner of the journalism computer lab. I recognized him as a player on the Kansas State club rugby team. He was known as a boisterous person (and frankly pretty full of himself) but his emotion and pain was different on that day. He was an absolute mess. I walked up to him, pulled the chair from the computer beside him and put my hand on his shoulder and said absolutely nothing.

I can't explain the embrace but it hit harder than any hug I've ever had. He was from New York and had family and friends involved in which he hadn't heard from. There was one family member (I can't remember) who he was incredibly distraught about. He disappeared shortly after and I have never seen him again.

To this day I don't know the fall out regarding his loss. That said, every year I think about him.

I remember hugging people, drinking beers with those that were beside themselves as well as those wondering aimlessly trying to figure out "why." Having debates with those wondering how long this would last and others questioning if this would change all of our lives and what would be next.

None of us knew.

 

[skramer100]

I was driving to a surgery over the bridge on Ulmerton road. Turned off my 10 disc player and put on the radio. Heard the news. Immediately called my best friend Martin who worked in Tower 1, got no response. Called my mom and asked her what was going on and told her where Marty worked. She immediately told me to pull over and call her back. I knew things were bad at that point. I called and called and got no answer. At 24 lost my best friend to this shit and 20 years later we have done nothing about it.
My wife never got to meet the person that influenced my life a ton. My daughter won't meet her godfather for a long time. Would have been there today but COVID rules ruined that. Was actually in line to say his name at the memorial.

 

[ChicagoFats]

Parents on TFSF, how do you guys talk to tour kids about 9/11?

I explain to my kids that there is evil in this world and certain people want to attack Freedom.

Toeing the line of explaining what happened and not scaring the shit out of them is not always easy. But it’s important for them to know what happened so we spend a good 30 minutes disussing it.

curious how others approach?

 

[skramer100]

Parents on TFSF, how do you guys talk to tour kids about 9/11?

I explain to my kids that there is evil in this world and certain people want to attack Freedom.

Toeing the line of explaining what happened and not scaring the shit out of them is not always easy. But it’s important for them to know what happened so we spend a good 30 minutes disussing it.

curious how others approach?

Just tell the truth, the truth is never wrong. It may be scary or frightful, but it is never wrong. Plus it teaches your kids to always tell the truth no matter what the consequences are. I just hugged my girl and told her again she will meet her godfather someday, but not soon. Kids get honesty.

 

[tiderollsonu]

I was working on a swing stage on the side of a condo when my boss got a call from his wife that something was happening in NYC, we broke into the condo we were working outside of from the balcony 10 floors up and were glued to the news for 3 hours when it all went down. Crazy times

 

[ChicagoFats]

I posted this on TMB and I wanted to hear more experiences here...

9/11/01

809 Vattier Manhattan, KS 66502

My girlfriend left in the morning. Shortly after my college roommate said to immediately get up and turn on the TV. There was zero reason for another word to be said.

I sat in my bedroom watching the second plane hit the tower. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing and found myself wondering if this was a movie or real life. Afterall, how could this possibly be reality within the United States?

For days everyone on campus was quiet...walking on fragile clouds not sure if we would fall through or if we were allowed to go back to the accustomed optimism where our lives would not be effected. The bars were full of boisterous men wanting revenge and others worried about what was coming next. Even though deep down we knew better, we were banking on the ability to continue our oblivious insulation from an enemy we didn't understand nor wanted to learn about.

I remember shortly after 9/11 seeing a man sobbing in the corner of the journalism computer lab. I recognized him as a player on the Kansas State club rugby team. He was known as a boisterous person (and frankly pretty full of himself) but his emotion and pain was different on that day. He was an absolute mess. I walked up to him, pulled the chair from the computer beside him and put my hand on his shoulder and said absolutely nothing.

I can't explain the embrace but it hit harder than any hug I've ever had. He was from New York and had family and friends involved in which he hadn't heard from. There was one family member (I can't remember) who he was incredibly distraught about. He disappeared shortly after and I have never seen him again.

To this day I don't know the fall out regarding his loss. That said, every year I think about him.

I remember hugging people, drinking beers with those that were beside themselves as well as those wondering aimlessly trying to figure out "why." Having debates with those wondering how long this would last and others questioning if this would change all of our lives and what would be next.

None of us knew.

I was in downtown Chicago in a building right next to the Sears Tower. As a trading firm we had a chat with offices in New York and it came across the chat that a "small plane" had crashed in to the World Trade Center. For the first 5 or so minutes everyone thought it was an unfortunate accident but it didn't draw too much attention. Then rumors started floating that it was an airliner and not a small plane so we turned the tv channel off of ESPN to CNBC. A couple minutes later we saw the second plane crash in to the second World Trade center building.

At that point our boss told us, and i decided individually, to leave the city immediately. I think we caught a cab back to our house and headed for the suburbs.

9/11 too this day still numbs me. I don't deal with death well and looking at those poor people jumping from the building just makes my heart churn.

It also reminds me of what it was like to have a United States. Right now we are so divided but at that point in time, for a small moment, all Americans were on the same page. Unfortunate it takes a tragedy to get there.

 

[shiv]

I was in a freshman in high school science class. It was hard to comprehend what was happening. We stopped everything and watched the news. I remember watching the tower just collapse.

It’s always weird looking at old NYC stuff that has the towers in it. Can’t imagine how this impacted those in NYC

 

[skramer100]

I was in downtown Chicago in a building right next to the Sears Tower. As a trading firm we had a chat with offices in New York and it came across the chat that a "small plane" had crashed in to the World Trade Center. For the first 5 or so minutes everyone thought it was an unfortunate accident but it didn't draw too much attention. Then rumors started floating that it was an airliner and not a small plane so we turned the tv channel off of ESPN to CNBC. A couple minutes later we saw the second plane crash in to the second World Trade center building.

At that point our boss told us, and i decided individually, to leave the city immediately. I think we caught a cab back to our house and headed for the suburbs.

9/11 too this day still numbs me. I don't deal with death well and looking at those poor jumping from the building just makes my heart churn.

It also reminds me of what it was like to have a United States. Right now we are so divided but at that point in time, for a small moment, all Americans were on the same page. Unfortunate it takes a tragedy to get there.

Yeah, it is just an awful day. I have started to become a bit numb to it but have found myself in tears this AM. Not sure why the difference but something just doesn't feel right today. Glad you got out because Chicago for sure was a target that didn't get done.

 

[grimm515]

I was in the army on night shift in Hawaii. It was about 3am when our comms starting going absolutely nuts. Turned the tv on and saw the second plane hit. My buddies and I knew our enlistment was going to turn out drastically different then when we joined. It took three hours to get back to our on-base barracks. We ended up just living at work for the next two weeks while the base was on threatcon delta.

I was supposed to go to another soft assignment after Hawaii, but I requested a change because I couldn't stand the feeling of not contributing, plus both my parents were from NYC and I had been on the North Tower only three months before. Went to airborne school enroute to the support battalion of 10th SFG at Fort Carson, CO. Six months later we deployed to Northern Iraq. I'm very happy with the choices I made, but it does make me burn inside knowing the men we lost over there died for a less than noble cause.

It sure feels like there's a noble cause to fight for rapidly approaching, though. I just hope it kicks off before I'm old and gray (turned 40 this summer).

Guard duty at our compound's entrance was always a good time...

 

[OrangenBlue98]

I was serving in the 82nd Airborne 1/325 Inf. Regiment. We had just gotten back a few months prior to 9/11 from an eight month Kosovo deployment.

We were out on a three week field training exercise. It was one of the better training exercises we had conducted in a while. My company was very experienced and was running like a well oiled machine.

I remember that morning we just finished an all day and night raid on a fortified city. We were waking up, ready to go over after action reports. While we were eating MREs and talking shit, we started noticing leadership moving around in a serious manner and huddling up. Moments later our lieutenant approached us and said all we know right now is America has been attacked. We're still trying to get more info, and as of now the field exercise is getting cut short and we're going back to the company for more info and further orders.

When we got back we saw on the company CQ's TV the replays of the planes hitting the towers and the Pentagon strikes. I remember the drive back to the company and all the conversations of who would be attacking us? Russians? Chinese? We were thinking it was a Red Dawn situation. Crazy times for sure...

 

[Ghost Hawg]

I had been out of the Army for a little over a year and had moved back in with my parents because I was just getting started working toward a degree. Specifically, I remember my mother waking me up that morning and telling me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. So I got out of bed and went into the living room and sat down and began watching the news on tv. I can remember sitting there watching coverage of the first plane hitting. Whatever news channel I was watching had a reporter speaking with the towers in the background. As I watched, the second plane flew directly into the other tower.

I can also remember going to fill up with gas later that day and there being lines a mile long at every gas station in town. My classes were canceled for the rest of the week. Weeks later I remember receiving notification that I could possibly be called back to active duty but never received any orders to report anywhere.

 

[AgEngDawg]

Was working in lab at Georgia Tech into the morning of September 11th. I was at the lab until 5:30 AM. We were working on finishing a report so I had lab work to do. Got back to my dorm room at 6:00 AM

I woke up at about 9 AM and saw some of the coverage, but did not understand really what was going on. Took a quick shower and headed to the lab. I was at the lab for about 30 minutes before they said they were shutting down the campus. Was back at dorm room watching tv by about 10:30 AM.

Watched the coverage for the next three days.

 

[ChicagoFats]

Was working in lab at Georgia Tech into the morning of September 11th. I was at the lab until 5:30 AM. We were working on finishing a report so I had lab work to do. Got back to my dorm room at 6:00 AM

I woke up at about 9 AM and saw some of the coverage, but did not understand really what was going on. Took a quick shower and headed to the lab. I was at the lab for about 30 minutes before they said they were shutting down the campus. Was back at dorm room watching tv by about 10:30 AM.

Watched the coverage for the next three days.

Damn those are some long hours. What type lab were you working in?

 

[120north]

Damn those are some long hours. What type lab were you working in?

Meth lab?

 

[120north]

I was at work. I am a structural engineer and we had about 8 other structural enginers in the office that day. We heard about the first plane and turned on the tv in the conference room and started watching. Saw the second plane hit. We were looking at the videos of the damage and we were discussing the potential for collapse. The damage was so extensive, we thought it was a miracle that it was still standing. Seeing the collapses was a very sobering experience, both professionally as well as personally. It just brought home the fact that what those of us around the table do for a living is very important and if things mess up, serious loss of life will occur.

 

[AgEngDawg]

Damn those are some long hours. What type lab were you working in?

We did analytical chemistry type work at the time.

I made the mistake of starting grad school with a professor who pursuing tenure. I.E. they were just starting out and had to impress folks.

No one told me that was a terrible idea. The guy in the lab next to me was working for a tenured professor who was getting ready to retire. I rarely saw him in the lab. It was so laid back for him and he was never at work.

Your professor makes all the difference in the world in your experience.

 

[ChicagoFats]

I was at work. I am a structural engineer and we had about 8 other structural enginers in the office that day. We heard about the first plane and turned on the tv in the conference room and started watching. Saw the second plane hit. We were looking at the videos of the damage and we were discussing the potential for collapse. The damage was so extensive, we thought it was a miracle that it was still standing. Seeing the collapses was a very sobering experience, both professionally as well as personally. It just brought home the fact that what those of us around the table do for a living is very important and if things mess up, serious loss of life will occur.

Did they ever give a final cause on what caused the collapse of that condo building in Florida?

 

[120north]

Did they ever give a final cause on what caused the collapse of that condo building in Florida?

Not yet. It is going to take some time to do the full forensics on it. I will say that I am on a statewide industry committee that comments on upcoming legislation related to engineering practice in the state. We have had discussions on the matter. Not getting too far down the speculation rabbit hole, we are offering our comments on the situation to the various boards and building code officials that focus primarily on corrosion abatement/countermeasures in the marine environment. To condo boards like this, maintenance is a 4 letter word. Fix the cracks and spalls the right way, juice the concrete mix with more cement to give it a denser matrix, get some good cover on the rebar.

Personally, the failure mechanism will be column failure related to a change in the unbraced length due to failure of the support pool deck and reduction in capacity related to rebar corrosion and concrete section. The underlying cause of this will be rebar corrosion from coastal exposure and insufficient concrete cover on the reinforcing.

 

[ChicagoFats]

Not yet. It is going to take some time to do the full forensics on it. I will say that I am on a statewide industry committee that comments on upcoming legislation related to engineering practice in the state. We have had discussions on the matter. Not getting too far down the speculation rabbit hole, we are offering our comments on the situation to the various boards and building code officials that focus primarily on corrosion abatement/countermeasures in the marine environment. To condo boards like this, maintenance is a 4 letter word. Fix the cracks and spalls the right way, juice the concrete mix with more cement to give it a denser matrix, get some good cover on the rebar.

Personally, the failure mechanism will be column failure related to a change in the unbraced length due to failure of the support pool deck and reduction in capacity related to rebar corrosion and concrete section. The underlying cause of this will be rebar corrosion from coastal exposure and insufficient concrete cover on the reinforcing.

So basically over time the rebar got exposed to the salty air and caused corrosion? Enough of the rebar corroded that eventually caused a column to collapse. If concrete had covered the exposed rebar it would not have corroded.

Is that a fair summary?